@booze and cake - my God, man. You have a lot to answer for!
Three trips into town in two days? I HATE cycling in Leeds city centre. Eyes down for potholes, eyes all ways for aresholes
(except up and around me).
And it's been a slow-cycling blast
. Eyes open, all ways! Thank you for the prompt
. Ah ... but there's a price. More bad photos
.
Today's little jaunt.
No, I didn't start with this ... but I had no idea how magnificent "Athena Rising" would stand out, if I'm riding the east side of the city.
Crappy photo - but, my God, what a cracker of a view!
Even better (?), I'd picked up on
East Streets Arts "A City Less Grey" project, and found Jo Peel's evocation of some of Leeds’ iconic buildings … with Athena Rising as a backdrop?
Yup, that's my bike
.
Damn it, John Poulson's City House looks a damn sight more ... attractive/impressive/whatever than it has done at any other time in my 30+ years in Leeds!
And I'd love to know if it was sheer serendipity that matched Jo Peel's work (in Sovereign Square, by the way) with Athena Rising. a - it's ... gorgeous. b - I love the Railway Station "sandwich". And c - the urge to explore those arches was irresistable; they're now "Swine Street Car Park" and SO worth a wander, to marvel at the bat-sh!t crazy bravado of those Victorian architects and engineers, who built Leeds Station on layers of colossal brick/stone viaducts..
More of Jo Peel's work, round the corner, still in Sovereign Square.
Also found today ... some guided by East Street Arts
“A City Less Grey” project, #ACityLessGrey. But for most of it, just following … my nose.
The Linnet, in Sheaf Street. By
London-based ATM Street Art, part of a UK-wide street art project by
Human Nature, according to the label.
Just opposite in Sheaf Street ...
Do I see
Nomad Clan’s signature crown? Dunno, but it sure looks like it.
Whitehall Road
The gable end of the
White Cloth Gallery. I love the way the figure is reflected in the windows of Princes Exchange.
On to the north end of Vicar Lane, and ...
one of East Street Arts' sites.
With next door, four magical trompe l’oeil panels on the hoardings round the site of the old Odeon Cinema.
Onwards. Into the car-park behind. And the Lyons Building (almost bulldozed in 2014 to make more car-parking space
).
"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and design for tomorrow." Almost Einstein, and worked in bespoke fonts inspired by Leeds brewing, textile, and architectural heritage.
Onwards yet again - across the main road into Mabgate.
- in Millwright Street
then Ladybeck studios, on Mabgate Street
and last, the gable end of Mabgate Traditional Fisheries.
Some closer details ... and next time. I pop into the chip shop and ask for the story line
.
I love that bus!
And then back towards town. Via ...
... the magnificent Spix’s Macaw on the south side of
Munro House. “Last seen in the wild: 2000”.
... up through Kirkgate to see this.
A perennial "art site", aka "council boasting" site.
On a hoarding erected to hide a major embarrassment for the city. In the upper left half of the photo - what remains of
the First White Cloth Hall. The proposals to regenerate, planning applications, artists' impressions, consultations, press coverage and the like, over the last few years, fill more filing cabinets than the building could physically hold. And yet? One third has been demolished, and the remaining wings are left to deteriorate ... and demolish themselves. Sad.
Last art call today? An odd one.
Above the Millenium Bridge, at the Calls end.
“Duet. A collaboration between Invisible Flock (UK) and Quicksand (India).”
A series of outdoor digital artworks in India and the UK, linked by an app and a web platform. Intriguing! But, depending as it does on the hours of darkness, I’ll have to come back another time!
. And "keeping my eyes on the road" just doesn't work as an excuse ... not for a thing THAT size. {blush}{blush}{blush}]
.
.
