Monday, May 25, 2026

 

Underneath the ringroad in Coventry.

One hundred years ago and more instead of the view in the picture above you'd be looking at the entrance to the Stevengraph Works. Stevengraph's were woven pictures which were very popular and are collectible now.
The car park itself is very familiar to me. I used to walk through there regularly on a Saturday morning on my way into town. I used to call it a "par cark" because for some reason I mixed things up easily. I've skateboarded through there and walked home slightly the worst for wear when I lived in a flat opposite when I was 18. Had the building still been standing during my lifetime I'd have had to walk around it. Instead I walked through the ghosts of Jacquard Looms.

As with everything it looks familiar but different. The older I get the more I know about my own life and what went before me. I step over, through and around ghosts of people and places I'm only just finding out about. I do the same for my memories but for the most part they get in the way of learning new things.

I'm not nostalgic. I don't want or need to be anywhere but now, but I am increasingly missing times and places I've never experienced. It's annoying to have so many questions and so few answers.

Friday, May 15, 2026

Moving Around Something

 


It's been a few years since I messed around with images and 3D and stuff like that. I was actively trying things out during COVID so at least 4 years ago.

I like the halftone type of effect you can see in the image above. It's more of a dithered image but I wanted something that closely represents silk woven pictures. There is a whole history of this type of art and especially so in Coventry which is where I'm from. Three minutes walk from where I once lived is the site of a weaver's where Stevengraphs were originally made. The French couldn't close the business in the nineteenth century but the Germans eventually did in the 1940's.

There is still a lot of Stevengraphs to admire and own in circulation. Owning one is high on my list of things to do.
I'm sure it'll happen soon.