text:
Go Back
Great North Air Ambulance

Great North Air Ambulance

Derek Slack Motors in Teesside, were delighted to be chosen as Skoda main dealer supplying two new vehicles to the Great North Air Ambulance-rapid response team. Both the new Skoda Octavia 4x4 Estate and Skoda Octavia vRS Estate will strengthen the Great North Air Ambulance’s support to those in the air.

Tony Slack, dealer principle at Derek Slack Motors said, “The Great North Air Ambulance provide an invaluable high speed platform reaching seriously ill or injured people, ensuring they receive the best possible treatment in the shortest possible time. The helicopter and rapid response-vehicle support team, can quickly bring a team of doctors, paramedics and consultant to incidents which are often in difficult or isolated locations. Both vehicles are ideally equipped to provide road support. The Skoda Octavia 4x4 Estate offers greater security in adverse weather and the Skoda vRS Estate, combines powerful performance with practicality.”

On Friday 21 January at Durham Tees valley Airport, managing director, Derek Slack, along with dealer principle, Tony Slack handed the keys to the Great North Air Ambulance’s director of operations, Kevin Hodgson and head of fund-raising, Mandy Drake.

“We’re delighted with both vehicles’, said Mandy. “Funding for the Skodas came through the Durham Freemasons, a non profit making organisation involved in supporting charity and service to the community. Without the help of public support and organisations such as the Durham Freemasons our aim to extend and seek improvement to emergency pre-hospital and inter hospital care across our region wouldn’t be possible. We’re extremely grateful to the Durham Freemasons help in raising funds to purchase both Skodas, and also to Derek Slack Motors, main dealers for Skoda for supplying the vehicles.

Kevin Hodgson-director of  operations added, “If for some reason the helicopters are unable to attend an incident, our trauma team use the road vehicles to treat at the scene before patients are taken to the most appropriate hospital, rather than the nearest which can avoid more delays by further inter-hospital transfer. We’re delighted with the support from Durham Freemasons and Derek Slack Motors, helping to make the Great North Air Ambulance a real life saver.”

Make an Enquiry

Your Details

Between 3 and 60 characters.

Must be a valid email address. Between 5 and 100 characters.

Between 1 and 100 characters.

Min 5, max 5000 characters.

We’ll be in touch soon. If you’d like to receive updates about our products and services please select from the following boxes, by doing so you accept the terms of our Privacy Policy
Security Check

Please complete the captcha.

Latest News

Middlesbrough College Golf Team Sponsorship

Derek Slack Motors are proud to support the Middlesbrough College Golf Academy…

Read more >

Paloma Faith joins British music stars in new ŠKODA ‘I Gotta Be Me’ UK campaign to champion individuality

Paloma Faith, The Kingdom Choir, Lady Leshurr, Alexis Ffrench, and The Sherlocks…

Read more >


Content-Type: application/http; msgtype=response

WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: text/html

WARC-Type: response

text:
Getty Images

Hand in your designer item(s) for the exclusive Designer-Vintage Pop-Up Store

The time has come: our first exclusive Designer-Vintage Pop-up Store and you're invited!

Do you have a gem laying around in your closet that deserves a second life? Then this is your unique opportunity to sell it!

What do you have to do?

  1. Mail photos of the item(s) that you would like to sell to with your name and telephone number
  2. We make a selection of the most beautiful items and contact you for an appointment
  3. Drop off the designer item(s) at our office

Important: you can hand in the item(s) untill 26 April at the latest.

What conditions must the designer item meet?

  • Preference for bags
  • Think of the real gems of brands such as Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Hèrmes, Celine, Chloé, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent
  • Condition of the item must be good to excellent
  • We use a one-off 20% commission per item sold (instead of 25%!)
  • After the Pop-up, the item will be placed online for 2 months through our VIP service

Mail us your most beautiful designer item(s) and who knows, your pearl will soon be stealing the show in our exclusive Pop-Up Store!

Want to cash out your own closet?

warcinfo:
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2019-18
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for April 2019
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-169-175-90.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.15 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.1-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/


text:
Last edited 28 Aug 2012

Construction slump - perfect storm

Statistics come out about the construction industry every week. And they always seem to be bad. But what do they really mean?

To try and answer this, and to get a bit of perspective, we've written a report that takes the long view.

How does the economic outlook today compare with the last ten years?

