This year, we were to represent our alter-egos in the form of a pair of salty-sea-dogs from Folkestone’s bygone past.

As though we had stepped out from a vintage postcard, we dressed ourselves in shades of grey, painted our faces, and set out into an alien, coloured world. As it turned out, the weather had also chosen shades of grey as its theme, so much so, that as we previewed some of the photos being taken by members of the media crew, we were convinced they had set their cameras to black and white mode.

As we registered at the Ship Inn, it quickly became apparent that, as usual, hundreds of Folkestone’s citizens had bravely turned out to take part, most of them far more colourfully garbed than ourselves. Surely there must be a simpler way of shifting the hangover from the festive excesses?

Opening at 4pm on the Friday to a queue of eager beverage hunters waiting on the door, things kicked off perfectly with sunshine, music, food, and of course liquid refreshment.

Saturday went equally as well, with the street being closed and a couple of food stalls and many a bale of hay for seating, and many a visitor taking pick from the many drinks on offer. Late in the afternoon it looked like the barrels were going to run dry, and indeed this did happen late Saturday evening!.

A shame Sunday didn’t happen, but selling out is all good. I hear rumours of another early 2012 event, so look forward to those cold winter evenings, and of course, many a beer.

Some photos below :

We enjoyed a fabulous hour at sea, experiencing sunny Folkestone from an exciting, fresh perspective, in the capable hands of captain Neil. We thoroughly recommend this experience, and you can find out all you need to know at www.folkestonevoyager.co.uk.

Please find below a couple of videos and some photos which documented our adventure :

(Check it out on Vimeo for some HD goodness : http://vimeo.com/28727368)

The weather was unusually gloomy as we departed from Dover, and seemed brighter as we approached the French coast. We took a bus into the town centre to spend a few hours of Frenchness. Our plans to while away the time on the beach, drinking wine and eating cheese and bread, were scuppered by a fierce wind that howled along the coast, whipping up the sand. So we went to a couple of bars instead, and soon, it was time to go home. It should be pointed out, that we only drink lager when we are ‘going continental’.

On the ferry back, as we sipped more Kronenbourg,we watched gannets soaring and swooping over the sea. We failed to catch them on camera, but here are a couple of short videos of our day.

]]> http://spaciousandgracious.co.uk/2011/07/title-holders-claim-their-prize-with-trip-to-calais/feed/ 0 http://spaciousandgracious.co.uk/2011/06/folkestone-triennial-2011-preview-evening-video/ http://spaciousandgracious.co.uk/2011/06/folkestone-triennial-2011-preview-evening-video/#comments Fri, 24 Jun 2011 13:32:31 +0000 man sam http://spaciousandgracious.co.uk/?p=1166 With the Folkestone Triennial 2011 kicking off tomorrow (Sat 25th June), the Triennial team held a preview evening for invited local guests at the Quarterhouse last night, to showcase the artworks.

The Quarterhouse was very busy with a good turnout for the preview. Trevor Minter spoke first with a small introduction, then Triennial curator Andrea Schlieker took us through a brief run down of all the pieces, with Peter Bettley rounding off the preview evening with a request to spread the word about the Triennial as much as we could.

It seemed most people headed up to the Quarterhouse bar afterwards for a beverage or two, as it got very busy up there.

The full list looks very interesting indeed, with two of them standing out to the S&G team.

‘The Colour of Water’ by Spencer Finch.

Two parts: Flags in Christ Church Gardens, Sandgate Road, CT20 2BW, and a colour-wheel along the Leas Promenade lower path between the end of Clifton Crescent and The Grand hotel approx CT20 2XL
Like an Impressionist painter, Finch observed the everchanging tone and colour of the Channel over several weeks throughout 2010. This resulted in a palette of 100 variants of sea colour, which was used to dye 100 flags. Each morning throughout the Triennial, a sea-coloured flag will be chosen and hoisted at midday. Its colour will be determined daily by matching the sea’s with one from Finch’s large colour-wheel, installed just below the western end of main Leas Promenade.

‘ Towards the Sound of Wilderness ‘ by Cristina Iglesias :

Martello 4, The Leas, CT20 2JD
Cristina Iglesias’s architectural intervention on the ramparts of Martello 4 offers the illusion of an entrance into another world. Iglesias’s sculpture allows visitors a chance to view this historic
monument for the first time in many years. Visitors will need to negotiate a path cut through shrubs and trees to a mirrored walk-in structure clad with resin foliage. A window at the end of this passageway opens up a view of the overgrown tower and moat with its extraordinary wildlife.



