GOOGLE BLOGGER: Album Archive no longer available after 19 July 2023

This is IMPORTANT for all those users of Google Blogger who would like to download their images.

For those using Blogger, you may be aware that all the images you have uploaded to Blogger over time are available in something called Google Archive.

The link to Google Archive for your Google Account is https://get.google.com/albumarchive/ plus a long number which relates to the Google Account you use.

However Google Archive is going away.

Technology giant Google has announced that it is shutting down its Album Archive feature. It will no longer be available to Google users starting July 19, 2023. For those unaware, Album Archive feature allows users to view and manage content from different Google products

So if you want to access easily all the images you have uploaded to your Blogger Blog or other Google Products in the past, you need to download them

For me, some of the images are on old computers which I blew up through overuse(!), so the archive is important to me to remind me what exists in photography or paper form.

How to download your images from Google Archive

You can do this in one of two ways

If you've previously accessed Google Archive, Google knows and will have sent you an email about what to do. 

Basically, in the email Google explains how it wants you to use a function called Google Takeout

• this is a bit longwinded - depending on how many images you have stored.
• you say what you want done with your images
• then Google downloads them - but this can take a long time - so you then have to watch out for the email which says they can now be accessed.
• BUT whether you get what you want is debatable!

I can tell you what what you get this route is NOT necessarily the same as all the images in your Google Archive i.e. what happened to me

However if you go to the Blogger Album bit of your archive, you can also access past album stores of images and download them direct to your hard drive. 

THIS IS WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO DOWNLOAD YOUR IMAGES

• go to the three vertical dots top right corner of the view of your images in the archive
• click download the album
• you will then get a file of all your images.

You have until 19 July 2023 to download your pics.

Sketches from 2011 in the Blogger Album for my Sketchbook blog

This is what I did a while back when I realised that Google was at some point going to get rid of access to the Archive.

I'm now checking to make sure I've accessed and downloaded everything I want to.

The big question for me is if they get rid of the archive what happens to all the images on my blog going back 18 years? 

Will they still load?

Banksy Cut & Run - Solo Exhibition at Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow

Banksy is having a solo exhibition for the first time in 14 years and it's OFFICIAL i.e. unlike other exhibitions of his work, Banksy Cut and Run is being mounted with his full involvement and co-operation.

It's been in planning mode for two years - in total secrecy - and is now installed and OPENS on Sunday in Gallery 1 at the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow! Dates for public admission are 18th June until 28th August 2023. (Ticket details below). 

Tickets are currently available for general admission from 18/06/2023 to 01/07/2023

The show, which will feature work from right across his career, is called CUT & RUN: 25 years card labour. It includes:

• new versions of his work made from the original stencils
• works which are painted rather than just stencilled

Works include:

• Kissing Coppers which first appeared on a wall of the Prince Albert pub in Brighton in 2004.
• Mobile Lovers, from Bristol in 2014, which features a hugging couple who are both looking at their screen over the other's shoulder.

The BBC have been allowed to help highlight its opening and have a really informative article
Banksy to stage first solo exhibition in 14 years in Glasgow - which also has a video of what it looks like

The latest show aims to reveal the whole behind-the-scenes process of how his works are made, with original sketches on display as well as the stencils, which have been painted on to give them a new lease of life.

It will open right the way through the night at the weekend in order to cope with the demand for tickets. Hours are as follows

• Sunday – Thursday: 9am – 11pm
• Friday and Saturday: 9am – 5am the following morning

At weekends we are open all night but please be aware the show contains tight spaces, fragile items and disorientating light effects, if you show up appearing to be very intoxicated you may be refused entry.

Tickets

• Adult - £15
• Child - £5
• Student/OAP/low waged/tight fisted - £10
• Carers free
• A limited amount of walk up tickets are available each day from the box office.

This is the link to book tickets for a timed slot

Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow

The Gallery of Modern art in Glasgow opened in 1996 in a neoclassical building in Royal Exchange Square in the heart of Glasgow city centre.

The Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow - picture in 2018

It claims to be the most visited modern art gallery in Scotland.  It is open daily and is free to enter.

GoMA is the most visited modern art gallery in Scotland. It is a unique place that uses modern art to inspire an exchange of powerful ideas about life and human experiences.

Outside the Gallery, there is a statue of the Duke of Wellington which regularly has a cone placed on his head. Apparently it's one of the reasons why Banksy thought this was the right gallery for his solo exhibition.

CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

GoMA and The Library at GOMA are open :

• Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday: 10 – 5
• Friday & Sunday: 11 – 5

Entry is FREE

As indicated above, it will be opening through the night for the duration of the exhibition

Simon Tolhurst - the man who draws cancer patients

It was a pleasure last night to see an item on BBC's The One Show about an artist, called Simon Tolhurst, who goes into hospitals treating cancer patients to draw the patients.

Uplifting and inspiring! @vicderbyshire sheds some light on the unsung heroes providing a much-needed distraction from cancer treatment ❤️ #TheOneShow 👉 https://t.co/Y4PS4GQPcL pic.twitter.com/Ou7GtTj1z7

— BBC The One Show (@BBCTheOneShow) June 13, 2023

Below are a couple of screenshots from the programme of his drawing done while the patient was receiving treatment and then the patient looking at her portrait - and for me - her face says it all!

I gather this isn't the first time he's received a profile on the media - but it was certainly the first time I'd come across him. 

His official title is the HCC UCLH Portrait Artist in Residence at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - and he's been working in this way since 2013.

It's all part of the a a project run by Haematology Cancer Care (HCC) at the University College London Hospital (UCLH) Charity to make portraits of people at the UCLH Macmillan Cancer Centre. 