Here are a few of the headlines:

  • Private sector construction collapsed after the credit crunch.
  • But the public sector stepped in with a massive increase in spending, so overall the industry didn't fair too badly until the beginning of this year.
  • Over the last 6-9 months however public sector funding has started to dry up.
  • As a result, right now, total output is 9% lower than it was in 2002.
  • If public sector cuts continue, the private sector will need to grow by more than a third of a billion pounds a quarter just to maintain current output.
  • At the moment there are no signs that the private sector is growing.

Click on the link below to read the report:

The State of UK Construction: A Ten Year View.

Or download it as a PDF with bonus comments and possible solutions from David Trench:

File:The state of UK construction - Designing Buildings Wiki.pdf

See our suggestions for how to get construction back on track. Just click on the Discussion link at the top of this page.

Read an article in The Express about our report.

To start a discussion about this article, click 'Add a comment' above and add your thoughts to this discussion page.

Too many people believe the tap can be turned on and off easily and the full flow of employment and economic benefit will be quickly reached. This is not the case. Construction projects have a lead time that generally takes longer than the build period - new airport facilities (such as Terminal 5) take over a decade in planning and design.

So how should the government address these issues in order to galvanise the construction industry and stimulate the economy, beyond possible plans to ease planning laws and reduce enforced quotas for social housing?

Here are Designing Buildings Wiki’s top five solutions:

  1. Re-introduce tax relief on mortgages. This would instantly encourage house builders to dust off their mothballed schemes to meet the surge in demand and affordability.
  2. Re-introduce a selective employment tax giving tax breaks for employees engaged in manufacturing. This would help redress the balance between manufacturing and service industries and act as a catalyst for construction companies to seek out ways of prefabricating assemblies off site in factories. Inevitably this will lead to regions hard hit by the downturn capturing contracts for sites that might be hundreds of miles away.
  3. Re-introduce stock relief allowances. This would encourage continuity of supplies instead of the current stop/go “just in time” policies that hamper efficient production right up the supply chain.
  4. Avoid focusing on new grand projects. Instead kick start those projects that have been placed on hold, that have planning consent and that have a completed design. These are the projects where funding dried up following the banking crisis. A National Development Agency staffed by highly qualified individuals should examine such schemes and assess economic viability prior to the government standing as guarantor to a reputable funding institution.
  5. Re-introduce capital allowances. Ernst & Young calculate that UK corporations are sitting on a staggering £750 billion, around half the UK’s GDP. These companies prefer to use the cash to reduce debt, rather than take it on. To get things moving and release this cash the government should re-introduce generous capital allowances not only for plant, machinery and stock but for refurbishment of premises. Refurbishment requires short lead in times and seldom involves planning consent. It is fast turnover with labour peeking much more quickly than for new developments.


text:
Design Superstore offers hundreds of window covering and treatment options for you to choose from.

Come to the Waco store to see all our Window treatment options!

Window coverings and treatments offer privacy and energy efficiency while creating a finished look to your home. With Design Superstore’s tremendous buying power we are able to offer you custom sized shades and shutters for your home at a price close to what you would pay for a standard off the shelf product from a home improvement store. We also have solutions for windows of every shape and size. This means you won’t have excess blind sitting on your sill, cords on the floor or a straight cut shutter on an arched window. Our professionals will measure and install your window treatments properly to ensure they look great and operate perfectly.

We offer a large selection of HunterDouglas designer shades and blinds along with many value brands and options. Custom curtains, drapes, swags and more are also available. Visit our Waco Superstore to see all the design choices and fabrics available.


text:
Ester Kim, widow of Stephen Kim, talks about the challenges her family faces in the wake of the death of her husband. Rodney White/The Register

Ester Kim and her three little sons had just finished viewing the body of husband and father Stephen Kim on Friday morning. They sat shoulder to shoulder on a sofa at the Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home in Urbandale. The rain poured down outside.

The boys wore pressed white shirts.

Joseph, 8, David, 6, and Martin, 4, were waiting in the car with their father when he was shot and killed last Friday night in an apartment parking lot on University Avenue in Des Moines in what police believe was an attempted robbery. He was 41.

Stephen Kim was a devoted husband and father, a refugee who led his family from religious and ethnic discrimination in western Myanmar to a new life in Iowa, Ester Kim said. Both worked two jobs with a dream to buy a house and pay for a good education for their children.

