Simon Bertin previews the Cambridge Shakespeare festival with Artistic Director Dr David Crilly; He encounters the gorgon Medusa in a good mood at Artist sculptor Mel Fraser’s studios in Wilburton; Investigates the art of Calligraphy at the University’s Woolf Institute and samples the immensely popular Art in the Garden event with Penny Heath that’s been raising money for the Red Hen charity project.
Simon Bertin gets immersed in the Space Sounds project with multimedia artist Diana Scarborough and space weather scientist Dr Nigel Meredith of the British Antarctic Survey with composer Kim Cunio; He explores the life of Charles Darwin’s grandfather poet and enlightenment thinker Erasmus Darwin with award-winning author Patricia Fara on the subject of Sex, Science and Seredipity; And he joins restauranteur Maurizio to hear about the other side of his life as a street performance artist.
Simon Bertin grapples with Geometry in art and space with Cambridge University mathematical physics professor Maciej Dunajski; He interviews exciting women artists in an all female Exhibition at Extraordinary Objects gallery; enters the dark to look at the luminous kinaesthetic artwork of Samuel Richardson in an Exhibition at Cambridge School of Art; and tackles fearful militarism with artist Sarah Strachen at a further show in The Grafton.
Simon Bertin encounters the Art of the Samurai at Cambridge University Library’s Samurai History and Legend Exhibition; award-winning author Patricia Fara talks about her book on electricity in the enlightenment An entertainment for angels; Playwright Sue Bevan previews her new play Hiraeth on the Aberfan disaster of 1966; and Cambridge University’s Ukranian Society’s Olenka Dmtryk on the destruction of artwork of Maryia Pryimachenko by the Russians.
In this edition, Simon Bertin hears from Cambridge University scientific historian Patricia Fara about her new book on the life of Cambridge icon Sir Isaac Newton. Her husband, poet Clive Wilmer, recites a few pieces of his work; gallery Extraordinary Objects opens its doors with artwork including sculptures made from Meteor fragments and fossils; and artist Samuel Benjamin Harris shows an outstanding series of new paintings he’s produced during lockdown.
Simon Bertin delves into a remarkable photography exhibition by Robert McCabe on an archaeological dig in Mycenae; Artist Sudesh Prasad explores the relationship between art and the viewer at the Hive gallery; The Cambridge Youth Opera’s Artistic Director Caroline Coetzee invites people to join up for roles in the Little Black Cat opera being staged next year and artist Joe Fenwick Wilson comments on his work and Cambridge’s arts scene.
Photo: Cambridge Assessment Simon Bertin discovers the remarkable artwork of Gurpran Rau using the encaustic method from the ancient world at Artspace 57 with curator Anna Dempster in an exhibition entitled Under the Skin; Artists exhibiting at Motion Sickness collective kick start the action in the city with Eleanor Breeze; We look at Cows about Cambridge public artwork bonanza; and Artist Joe Fenwick-Wilson talks about his career and the role skateboarding is now taking up in arts culture.
In this edition Simon Bertin joins Guardian, Observer and Cambridge Critique journalist Anne Garvey and film business enabler Phil Day to pay tribute to the career of television critic and poet Clive James. Anne was a close family friend and neighbour of one of Cambridge’s best loved humorists.
AsSpitting Imagereturns, Cambridge-based political cartoonist for the Telegraph Andy Davey reflects on satire in troubled times. We discover the unpublished letters of Siegfried Sassoon from the Cambridge University Archives and the art arising from conflict zones and victims of PTSD. Simon Bertin presents.
In this episode Simon Bertin and journalist Anne Garvey take a look at the topical history and delights of Cambridge’s Mill Road Cemetery and recite poetry from the sculptural art installations by some of the world best poets.