• He visits the centre on a weekly basis and makes pencil drawing portraits of patients and their relatives. 
• The project is free
• All sitters receive signed prints of their drawing. 
• More importantly, many of the sitters get a very real benefit in terms 
• I'm proposing to exhibit all the drawings together at a later date and prints of selected drawings are displayed in the hospital. 

The project has been featured by both television and print media

• Cancer centre's artist Simon Tolhurst calls portraits uplifting | BBC
• Portrait artist in residence at cancer centre describes ‘unique, uplifting’ work at UCLH | ITV

Thank you to the Press Association and journalist @LilyFord for their article about the Portrait Project for @HCC_UCLH at UCH Macmillan Cancer Centre, here is the article on the @BBCNews website.https://t.co/ZZHeTjBfVR#portrait #drawing @uclh

— Simon Tolhurst (@SimonTolhurst) April 3, 2023

You can see more of his drawings of patients and exhibition on his 

• blog/website
• Twitter account
• Instagram account

During the pandemic, when obviously he could not visit the hospital, he also drew NHS staff - via the Wellcome Institute and a video link. This was part of the Arts & Heritage team’s Creative Comfort initiative to support staff wellbeing. see UCLH Staff Drawings Update and Exhibition News!

I'm now left wondering how many artists have attached themselves to other Cancer Centres or places where patients receive long term treatment for potentially life threatening illnesses. 

It would be nice to think this project is not just a "one off". There's been projects to bring Paintings in Hospitals for a long time. 

Maybe this should be broadened out to include "Artists in Hospitals" as well?

Review: 162nd Annual Exhibition of Society of Women Artists (2023)

This week sees the 162nd Annual Exhibition of the The Society of Women Artists' at the Mall Galleries. I highly recommend you get along to the Mall Galleries if you can before it closes 5pm on Saturday 10th June.

This post covers:

• how to see the exhibition
• what I liked about this exhibition - and what niggles I had 
• the Prize and Award Winners
• an archive of my past reviews of previous SWA exhibitions

West Gallery - the end wall and what you can't see from the entrance!

It's an international exhibition with artwork being produced by women artists from the UK and abroad. 

• This year it comprises 488 artworks - paintings and drawings in all media, fine art prints and ceramics, sculpture & other 3D works 
• At: Mall Galleries
• Dates: 6 June 2023 to 10 June 2023 (10am - 5pm) - it's shorter this year
• Admission: £3
• You can also see the exhibition online
• You can also see my photos in albums on Facebook:
• West Gallery
• East Gallery
• North Gallery

I was a little apprehensive going see it yesterday. However my concerns about how well I was (recovering from bad laryngitis + experiencing bad hay fever!) went out the window as soon as I arrived and my eyes were assaulted by a visual feast. There's nothing like a good art exhibition to make you feel better!

This was once I'd got past the guard on the door. Lots of visitors to the exhibition and events meant the doorman had to count people in only after people left the previous evening. When I walked in I could see why - the place was buzzing with activity and people viewing the art

What I like about the SWA Exhibition

East Gallery at the end of the day - when you scan the gallery

These are some of the things that the SWA do really well in my opinion.

The SWA create a VERY diverse and eclectic exhibition with a wide variety of media, subject matter, individual styles and LOTS of innovative artwork. 

• It's a bit like the RBA Exhibition - but on steroids. 
• It generated a "wow" from me from the top of the stairs! It's an exhibition you will not forget visiting!
• those who are interested can review my photos on Facebook (see links above) and those on the SWA's Facebook Page

West Gallery from the stairs

This is a Society which is not afraid of colour and the exhibition is always bright, colourful and energising.  I suspect this probably means dull and worthy artwork gets excluded at the selection stage.

some of the colourful artwork in the West Gallery

Colourful artwork in the East Gallery mixed with perspective on being female

This is a Society which ALWAYS has a ratio of 50:50 for member artworks and those selected from the Open Entry. This to me is the mark of an art society which takes it role in starting artists' careers seriously.

The artwork by members and non-members is mixed right across all three galleries. There's none of the nonsense of members insisting they must be in the West Gallery and all the open can go in the North! Hence there's a more unified sense with themes being used in part and a better balance across the exhibition. It feels like a more emancipated exhibition!

Call for Entries: Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition 2023

This is about the Call for Entries for the Annual Exhibition 2023 of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. It covers:

• Exhibition Dates and Prizes
• Who can enter
• What you can enter
• How to enter

The deadline for digital entries only is 12 noon on Friday 28 July.

One of the walls in the RSMA Annual Exhibition in 2022

The RSMA seeks submissions of art inspired by the sea and marine environment, including harbours and shorelines, traditional craft and contemporary shipping, creeks, beaches, wildlife - in short anything that involves tidal water.

The Exhibition and Prizes on Offer

The RSMA Annual Exhibition 2023 - at the Mall Galleries

The Society's annual exhibition is widely recognised as a showcase for the best in contemporary marine art, with selected work from the open entry hung alongside the work of RSMA members.

The exhibition will be 

• open to the public between 21st - 30th September 2023 
• at the Mall Galleries in London.

There is an invitation only Private View on 20th September. 

If you want to know what it will look like, take a look at some of my reviews of previous exhibitions listed at the bottom of this blog post.

Prizes and Awards

This is an exhibition which generates a decent level of sponsorship of various awards. Notably, unlike most of the art societies exhibiting at the Mall Galleries, the prizes and awards in this annual exhibition are predominantly monetary in nature - with over £9,000 in cash awards and over £350 value in art materials - plus two publication awards

I've categorised them below. You can see what won last year in my post  Royal Society of Marine Artists - Prizes and Awards 2022