Ever listened to a radio drama and wondered where all the sound effects come from? Perhaps some one goes around with a recording device and captures them one by one. How ever they're gathered, it's now possible to browse 16,000 of them in one place. The BBC sound effects archive is a new website which allows visitors to download and listen to a huge library of recordings. They're all labelled and contain time information so those serious enough can find exactly what they need.


The archive is made available on the RemArc Licence which means its free to use for personal, educational, or research purposes. This basically means that they don't want them to be used commercially, so we can't sell them or use them to make other things to then sell.


RemArc licences are intended for people who find benefits from reminiscing. Reminiscing Archive rules allow people to freely explore recordings without payment. This has been shown particularly valuable for people with mental disorders such as dementia. 

​Find the BBC Sound Effects Archive here.

Suffering is a reality for us all, and yet for some it is overwhelmingly greater than the civilised norm. Often suffering occurs at the hands of others which in a way is the worst kind. The malicious or avoidable kind of suffering leaves individuals feeling helpless and diminished. Emotional pain can linger and manifest through our future behaviours which is why people choose to talk about their ordeals in therapy or with friends. Another way of communicating our suffering and emotional history is to make art.


This is where we meet Paul Junior Casimir. Accused of arson and jailed, as an ex-convict from Haiti, he has a big story to tell about the appalling conditions he and others were forced to endure. Casimir grew up around art, as his father was a painter, so it comes naturally to him to create art in a way to express his anguished tale. He had also held down a job at a puppet show, assisting artists and helping behind the scenes. This gave him the knowledge he needed to create a multidimensional expression of the suffering he has known.


Casimir knows that the Haitian justice system needs a lot of changes, and that because of its failings many people are going through misery. Many convicts die in jail or have records disappear so they never get released. The conditions are cramped and basic with people crammed into small spaces like battery animals. During this period behind bars, Casimir began to form catastrophic images in his mind about death and illness. He became plagued with images of horrific echoes of what he lived with every day. Unable to escape from the torments of the jail, only the letters received by a kind French pen pal kept him together.


The 35 year old has created an exhibition that communicates the emotions and feelings that he feels about his experience in the Haiti prison. It involves paper mache figures clinging on to iron bars, men cooped up in coffin sized cells with no room to move. There is a puppet show that re-enacts some of the scenes that has stuck in his mind. The show has already enjoyed a time at the French Institute and was given a glowing reception from the Haiti Bureau of Human Rights. After the massive 7.0 earthquake in the nation a few years ago, the main prison was never repaired and yet still holds thousands of inmates. This desperate plea for justice from one of the lucky ones who got out is now installed in Haiti's National Library.


Via City Lab.

Inspiration in antiquity is always a solid foundation. If something has stood the test that time presents then the wisdom it holds is good enough for other works. Many songs take notice of other famous works, the symmetry within media can be found in all of its walks. The important thing is to do something in a style unique to your project, and if its rooted in something much deeper and resounding with culture then it's no problem at all.


So to know that the Library of Congress in Washington has allowed their collection of British folk music and plays to be fully accessible online is a magnificent contribution to not only music but culture as a whole. The West coast sound that is famous all over the world has many roots in Irish music which is in turn intimately related to the British folk sound. Many other forms of music can show similar genealogies. 


So how did this collection happen? Who collected it? It all began with a PhD student named James Madison Carpenter. After training at Harvard, he spent his entire working life from 1928 as a scholar of British folk. Travelling up and down the country, travelling thousands of miles in total, he collated over 3000 full musical works. Many of them were caught on wax recording devices. In 1972 Carpenter sold his entire collection including manuscripts, notes, and the all important recordings to the Library of Congress who digitised it.


It''s been on a long journey, and 90 years since the idea was put into action the whole world can benefit from this collection. Go ahead and explore the database.

Love Orgnanic, love wine? Look no further.

