Welcome to Tamsyn, who’s just joined us as a Junior Designer. She’s recently graduated from University College Falmouth and we’re really excited about all that she’s going to bring to Nixon. And a farewell to Chris, our latest placement student, also from UCF.

Thanks UCF for producing such brilliant design heads!

The latest show features Carnovsky, a Milan based artist/designer duo comprised of Francesco Rugi and Silvia Quintanilla. They create surfaces that mutate and interact with different chromatic stimulus. The works they produce explores the depth of surfaces. The RGB technique consists of three overlapping primary colour images, the result of which is an intricate multilayered print. Placing a red, green or blue colored filter (a light or a transparent material) reveals one of the three levels. More info can be found here.

I first swam in the Jubilee Pool in Penzance one misty summer’s day in the late 80′s. I’ve been a fan ever since and whilst the temperature of the water can be bracing to say the least, I still believe that it remains one of the most elegant places to swim anywhere in the UK. The building itself is a rare survivor from the 1930′s, a time when mention of a heated indoor pool would be considered a distant technological breakthrough. Penzance was one of many seaside resorts that invested in these modernist marvels known as lidos and they attracted visitors in their droves.

I’ve been chair of the Friends of Jubilee Pool now for more years than I care to remember, and last year came up with the idea of hiding the unsightly hoarding covering a derelict part of the pool with this image of the pool opening in May 1935. Amazingly I scanned this photo from an old postcard, enlarging it from A6 to over 60 feet long. I was delighted with the results, so much so that I’ve just put it up again with the help of Toby and my neighbour Rick. Thanks to both of them and Jaime from 2020 Displays for producing the final image. Visit the pool this summer and see it for yourself- there’s also some stunning flags by local artist Lucy Birbeck which are worth the trip to Penzance alone. www.jubileepool.co.uk

Leave us a comment and let us know which is your favourite! The winner will get half a bag of M&Ms that Pip didn’t finish at the cinema so, as you might be able to guess, we’re all very excited!

I travelled up on the sleeper to London yesterday for a presentation at The Dept of Transport. It’s a great way to travel up from Penzance and after a surprisingly good night’s sleep (must have been the nightcap!) the train slipped into Paddington bright and early.

After a visit to Portcullis House to catch up with our local MP Andrew George we had a few hours free over lunch prior to the DfT meeting.  Luckily Tate Britain is on the doorstep so seemed the obvious choice.

I can think of few better ways to while away a few hours than strolling through this magnificent building, but was particularly blown away with the incongruous sight of a Harrier Jump Jet suspended from the roof of the Duveen galleries. The work by artist Fiona Banner is accompanied by another, a Jaguar Fighter in the adjoining gallery space.

Devoid of it’s war paint and stripped to its aluminium body and then highly polished, the fighter was balanced upside down on its tail. It looked much like a discarded toy, albeit a large one. Do try and get the chance to visit before January when the show closes!

Martin