Seeing Circles at Margate

After a failed attempt to get to Margate to see the exhibition 'Seeing Round Corners: the Art of the circle ' at Turner Contemporary ( I got soaked through just going to the station and retreated home) ,  when I rearranged  my visit  a week later I had the bonus of Margaret's company. And what a lovely and inspiring day out we had, I'm still  seeing circles everywhere!

 Reviewing the scribbles and notes in my sketchbook, what  has struck me is how many of the pieces I liked  were as much about the process of making as the final result.  I also enjoyed  the links to science and recording observations  such as the X-ray crystallograph  ' Photo 51' by Rosalind Franklin  and the intricate  annotated drawings of light reflections in a concave mirror by Leonardo da Vinci.

 Cloud Arc by Roger Ackling  was made by burning  marks in cardboard using a magnifying glass.No sooner had I thought of the link to Meteorological  suncards when there were examples on display!  

Before  the weather station at Kew Gardens was   updated to digital ecording , one of the daily duties of the weather recorder was to change the suncards (differerent  shaped formats were used at different times of year)  At one time I did this on a regular basis , climbing up a precipitous ladder to the roof of the building rewarded  with excellent views. The 'crystal  ball'  gave beautiful distorted reflections of the surroundings and sky.   The highest temperature recorded in the UK  was  held briefly by  Kew before it was confirmed as being higher at Brogdale. My colleague  who recorded it was on weekend  duty in a tropical glasshouse ! - I was at home finishing off a quilt ( a fan and lots of ice  were essential equipment). But I digress...  

Series of photographs or stills from a film  record the changes  in movement of the sun in sun tunnels in this work by Nancy Holt ( above)   and of the actions of the  tide filling  a flexiglass cylinder ( giving the illusion of a hole in the sea  ) by Barry Flanagan

 Processes of drawing can seem deceptively simple ( Nakahara Nantenbo, above) or  intricately  complex  multilayered 'sea  tracings'  by Trevor Shearer ( below)

 I loved the marks of this site-specific  circle by Richard Long  and how being outside, the shadows constantly change

 This stack of tiny  black porcelain vessels' Littoral' by Edmund de Waal made me think  a stack of  stones or shells  on a beach   so I    collected some limpets and drew them when I got home !  

  Some circles noted on our way back to the  station - my gathering continues