Tissue and The Émigrée Comparison: AQA GCSE Poem Analysis
Chances are you’ve come across Tissue and The Émigrée already. These are two of the trickiest poems in the AQA anthology…
How to analyse structure for English Language GCSE
Here’s your ultimate guide to talking about structure for English Language GCSE exams…
Comparing Exposure and Charge of the Light Brigade: A GCSE Poetry Essay Guide
Exposure by Wilfred Owen and Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson are two tricky poems…
GCSE English Language Revision: How to explain language and structure points
Students are often confident identifying techniques, but less confident speaking about their effects…
GCSE Poetry Comparison: “Flag” by John Agard and “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae
Analysing unseen poetry is a vital skill for GCSE English Literature – no matter which exam board you’re studying with…
OCR A Level Religious Studies: “Hell is an idea not a place” – sample essay
I’ve recently worked with some fantastic students on the OCR A Level Religious Studies course. Our discussions often revolve around…
Compare Cousin Kate by Christina Rosetti and Poison Tree by William Blake (Edexcel GCSE)
A sample GCSE essay demonstrating a comparison between “Cousin Kate” by Christina Rosetti and “Poison Tree” by William Blake…
Content Writing: Portfolio
I’ve been working hard with some wonderful clients, developing their content marketing strategy…
An essay analysis of “Partition” and “What were They Like” (OCR)
Not to fear – poetry is one of the simplest, most beautiful ways for authors to express meaning, and also – some of the shortest pieces you’ll have to analyse (hooray).
Revising Lord of the Flies: Key Quotes and Themes
Most English Literature exams follow the same pattern of asking students to analyse a specific set passage from a text…
Hoop op Welvaart: A Beautiful Floating Home
A fantastic opportunity to acquire this fully functioning 65 ft. x 13.5 ft. Dutch Sailing Tjalk. Built in 1907, the boat has been our happy home…
Storm on the Island and The Prelude: GCSE Poem Analysis
The theme of nature, and our societal and personal battles with the natural environment, forms a key part of…
What’s the difference between themes, motifs and symbols?
Themes, motifs and symbols are all commonly discussed in English lessons – but students are often left confused on the exact definitions…
Revising Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde: Key Quotes and Themes
When revising any texts for GCSE English Literature, making sure that you are confident with the overall narrative is the first place to start…
Focus on: English Grammar Terminology
In the UK schooling system, whether at 11+, 13+, GCSE or A Level – formal grammar does play a large part of studies…
Getting started with Jekyll and Hyde: Key Context
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is one of the most challenging texts set at GCSE level, but also one of the most rewarding…
Lord of the Flies: Chapter 1 Close Analysis (“The Sound of the Shell”)
Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a commonly set text for GCSE English Literature. It deals with key themes of…
AQA “Power and Conflict”: Ozymandias and Kamikaze analysis
The current educational situation is more challenging than ever, with closing schools and exam uncertainties impacting students…
Super Power Relations and the Cold War Timeline
The Cold War forms a key part of both AQA and Edexcel GCSE History courses. It is a fascinating part of history, full of intrigue, espionage…
Curious Cats: Reported Questions
When learning English as a Foreign Language, reported speech (the subject of a previous blog) and reported questions can often be a tricky topic…
English as a Foreign Language: Reported Speech
They said what!!?? Being able to say what he said about what she said in reply to what they said (you get the gist) is a crucial skill…
Family Activities in South West London: December 2019
Interactive family space shows with Explorer Dome South East – taking place in Chiswick, Hammersmith and Kingston upon Thames.
Michel De Montaigne: A modern sceptic? (Part Two)
This two-part blog series analyses the influence of Pyrrhonian Scepticism on Montaigne’s writings…
Poetry Analysis: AQA Love and Relationships
Poetry is one of those subjects that students either love or hate to begin with. Anthologies such as AQA’s Love and Relationships…
Michel De Montaigne: A modern sceptic? (Part One)
Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, Lord of Montaigne (28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592) was one of the most significant philosophers…
English as a Foreign Language: Phrasal Verbs
This week I have been looking at one of the trickiest vocabulary topics in my Adult English classes – phrasal verbs…
What is Hauntology? Art History at Halloween
As we approach officially the spookiest time of the year, I am putting a spotlight on one of my favourite terms in Art Theory – Hauntology…
Key terminology for GCSE English analysis
At this point of the year, many students’ minds are turning towards October half term (hooray), and then onto the upcoming mock exams…
Yoga for children and teenagers
A selection of fantastic studios across South West London offering yoga classes for young adults.
