mirrors - Peter Arscott

Pasque roses in Spring

Everything is blooming in this part of the world, the sap is rising, winter’s greys are turning into varied shades of green, and cherry and apple blossom are everywhere. April is a month when things turn for the better, it even gets its name from the Latin word “to open”, describing flowers opening at springtime, though Aphrodite the goddess may also be another root for the word. Did you know that April used to be the second month of the year until January and February were invented by the Romans? No, nor did we.

Nor did we know that “April” was the 250th most common name for a baby girl in the UK, or that in the UK it is National Pet Month, or that in the US it is National Pecan Month. And our meticulous research has unearthed the following:

Zebra crossings were introduced in Britain on 4 April 1949, when James Callaghan, then parliamentary secretary to the ministry of transport in the British government, came up with ‘zebra’ as a name for the crossing which it was thought would be easily understood and remembered, particularly by vulnerable groups such as children.

Russian cosmonaut day is April 12, commemorating the astronaut Yuri Gagarin who became the first man in space on April 12, 1961 aboard Vostok 1. He spent 108 minutes in space.

And when, we hear you ask, is National Eggs Benedict Day? Why, it is on April 16th, a day to enjoy eggs with hollandaise sauce, crispy bacon and English muffins. Apparently, a lot of people have never had Eggs Benedict, but we reckon belatrovians are sophisticated and most likely to have enjoyed Eggs Benedict a number of times, and perhaps, on a regular basis. See how many of your friends can tell you how its made, or what’s in it. Or, ask them what hollandaise sauce is.
Celebrate by eating Eggs Benedict – click here to see how to make them (first get a hen).

belatrova corner planter

All of this is just a preamble to let you know that we are holding our annual Spring Open Weekend on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd April (10 – 5pm) at the Bankside Studios. You are most welcome to drop in and browse, and even though Eggs Benedict will not be on the menu, we will offer you tea, coffee and cake.

c’est ne pas un chevre

You would be hard pressed to find a spot anywhere that both makes and sells the variety of goods you can find at the Bankside Studios in Ledbury. You can step into the studio to see Fleen Doran, fresh from her successful show at the British Craft Trade Fair at Harrogate, making her salt glaze pots at the wheel, while Wendy Houghton works away at her delicate ceramic sculptures. This is the same workshop where belatrova produce ceramic planters, fruit bowls, mirrors and birdbaths next to the joinery section where Stuart Houghton busily shapes and cuts wood to perfection – at the moment he is whittling a small goat out of myrtle. Upstairs Dan Barker has his photography studio, shared with the textile designer Sunny Todd, and across the road can be found artist blacksmith Dave Preston hammering iron on his anvil – in fine contrast to Bob Evans who can be found in his studio opposite printing images of striking quality on very new and sophisticated printers.

handmade ceramic flower pot with handles

striped splash pot by belatrova

The studios are situated just behind Alfa-Tech on Little Marcle Rd, which is accessed via either Lower Rd or New St. Please follow the signs. There is limited parking on-site (and wheelchair access) and there is additional on-street parking.

large wall mirror with blue frame

The address is: Bankside Industrial Estate, Little Marcle Rd, Ledbury, Herefordshire HR8 2DR. And do please visit the Ledbury Cooperative’s website: https://www.ledburycollective.com/

For those of you who live in or close enough to London we would encourage you to visit the Cecilia Colman Gallery in St John’s Wood. It is right on the High Street and easily reached by underground. Glass is a speciality but among the many excellent pieces on show, ceramics, paintings and jewelry also have pride of place. The gallery is showing some belatrova pieces, including three legged bowls, wave fruit bowls and a large wall mirror.

Cecilia Colman Gallery

We’ll leave you with part of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem Spring:

Nothing is so beautiful as Spring –
When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush;
Thrush’s eggs look little low heavens, and thrush
Through the echoing timber does so rinse and wring
The ear, it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing;
The glassy peartree leaves and blooms, they brush
The descending blue; that blue is all in a rush
With richness; the racing lambs too have fair their fling.

Do people see what I see in the mirror? Do I really look like that? What on earth is that thing growing on the side of my left nostril? Most people are fascinated by mirrors, much more so than by an image of themselves in a photo, for example. Perhaps this is because the image they have about themselves is the one they always see in the mirror – it is what they’ve seen most of their lives, so when they see themselves in photographs, their brains think that something is wrong.

This fascination is not a new phenomenon: in ancient Rome, Seneca mocked the amount of money that Roman women were willing to pay for a mirror. Nowadays mirrors abound in homes, shops, offices, cars and handbags, but as objects they remained small and expensive for centuries until in Venice in the 16th century, when a new method was used of backing a plate of flat glass with a thin sheet of metal, producing high-quality mirrors. Much later the process of coating a glass surface with metallic silver was invented.

When you look at yourself in a mirror, what you see depends on the quality of that mirror. If you find yourself looking at your supposed flaws, or trying to avoid looking at yourself altogether, or realizing that you already look like your Dad or Mum, then belatrova’s mirrors are the answer.

This is because our wide painted frames, abstract, colourful, and just slightly Mediterranean, light up the room and instil a feeling of warmth, banishing all melancholy into the dark cellars and dusty closets in the house – metaphorically speaking, since we know how neat and clean belatrovians are as a race.

And a belatrova mirror is not one that can be sneakily used to suggest there is more space than meets the eye in, say, a small apartment by placing it behind a chest and a table lamp, subtle though that can be. Ours is more like a window, providing an airy dimension, amplifying light and breaking up visual clutter, but above all it will immediately brighten the room and create an artistic focal point in the area. Yes, a well-placed mirror will solve most design dilemmas.

Dare we call it a statement piece? Yes, it is bold but subtle, with a diameter of 800mm, so it cannot be described as small. It can make the most of your wall space, and if you are looking for something that creates a design feature in your living room why not hang this beautiful hand painted mirror over your fire place mantle? Or imagine this design as a centrepiece feature in your dining room, refracting the light and bringing your colour scheme together in an eye-catching display.

Its abstract design allows you to hang it four different ways, thanks to the four-way copper wiring system on its reverse side.

80 cms diameter x 2 cms deep

Weighing 10 kg, it must be hung on secure fixings

Hand painted on rounded wooden frame, varnished.

Do visit our website: www.peterarscott.co.uk/dev

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Springing Open in April

mirror, mirror…