Here’s hoping that this sunny weather continues for the weekend, as it all gets going at 11am tomorrow down the harbour ark site. Looks like it’s going to be a lot of walking tomorrow!

I grabbed a quick video at the preview evening last night, please find it below (apologies for the odd resolution, and the hum. The camera was directly beneath the gargantuan projector.)

Shane had mentioned they were opening midday today, and we arrived just after midday to be the first ever customers!. The chips are fried in beef dripping or traditional oil, so a choice for everyone. Customers were already taking seats in the main restaurant area (they are fully licensed as well), so it looks like it’s off to a flying start.

Cash only for the moment as BT still haven’t sorted out the phone lines to enable card payments. Mark Sargeant was in the restaurant with Josh De Haan, and they were both less than pleased with BT’s service so far, so hopefully that will get sorted as soon as possible.

The chips themselves are pretty good, they come in a nice neat cardboard box/tray with a wooden fork and came in at £2, which isn’t bad at all.

We have a feeling that they will be swamped this weekend if this good weather stays around, and with the Folkestone Triennial launch, it should go well for them.

Please find some pics below of the interior, the chips, and Shane caught mid eat. I even caught one of Mark Sargeant busily on his phone, probably dealing with BT…

We quickly took some photos, which you can see below.

*The housing has now been removed, please see this article for some photos taken on site.

We have been sent these exclusive shots of the mermaid project, giving us a glimpse at some of the detail and process going into the work.

There is a talk ‘Making the Mermaid’ which takes place during the Triennial, which will go into a lot more detail about how it was all done, click right here to find out more.

Photos below are by Sarah Craske, and the pouring of hot bronze shot was taken at the Meltdown Studios foundry in Ramsgate.

A K Dolvens – Out of Tune work for the Folkestone Triennial 2011 has just been erected down the seafront on the old rotunda site, so I grabbed a few pics on this cloudy day, but look forward to getting some further shots when the skies are blue.

Spacious will be at the Triennial Preview on the 23rd June, and hope to get some more video coverage as we did at the launch event last September.

Below is some text about the piece from the official Triennial site :

Since the 1990s Norwegian artist A K Dolven has worked with the idea of being at odds with one’s surroundings, and more specifically, for the past three years, with disused bells. ‘Out of Tune’ continues a series of similar titles such as ‘Out of Time’, ‘Out of Balance’ and ‘Out of Season’.

‘Out of Tune’ features a 16th-century ‘Tenor Bell’ from Scraptoft Church in Leicestershire, discarded for not being in tune with the others. It will be suspended from a height of 20m, from a steel cable strung between two H-steel beams, placed 30m apart. The bell can be rung by visitors using a specially cast manual handle. Being located on the disused former Rotunda Amusement Park, right on the edge of the sea – yet in direct view of Folkestone’s St. Eanswythe’s church with its eight-bell carillon – will further enhance notions of isolation, difference and being outcast, while also referring to a range of local concerns, such as the decline of the parish church in an increasingly urbanised society

and some photos :

Given the, typically Folkestonian, glorious weather we have been enjoying of late, it is no surprise that the team convened at the beach hut for the opening swim of the season on Saturday. Our previous dip had been a brief and painful experience on New Year’s Day, but now, on a sunny April afternoon, with a brisk easterly wind blowing, the sea looked positively inviting. Well, it may have looked inviting, but it was still pretty damned nippy, and following our prefferred pattern of; in, splash about a bit and swear, get out, get back in again, splash about a bit and swear some more, then get out while we can still function, we were towelling ourselves off and beginning to feel human again, when, alerted by the excited activity of some gulls just offshore, we spotted a large dark animal in the water, which then plunged out of sight below the waves.

Realising it had to be a dolphin or a seal, we knew that if we kept watching, it would have to come up for air, and we might get the chance of a further sighting. I grabbed my camcorder and scanned the sea hopefully. Then, quite some way from where we saw it originally, it re-emerged briefly, and I was able to get this brief snippet of footage. We reflected on how things might have been if the seal had arrived minutes earlier, while we were in the water, but had to conclude that it could not be honoured with club member status, as it had arrived late for the session. Harsh, maybe, but scupulously fair.