How to write a great story opening
Ideas from five famous first lines to keep your readers hooked from beginning to end…
Manners and Modernity: Pictures of the Floating World
And now for something completely different. Currently displayed at the V&A is a selection of “manner posters” originally shown across Tokyo’s Seibu Railway…
Family Activities: July
Family friendly (and mildly educational) activities taking place this July across Chiswick, Kew and Mortlake.
How to start preparing for your GCSEs
It’s never too early for getting started when it comes to exam preparation. But don’t worry, help is at hand with these 5 top tips…
A journey through Rembrandt’s Self Portraits
2019 marks the 350th anniversary of Rembrandt’s death (1669) – and events are taking place throughout Europe (and beyond) to celebrate…
Dada – Pioneering the Patriarchy?
Titled “Magic Realism” (and on until 14 July), this free show promises an encounter with the “uncanny and mysterious” through the art of the Weimar Republic…
Myth and Mysticism: Christian depictions of the Nativity
The starting point for this blog is my current work tutoring students in A Level Philosophy. What has been particularly striking…
The Tanks at Tate: Olafur Eliasson and Susan Philipsz
Darkness and light, experimentation and tradition, independence and the institution; Tate Modern has always been a space of contradictions…
From Degas to Picasso (or, Revolutions and Institutions)
The Ashmolean’s latest exhibition Degas to Picasso seeks to tell ‘one of the most compelling stories in the history of art – the rise of modernism’…
New Landscapes and Old Masters
Last weekend, I visited Liu Dan’s New Landscapes and Old Masters exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford…
A day in the life of a Marketing Executive
Back in November, I did a Q&A in my role as a Marketing Executive for Oxford University Press – where I look after a variety of online products and resources. Read the interview in full, originally published on the OUPblog. Any questions? Get in touch!
Short Circuit
Last weekend I was lucky enough to catch ‘Short Circuit’ on the very last day of the exhibition. Short Circuit is a reassessment of the archetypal touring show – currently based at Stryx’s studios at Grand Union, Birmingham.
Upfest Bristol 2015 – A Photo Update
Yesterday, I attended Upfest Festival in Bristol’s Bedminster and Southville. Its Europe’s largest, free street art and graffiti festival – with over 250 leading artists demonstrating their formidable skills. The artists have travelled from twenty-five countries, and across the UK, to paint live on 30,000 square foot of surfaces in front of 25,000 visitors. It…
Cally Spooner: Post-Production at Spike Island
Currently on at Spike Island, is Cally Spooner’s Post Production. It is an unusual show (on until the end of June), and essentially consists of two video pieces. You start at the end, with the credits rolling, in a near-empty, bright white space, and then move onto to the ‘main exhibition’ – a pitch black…
SARAH LUCAS: The Venice Biennale, France and Feminism
The 2015 Venice Biennale is now underway, and chosen to represent Britain, is artist Sarah Lucas. Her show, entitled, I SCREAM DADDIO is said to “reprise and reinvent the themes that have come to define her powerfully irreverent art – gender, death, sex, and the innuendo residing in everyday objects.” The show revolves around themes…
Inventing Impressionism – Camille Pissarro’s ‘The Marne at Chennevières’
We’ve all heard of ‘the impressionists’; the stereotypical French (mostly male) painters, painting from life in rivers and in fields, fascinated by the universal themes of light, time, and perception… But who exactly where they, and what did they do? To provide an answer, I am focusing on one of the lesser-known impressionists, Camille Pissarro,…
Examining Miró’s Reality
This week saw the birthday the legendary Catalan, Spanish painter, Joan Miró – born 20th April 1893. Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism; a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride. But in this article, by looking at one painting from 1927 – I wish…
Edmund Clark and Peter Schmersal at Flowers Gallery
This week saw the opening of two exhibitions at Flowers Gallery: the work of photographer, Edmund Clark and the painter, Peter Schmersal. Although two very different shows, with very different atmospheres – the themes raised by each artist successfully manage to complement and elaborate on the work of the other. Peter Schmersal (a German artist from Berlin) produces…
Bristol Fog Bridge – with Fujiko Nakaya
Ever wanted to walk among the clouds? Well now’s your chance – quite literally! For the next two weeks, Fujiko Nakaya’s Fog Bridge is at Bristol Harbourside, and offers participants the opportunity to walk amongst the fog, suspended over the swirling waters below. It celebrates Bristol’s new status as European Green Capital, as well as…
Sikander Pervez
Following on from my post on FOUND at the New Art Gallery Walsall, this exhibition is accompanied by another, solo show – that of Sikander Pervez. Pervez was selected for New Art West Midlands 2014 – an event at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, celebrating outstanding fine art graduates from the West Midlands Universities. I…
FOUND: New Art Gallery Walsall
Last night saw the private view of New Art Gallery Walsall’s new exhibition: FOUND. The exhibition featured seven artists (Paul Chiappe, Julie Cockburn, Ellen Gallagher, Ruth Claxton, John Stezaker, Vesna Pavlović and Erik Kessels), all of whom transformed and re-worked found, visual material. It featured photographs, postcards, slides and magazines – all gleaned from the…
‘A Celebration of Ignorance’ – First Attempts at Flash Fiction.
