After a hectic year of being pulled across the UK for both professional and personal purposes this week I have enjoyed a staycation in Glasgow indulging in one of my hobbies – jewellery making, as part of the Summer Studio at Glasgow School of Art. I am very partial to some ‘wearable art’ and have historically dabbled in basic silversmithing…
Pandemic Predicament
Last week the Scottish Design Awards 2020 was a successful evening for Page\Park with recognition for several of our projects across different categories. I was very proud that two of our cultural projects received accolades at the Scottish Design Awards; our project for Edinburgh Printmakers picked up an award in the Building Re-use category and Leeds Playhouse the Public Building…
Re-purposing
We feel like we are at the end of the beginning. As a relaxation in lockdown feels closer we are turning our sights as to how we can safely emerge from our homes. With every aspect of our lives tipped upside down we now must apply creative lateral thinking to find ways to readjust to a ‘new normal’. In late…
Theatres Trust Conference 19 – Centre Stage
Last week I once again attended the annual Theatres Trust conference, this year on the theme of ‘Centre Stage – Artist and audience at the heart of theatres’. The venue was the wonderful Battersea Arts Centre – a building which did not disappoint when actually experienced. The ambience of the place is quite extraordinary – the layering of history, and…
One Year On – Reflections on V&A Dundee
Last week I was asked my opinion on the V&A Dundee by The Times and the points I made have been misrepresented and subsequently misquoted. I would like to set the record straight with my personal views. As an architect who has worked with cultural organisations for 20 years, I have never called a cultural institution either ‘silly’ or ‘boring’.…
Search for authenticity
Returning from visit to Venice in 2017 I have been thinking a lot about the dilemma of tourism which is both essential to Venice and also slowly strangling it. Indeed, this is not a problem exclusive to Venice with cities like Prague, Dubrovnik and indeed Edinburgh succumbing to the same issues. Venice is literally a living mausoleum which understandably draws…
Out with 2018!
I have failed to keep my blog Bouncing off Walls up to date and an obvious new year’s resolution is to not be so lapse in 2019. I had previously set myself the task of being more discursive – and whilst my lack of action in my blog suggests otherwise, 2018 turned out to be a very busy year! January…
The art explorer – Venice Biennale 2017
In June this year my husband Brian Inkster and I made our second trip to Venice Biennale Arte and we were not disappointed. We visited the Biennale for the first time in 2015, and I fell in love with discovering a city I know in a completely new light – stumbling across works in the most unexpected spaces, and really…
Look Up – Light Up
Last weekend Page \ Park spent a really enjoyable 36 hours in Leeds – part study trip and part exploration of a city which a few of us are getting to know quite well through our project work. We couldn’t have timed our expedition better – coinciding with the city’s Light Night Festival which runs over two consecutive evenings in…
The Closed Door – reflections on a visit to Gdansk
I am just back from a very enjoyable weekend trip to Gdansk with friends – not your usual long weekend destination but nevertheless a city brimming with history and in equal parts both desolate and beautiful. We arrived at lunchtime and wandered around the Glowne Miasto (largely reconstructed after the 2nd World War) looking for a lunch spot, but everywhere…