Ashley Howard is well known for his creative pottery and ceramics exhibitions. Since his studies in the 1980s, Howard has travelled and explored various techniques and methodologies which he establishes as inspired pieces. Also as a lecturer for the University of Creative Arts, based in Kent, England, Ashley Howard has helped to develop many more creative minds much to his credit.


The latest showing is called Meditations and reveals Shigaraki style pottery within the walls of Guildford Cathedral. The fragile yet exquisite quality ceramic work is painted in Howard's colourful style. In 2014, Professor Ashley discovered the illusive Shigaraki region and indulged in their timeless ceramic making techniques. Taking the wisdom home with him, Meditations unveils how pottery and spirituality can be intimately linked.


The fragility of the works which are placed on the ground in evenly spaced units of area, almost inspire a sense of fear for their safety. As people approach and walk up to view the works, extreme care must be taken not to damage them. Perhaps Howard feels this sensation when meditating on the spirit or the fragility of life itself.


The Meditations exhibit is available to all at Guildford Cathedral from April 5th to 18th May 2018.


Via University of Creative Arts Blog

Bohemian Ceramic Tiles Patterns Stair Stickers
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​Famous for the magnificent and mysterious Nasca lines, the ancient ground works of Peru dwarf many other similar phenomena around the world. The collection of hundreds of images which decorate the region of Nasca has been mapped and studied passionately by many inspired archaeologists. Their secrets remain ravelled in the blankets of time,with only theories in place as to what they could have been for.


For all this time, while scores of educated and well read folk flocked to the famous Nasca province, sitting next door in the Palpa region were another set of images laying completely undisturbed. Because of their ancient origins, the line art is so faded that the human eye simply cannot distinguish it properly without the aid of technology. Finding the works required the use of drones to get a bird's eye view of the mysterious desert.


It's believed that the images were created by not only the Nasca culture, which disappeared around 700 AD, but also by previous peoples such as the Paracas and Topara, These civilisations predate the Nasca to around 500BC to 200AD. Perhaps the forefathers of the geoglyph creating philosophy, the images do not always resemble the more recent Nasca lines.


Where as the Nasca lines studied polygons and straight lines, the earlier works depict figures. Most of the people illustrated were warriors, and unlike Nasca, the Paracas images were designed to be visible from the ground. Perhaps as a warning to wandering tribes, images of warriors on the hillside would demonstrate that the area was well guarded.


The images enrich the understanding of these early cultures and help to align events along the line of Peru's deep history. The evolution of the modern day Peru has taken many turns and by studying the unique and individual works of art from past epochs an even deeper understanding of the modern mindset can be compiled.


Attention was drawn to the area after Greenpeace staged a demonstration at the site of one of the Nasca artworks. The area was irreparably damaged by the careless protestors and it called for the whole area to be mapped and pictured immediately thus saving the vital information the rocks contain for ever.

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” Leonardo Da Vinci


The fifteenth century art master, Leonardo Da Vinci, is perhaps best known for his work, “The Last Supper”. It's a magnificent painting. Visitors to the masterpiece have to book viewings and only a handful of people can enter the room at one time. For those with the patience, it's considered a truly worthwhile experience.


Not only skilled in the painted arts, Da Vinci also had a talent for engineering, sculpture, and sketching. He was also a professional draughtsman meaning he had expertise in law. This truly multi-talented individual was a key figure in the Italian Renaissance and is often regarded at the archetype for the ethic of the time.


The famous drawing of Vitruvian Man, which shows a human figure in perfect proportion and with arms and legs in geometric positions, is the iconic image that we all remember. It's used in many things and speaks volumes in terms of aesthetic and dynamic. Leonardo is known to have drawn many others though, and they're all equally as good. His hand truly had a gift in the way it could capture the true likeness of what the eye could see.


It's been there for twenty years, according to the headline, but it's news to me and so probably for you too. The entire collection of Da Vinci's drawings and sketches are all online in one place. Take inspiration from the master himself, perhaps see if there's anything you can replicate, or mix up and play with. Take a look.