A Celebration of Ignorance Standing motionless with all his might, blood pumping and senses stinging, Zhongni felt the silken fur glide against his right shin. The creature circled around and in-between his legs, delicately negotiated his feet, and disappeared back into the darkness. The waiting continued. The anticipation of discovery grew. The delicate click…
Let Me Tell You a Story Jack! – Storytelling in Bristol
An evening full of folklore, fun and festivities. Earlier on in the week, I attended a story telling event, themed around ‘folklore and festivals’ at the Crofters Rights (Stokes Croft, Bristol). It was a thoroughly entertaining - and pleasantly unexpected evening. The night is ran and compèred by Will and Shonette, who together ensured a relaxed…
Collective Individuality: Art and Identity
What makes you, you? This was the question I was left pondering, as I left Willem de Rooij’s photographic exhibition at the Arnolfini. Willem de Rooij is a Dutch artist based in Amsterdam, and this latest exhibition – his first major show in a UK public gallery, consists of eighteen panels, each displaying a selection…
My Photographic Travels Through… New York
‘My coming to New York had been a mistake…. I found only a sense of horror and oppression which threatened to master, paralyse, and annihilate me.’ … Success and happiness were not to be. Garish daylight shewed only squalor and alienage and the noxious elephantiasis of climbing, spreading stone… and the throngs of…
‘Behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit’ – Art at the British Museum
This was the title Count Christian Dürckheim, who donated almost all the works on display, would have preferred for the British Museum’s showcase of 90 examples of German, modernist art. Eventually titled Germany Divided – A Search For Identity, the exhibition is more than a mere exploration into ‘modernism.’ Germany Divided represents a very particular moment in the 1960s…
The Great War in Portraits: War at the National Portrait Gallery
Imagination, n.: A warehouse of facts, with a poet and a liar in joint ownership. Ambrose Bierce Who should win? The Poet or the Liar? Does it even matter, and are they always destined to be co-owners? This exhibition revolves around contrasts and difficult questions. It is an incredibly fitting portrayal of a war which…
Art, Antlers and Exploration
O, what a world of profit and delight, Of power, of honour, of omnipotence, Is promis’d to the studious artisan! Doctor Faustus. Faustus, the protagonist of Christopher Marlowe’s play; the ever aspiring scientist who sought mastery over nature through intellectual means, would probably have enjoyed Antler’s latest exhibition! Its starting point is ‘human technology and…
Andy Holden at Spike Island (Bristol Arts Weekend!)
Last weekend saw individual artists, galleries and all manner of creative endeavours open their doors to the public. It was a weekend designed to encourage public participation and dialogue between the cities artists and galleries – a lot of fun to be a part of! For me, it started with the Andy Holden Opening at…
What’s the point of it? – Martin Creed at Tate Britain
The point of what? Art, life, love, ….bodily functions!? Last week I counted myself lucky enough to see Martin Creed’s latest exhibition, a retrospective at the Southbank Centre. This exhibition brings together an enormous amount of his previous and current work, reflecting different thoughts, emotions and materials. The themes flow wonderfully into each other, a…
Moore and Rodin – Modern Sculpture at Compton Verney
Compton Verney, a beautiful stately home in the midst of the Warwickshire countryside, has been home – as of late – to two giants of modern sculpture: Henry Moore and Auguste Rodin In the Capability Brown landscape, the two sculptors sit side by side – evidencing the remarkable parallels, contradictions and dialogue between their works. …
Success in Failure: Art in the City – Bristol Artist Talks
Simon and Tom Bloor A few days ago, I was lucky to attend a talk (hosted by Arnolfini), given by the artists Simon and Tom Bloor, two brothers (and identical twins) from Birmingham, on their recent work. The Bloor brothers primarily deal with sculpture – on a large scale – often directly placed into the…
Walking the Corridors: Archival Photography
Part IV: Walking the Corridors: Williams, Power and McKee. This is the last installment on ‘Building the Archive’, a symposium designed to highlight, promote and understand the connections between ‘Art’ and the ‘Archive’, or more specifically – Photography and its relationship with its own aftermath; the static stores of libraries, galleries and museums. It has…
Understanding the House: What does ‘Archive’ Mean?
