Arts and Graft

"I'll be back" said Arnie.

I know I said I wouldn't blip every day following my 365, but old habits die hard, and I have still been taking my blip shots and writing them up anyway, but just not posting them for some strange reason. Not sure what all that is about. So, in the meantime...

Thompson Dagnall's 2000 work called Arte et Labore here, is his 100-ton sculpture carved from the hard Millstone Grit of the Pennines for Blackburn with Darwen Council to overlook junction 4 of the M65. The turn of the Millennium was a golden age for public art investment like this thanks to Angel of the North.

My trusty Google Translate confirmed Blackburn interpretation that the Latin name for this work (and chiselled into it's stone) means 'Skill and Labour'. This same motto is shared by both town and football team alike.

I was curious about this, because different combinations I found, came up with the more obvious translation of 'arte' as being, err well, 'art'. It made me wonder, if skill and hard graft used to create an artform instantly relegated it to a plainer type of artisan craft?

Blackburn's civic take on their motto is unsurprising given the town's rapid growth via the enterprise of it's cotton traders and master spinners. We were reminded of this spirit of entrepreneurialism most recently in the Isles of Wonder scene of Bury-born Danny Boyle with his bonkers Olympic opener last year.

The same motto applied to Blackburn Rovers FC though suggested to me their emphasis maybe should remain on maintaining a hard work ethic, rather than pursuing their art through a more beautiful game. Recently demoted from the Premiership, and now languishing mid table in the n-power Championship, Rovers are owned by Indian-based poultry magnate Venkys. I guess that Sky has fallen in on this club from it's earlier heyday (literally): Media income lost equals a Chicken-Licken scale of economic fallout for modern football clubs following the departure of Sky TV.

The same argument for belt-tightening applies to public art today. With massive staffing cuts and budget savings currently being announced by Blackburn with Darwen Council, the pressure to justify art and cultural spending is growing. Game on.