Latest news with #NeilWalker
NZ Herald
01-06-2025
- General
- NZ Herald
King's Birthday Honours 2025: Taranaki councillor Neil Walker made officer of the NZ Order of Merit
Councillor, grandfather, and committee man Neil Walker has been made an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours. The Hawera man has been awarded the honour for his services to primary industries and the community. Walker grew up on
BBC News
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Stoke-on-Trent's centenary logo recreated using 4,000 Lego pieces
A man has used more than 4,000 pieces of Lego to build a model of a city's centenary Walker used the plastic bricks to create a large-scale model of Stoke-on-Trent's official centenary logo, which commemorates the city's 100th anniversary this construction, which took 77 hours of work and used 4,016 pieces of Lego, is on display at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery until the end of enthusiast Mr Walker created the plastic artwork after he issued a call-out in April for people to donate spare Lego bricks. The logo contains references to Stoke-on-Trent's rich pottery industry and includes other well-known symbols of the city, which include a Spitfire, a bottle oven and the Burslem Angel, which is a gilded copper angel that stands on top of the old town Steve Watkins, deputy lord mayor of Stoke-on-Trent, said the display was a "wonderful gesture" and a reminder of how Lego could "bring joy to all ages"."I hope this display inspires young visitors to build their own ideas and reminds grown-ups that you're never too old to play," he Walker, who is known as StokieLego on social media, added that he was "absolutely blown away" by the support."I needed a lot of Lego to bring this to life, and the community came through," he added."The final design is mostly flat, but I've added some raised elements to give it depth. The kiln and Spitfire literally stand out, just like they do in our city's story." Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Scotsman
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Art reviews: Walker & Bromwich Trading Zone 2025
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Walker & Bromwich: Searching for a Change of Consciousness, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh ★★★★ Trading Zone 2025, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh ★★★ Andrew J Brooks: TOLL – Five Years On, The Paper Factory, Edinburgh ★★★★ Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Neil Walker and Zoe Bromwich have a well established art practice, but this is the first gallery survey of their work because their projects generally happen out in the world, after lengthy periods of social engagement. Over more than two decades, the Glasgow-based duo has carved out a niche for participatory work which is idealistic in attitude and celebratory in tone and features large-scale inflatable sculptures. Three of these squeezed into Talbot Rice's Georgian Gallery is an impressive sight: the 35-metre Serpent of Capitalism has to coil in on itself just to fit. That said, while they are striking in scale, the sculptures are inseparable from the contexts for which they were made. Each is accompanied by a documentary film. The Serpent of Capitalism was borne aloft at a music festival in Denmark in 2018, accompanied by chanting figures in priestly garb. The aim was to reclaim the 'sacred' serpent, part of various ancient and indigenous origin stories, which has been 'corrupted' into a symbol of capitalism (the duo were inspired by a political allegory by Walter Crane). This work encapsulates some key Walker & Bromwich ideas: concerns with systems, the planet and social justice; inspiration from ancient and indigenous cultures; a desire to open up space for considering alternative futures. The suite of watercolours in the upper gallery express many of these ideas too, showing the importance of drawing and painting in the development of the work. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Installation view of the Walker & Bromwich exhibition at Talbot Rice Gallery PIC: Sally Jubb The Encampment of Eternal Hope is one such space for discussion and activities, framed by inflatable missiles which morph into trees and cannons which blossom (the Love Cannon has been part of the W&B repertoire since 2005, featuring in their most recent work in Indonesia in 2024). It has been staged several times, including during COP26 when it provided a platform for representatives of indigenous peoples from the Colombian Amazon to talk about climate change. Arguably, the most powerful work here, though, is Slate or State, a community engagement project carried out in North Wales in 2017. Penrhyn Castle was once home to the Pennant family who made their fortune in the plantations and had a similarly unenlightened attitude towards the workers in their slate quarry, one of the largest in the world. A bitter three-year strike at the turn of the century pitted workers against owners, and workers against one another, creating deep fissures in the nearby village of Bethesda which are still felt today. In a visionary commission by National Trust Wales, which is now responsible for the castle, Walker & Bromwich were invited to explore that history. A programme of community engagement culminated in a procession from village to castle by the local male voice choir, bearing aloft an inflatable sculpture of a volcanic rock named Talcen Mawr, found in the quarry, which proved resistant to quarriers and became a symbol of resistance. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Defenders of Faith, 2025 by Eilidh McKeown at Talbot Rice Gallery In the accompanying film we see them process with real solemnity, sing their protest songs on the castle lawn then knock on the door demanding entry. While the serpent at the music festival feels like hard-wrought idealism imposed on a bunch of revellers, this is socially engaged art at its best, an indication of the power of symbolism to reclaim a story, even one in which the participants are long dead, in order to bring about some kind of healing. Reference points from ancient myth and times of political idealism are evident in the emerging art in Talbot Rice's 'student exhibition', Trading Zone 2025. Reviving the tradition of a student show for the gallery's 50th anniversary year, eleven bodies of work have been selected, from ECA graduates and PhD students in art, design and creative writing. Keziah Greenwood draws on mythic creatures, particularly the chimera, to look at the experience of otherness in an installation which looks a lot like a theatrical set. Inayah looks to myth too, drawing on Buraq, a winged horse in Islamic mythology, to explore the experiences of young, queer Muslims. Eilidh McKeown is interested in who and what incurs faith in contemporary post-industrial communities which have lost the identities and politics they once had. She has created a beautifully tongue-in-cheek banner featuring money guru Martin Lewis and imprinted slogans on slices of toast. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Toll: Five Years On at the Paper Mill, Edinburgh Several of the artists are concerned with providing a platform for voices and stories which might not otherwise be told: illustrator Hanayo Kabuta uses words and images to tell the stories of people affected by war in Syria and the West Bank. Emily Beaney's analogue film, Deviant, giving a voice to the experiences of women suffering from endometriosis, is one of the strongest works here. Ross Dickson is fascinated by archaeology and ancient sites, but his packed installation feels confused and confusing. Victoria Evans' multi-channel sound composition uses data from satellites to altered domestic sounds, but it's a tough listen. While there are interesting subjects here, some of the artists need to focus more on what they want to say and how to communicate that to an audience. While Trading Zone is beautifully curated and installed by Talbot Rice's James Clegg, this doesn't always make up for the moments when the work fails to communicate. It's hard to believe it's been five years since the first recorded death in the UK from Covid-19. Artist, architect and musician Andrew J Brooks marked the occasion by showing his monumental work on paper, TOLL, for two days only at the Paper Factory on Turnhouse Road, the former industrial complex now managed by Hidden Door which will host their festival in June. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Fully unrolled in this show for the first time, TOLL is 60 metres long – even in the vast Crane Shed it had to be shown in two pieces. Brooks has made a mark in ink for each of the lives lost to Covid in the first year of the pandemic, a shocking 145,652. He also filmed the making of the work in 52 performances, one week of deaths at a time, a total of some 37 hours. The work reveals the week-by-week ramping up of the pandemic: five deaths in the first week became 115 in the second, 610 in the third and within a few weeks over 9,000. As many lives were lost in the second wave as in the first, while politicians partied and gave PPE contracts to their cronies. This is a memorial, yes, but it's about anger too: some of these deaths were preventable. Mostly, though, it's about trying to fit our heads around the scale of the loss, one relentless mark at a time. Life moved on, but not for everyone. Covid changed us in so many ways, and every so often, we need to stop and remember.
BBC News
19-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Stoke-on-Trent's centenary logo to be recreated in Lego
A man from Stoke-on-Trent is set to build a version of the city's centenary logo out of symbols of the city, a Spitfire and a bottle kiln, will be incorporated into the plastic brick construction - which is being put together by Neil Walker from Sneyd finished, it is planned to go on display at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in the will need a total of about 5,000 bricks, according to the council, and is now seeking further donations of Lego to help him complete the project. He is specifically in need of blue, white and grey bricks as well as rarer gold-coloured ones."I think it's fantastic for families that do donate, because when they go and see it at the Potteries museum the fact that they know some of their bricks are part of the build is amazing," Mr Walker said. Stoke-on-Trent first obtained city status from His Majesty King George V in 1925, as the monarch recognised the area's considerable contribution to the pottery industry. Any bricks left over from the Lego centenary build will be donated to a local Samaritans shop, Mr Walker his spare time, he volunteers for the charity and also runs a men's mental health support group on said he found building Lego was calming."When you're building Lego, it's the same as reading a book or doing exercise."You're switched off from everything else that's going on around you," he said."If I've had a bad day at work or I'm a little bit stressed or anxious, I go to build a Lego set and straight away I find it really calming."The structure will be 81cm by 81cm, and should be finished by mid-May, he in the year it is expected to go on a tour of city's museums and local schools. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Ebensburg catholic school gets visit from former Pirates player
EBENSBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) — Former Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman and current broadcaster Neil Walker visited Holy Name Catholic School and Church as part of Catholic Schools Week. The last week of January means the start of Catholic Schools Week, where some schools celebrate Catholic education in the United States. Schools participating in the weeklong celebration create different masses, assemblies and other activities to show off their school. For Holy Name, Tuesday marked a celebration of community. That prompted the student body and faculty to pull their black and gold gear out of their closets with the announcement of Neil Walker appearing, to the sound of applause as he entered the cafeteria. State Rep. Frank Burns secures $350,000 for park improvements in Cambria County 'You see little kids being very excited, and the older ones kind of almost feel like little kids again, so to speak,' Holy Name Church pastor Fr. Brian Warchola said. 'Even the adults who will come later on today, it's huge. It's just a day to meet somebody who's just a very humble man and a great Catholic and person.' Walker visited the church two years ago to speak among the congregation about how his faith helped him make the major leagues. This past baseball season, Fr. Warchola texted Walker, who was also at the ballpark, to see if he wanted to return to the church, to which he agreed. Even on the second visit, he still recalls being in those chairs during his time at St. Alphonsus Catholic School in Wexford, Pa. 'I can remember certainly being their age and going through Catholic Schools Week, and some of the fun things that you were able to do to break up the winter months and feeling like you're stuck inside all the time,' Walker added. 'To be able to come, especially in the offseason of the pirates and for me, is always really enjoyable.' The current color commentator for the Pirates spent the morning signing autographs and taking photos with staff and students. He even offered them pieces of advice to those who wanted to make it to the show. 'I know that these kids are impressionable at their age and hopefully let them see that anything is possible,' the MLB veteran said. After the students were done, the public entered the cafeteria to hear from Walker about how his faith helped him in his career and life. The message reminds those in attendance that even in the grandest of stages, humility and praise can go a long way. 'God gave Neil the superior athletic abilities to play professional sports, and He gives us all gifts,' Fr. Warchola added. 'It's a better way to thank him for that and never to put yourself on a pedestal, but always humble yourself and give all glory to the Almighty God.' Residents and parishioners stepped up to the plate to grab those autographs and photos with the Pine Richland kid. As they get the signal to head home, there is more than just a signature on a card or baseball. 'The kids will remember this when they're 90 years old,' Fr. Warchola said. 'They will remember this day, and it will be an opportunity for them to look back on our Catholic education and just be thankful they came to Holy Name and wherever that led them.' 'This is always really enjoyable,' Walker added. 'To see the kids have a smile on their face is always pretty cool, too.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