I had intended to stop at three installments – ‘understanding the house’, being the last piece on the ‘Building the Archive’ symposium. However I felt Professor Golding’s talk had so much information, so many points for further thought, that it left plenty for the reader to mull upon. It was a fantastic talk in its…
Rising from the Rubble: ‘Reference Works’ at Birmingham Library
Part II: Rising from the Rubble: Lacon and Whipps For Part I, see ‘Viewing the Building Site.’ The second part of discussion at ‘Building the Archive’ was led by two photographers, Andrew Lacon and Stuart Whipps. They both partook in the Reference Works Project, and both discussed their contributions to Birmingham’s evolving photographic collection. The…
Building the Archive: An Archive of Our Own?
Here, in true Archival fashion, I wish to offer up a record of the ‘Building the Archive’ Symposium – a day, in response to Birmingham Library’s ‘Reference Works Photography Project’. This was a set of commissioned photographic reactions to the transformation of Birmingham’s 1970s building, into its present, ‘modern’ form. The photographs would, after public…
Is it Istanbul or Constantinople, or Spike Island?
Alt Üst: Cevdet Erek I was very excited to see Spike Island’s latest exhibition – Alt Üst, from the Istanbul based artist, Cevdet Erek. This excitement was prompted by my recent trip to Turkey’s cultural capital; a bustling, pulsing, changeable and exhilarating city. Arriving in Taksim square, navigating the hectic Istiklal street to my apartment,…
New Art in the West Midlands: Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Last Thursday saw the opening of ‘New Art West Midlands’ exhibition, showcasing new work from the best graduates across the area. It was designed as a celebration of innovation, embracing the spectrum of artistic media and presentation, providing a platform for emerging, and recently graduated artists. Themes of class, gender, identity, site-specific responses, urban spaces…
Sensing Spaces – Architecture at the Royal Academy
‘For me, architecture is primarily about people, about asking questions such as: who is the user? What is going to happen here? How can I respond to the users’ needs?’ Diébédo Francis Kéré Following on from my last post – describing the interventions of two Parisian architects, helping the local populace interact with and re-claim…
Co-Producing the City: Social Activism through Gardening!
ESP Trade Talks: AAA Do you feel part of the economy? Do you feel part of the city? These are the two questions which drive architects Doina Petrescu and Constantin Petcou. At last night’s talk, they introduced a Birmingham audience to ‘Eco-Box’ and ‘R-Urban’; two Parisian architectural and social projects designed as ‘bottom-up urban development…
This is all owned by you – Exploring Bristol Library
To celebrate 400 years of Bristol libraries, and to coincide with national libraries day, Bristol Central Library hosted a ‘behind the scenes’ tour at their beautiful building on College Green. Rusty Squid’s animatronic ‘Book Hive’ (discussed in previous post, ABC: Art, Books and Curious Cats) was still fluttering, shimmering and swarming in the entrance foyer,…
THE BRIEF IS ALWAYS WRONG – Artist talks at Arnolfini
‘Design and Use’ at Arnolfini. Yesterday, Wednesday 5th February, Arnolfini hosted the first of their Art and Design talks for the new year – ‘Design and Use’. The panel consisted of Jeremy Hutchison, a London based artist who ‘designs situations that interrupt the circulation of objects through industrial production and consumer ideology’, and Emily Pethick,…
Make, Share, Mobilise! – Turning Point West Midlands
Midwest to Midville: repositioning the visual arts in the Midlands This Monday saw the thoroughly enjoyable, thought provoking and inspiring symposium, ‘Midwest to Midville’ held at Birmingham’s IKON Gallery, co-hosted by ‘Turning Point West Midlands’. It was an especially encouraging day and unusually for a large event, there was a real community, collaborative atmosphere. It…
A B C: art, books and curious cats
Yesterday morning, on a whim of curiosity, my boyfriend and I attended the ‘I am making art’ morning at Spike Island – with Howling Owl Records. This was the first time, in a very long time, that I have put pen/charcoal/paint/rollers to paper, and it was a lot of fun. The aim was to get…
A big Hello
Hello, This is my blog, discussing all things art, writing, philosophy, history, general life and Bristol business. Wish me luck and more to follow shortly…!
AC studies 