MIDWEEK, Central Library and Waterstone's

Jay Hudson's Knit a Year

 Walthamstow Central Library is a beautiful building both inside and out and there are a lot of different works on show there. In the foyer Waltham Forest Amnesty International Group have made an installation of origami cranes: a traditional Japanese symbol of piece and hope. They stand out against the bright orange wall and you can make your own, although I struggled to follow the instructions and felt very ham fisted. 

On the opposite wall are Ron Bowman's watercolours of London, its places and its people. The colours are clear and crisp and he handles the watercolour with a lightness of touch. I very much liked his portrait of peace campaigner Brian Haw with Big Ben in the background.

Canary Wharf tube station, by Ron Bowman

Knit a Year looks great hung up in the ground floor lending library. As someone commented in the guestbook, there is something festive about this colourful piece, it's "a celebration of life". Jay Hudson knitted two rows every day for a year, using material that was upcycled, donated, free-cycled or whatever else she could find. Every day is different. She kept a journal alongside the work and you can find out more and watch a video of her knitting on her blog.

Painting by Tayyaba Gondal

Expressive paintings by Eliana Parra Rodriguez and Tayyaba Gondal (find out more about Tayyaba in this interview) both bring a splash of colour into the library. Tayyaba's paintings are hung so you can admire them whilst walking down the stairs. 


Photos from Walthamstow and District Photographic Society are exhibited all over the library and there's a real range of subjects and styles. Trevor Weatherly's photo of a fox doing a big yawn and Stephanie Waterman's abstract Reflection - Stonebridge Lock and Walthamstow storm breaking were my favourites but there was a lot to take in.

Walthamstow Market is one of my favourite places in the E17 and I really liked Walthamstow Market Photography's exhibition. It would have been nice to see some of the photos in the montages blown up a bit bigger so I could take more in. The photos worked well both in bright colour and moody blue tint that emphasised light, shade and the weight of vegetables in plastic bags.

In Walthamstow Market

 Across the way, in Waterstone’s, Selbourne Walk Shopping Centre there's an interesting little exhibition on the staircase. Against the lilac walls are Allan Leas’s photos of people in Fez, Morocco on the streets where they live and work. Max Bainbridge’s work is also on show. It explores ideas of human absence and derelection, with photographs of wasteland and wide open blue skies. Lots of visitors to Waterstone’s stopped on their way up the stairs to examine his enlarged photograph of a disused industrial building. These photographs vie for attention with the large mural on the opposite wall, of the famous cartoon Belgian Tintin on an adventure with his dog, Snowy. One young visitor was more interested in Tintin than the photos.

Paper sculpture by Original Army

Intricate paper sculptures are hidden behind the old newspapers that covers the window of the book shop. For their Folds and Creases exhibit, Walthamstow artists' collective Original Army have created a series of small worlds made entirely out of paper, maps and old books. They could have signposted their work better, as many people just walked past assuming that there was nothing behind the newsprint, which is a shame. The peephole that shows Alison Povor's poem, Perspective was slightly too small for me to be able to make out all the words.