When he came back from his morning walks to the family’s south-side apartment, he would joyfully wake them all up to get ready for the day.

“That is something I will always remember,” she said. “Now, they ask, ‘Where is Daddy, Mom?’

“He led the prayer at home. I miss that. They say, ‘Where is Daddy, Mom? We need to pray.’

“The two children don’t understand what is happening; they are too young.”

Ester Kim and her husband both worked at Cool Basil, a Thai restaurant in Clive. He was a bartender and host; she is a sushi chef. Stephen also worked at Windsor Windows in West Des Moines, and she recently started a second job as a sushi chef at Banana Leaf restaurant in West Des Moines.

More: Man who was killed in front of his children 'always had a smile on his face'

She didn’t know how to get there, so her husband dropped her off last Friday. A fellow employee at the restaurant lived at University Terrace Apartments, 3523 University Ave., so Ester could get a ride there after her shift and be picked up by Stephen in the parking lot.

He was waiting there for her with the children at 10:30 p.m. when it happened, one of 12 homicides in Des Moines this year. No one has been arrested in connection with the death. It scares Ester Kim, and she wants to say no more about the crime.

She wants to talk of her husband’s life instead.

Show Thumbnails
Show Captions

They lived in the same city of Tonzang in the Chin State of western Myanmar, formally Burma. They met in church, each part of the Zomi ethnic minority, a mostly Christian group in a predominantly Theravada Buddhist region. Stephen was granted refugee status in 2005 and moved to Malaysia, where Ester joined him three years later and they had their first child, Joseph. In 2009, they immigrated to the U.S., first landing in North Carolina, where second son David was born, before moving to Des Moines in 2011.

“When we came to the U.S., we feel the U.S. is a safe place,” she said.

They became citizens and rapidly went to work, saving money for the children’s private education at Holy Family School, and sending money back to relatives in Myanmar.

Get the newsletter delivered to your inbox
We're sorry, but something went wrong
Alerts on breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.
Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-877-424-0225.
Delivery: Varies
Thank you! You're almost signed up for
Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration.

More: Man who was 'executed' spent last day with his children, principal says

“He always want to ask, ‘How can we build a better community where we live? How can we help each other?’,” said Nang Bawmkhai, Stephen's friend since the age of 6. “That is the one thing that hit me when I see his face today: Helping each other.”

Bawmkhai said Stephen was a devoted Catholic who prayed more than anyone he knew, both at St. Ambrose Cathedral, where the family often attended Mass, and at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Urbandale.

Ester said he liked to fish, take the kids to the park or go swimming. They found peace together in praying to God, “and that will bring peace in my life,” she said.

But it will be hard. Her husband did the family paperwork and many other aspects of keeping the family moving forward. It all falls on her now.

“I have three children I have to take care of. Sometimes I feel it is hopeless,” Kim said through Bawmkhai, who served as interpreter. “I pray something like this doesn’t happen to other people. When I think of my kids, it’s difficult for me to cope with.”

She wept.

“I will miss my husband a lot.”

Bawmkhai remembers that Kim always wanted to race as boys, and won, always caught so many fish because he was quick to pick up skills, and always had a smile when friends entered the room.

Stephen was always the one to offer toasts at gatherings.

“That is one thing we will miss a lot,” said Bawmkhai.

Stephen was working on getting his mother to the U.S. through a government family unification process, he said, but now they have shifted to applying for a visitor’s visa for her to attend the May 6 funeral.

As Ester sat stoically, the children began to fidget on the sofa. She wanted to say a few more things.

How thankful she is for the people at the school and church who have stepped forward to help them, and for the support of the Zomi community in Des Moines. How much it meant to hear from friends who called, sent text messages or left Facebook condolences, and those who comforted them with prayers.

“May God bless them and may God help them as much as they have helped us,” she said.

There has been an unusually high number of homicides so far in 2017. Wochit

To help the family

A Go Fund Me page has been set up. The school is also handling donations for the family, which can be sent to Holy Family School, 1265 E. Ninth St., Des Moines. Make checks out to Holy Family c/o Kim Family. West Glen businesses in West Des Moines will donate part of the proceeds of their sales May 5 to the family.

Funeral services

Services for Stephen Kim will be at 10 a.m. May 6 at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Urbandale. Burial is at Glenwood Cemetery. A candlelight vigil will be held at 1 p.m. at St. Pius X.

Read or Share this story:


text:
President Trump says he met with four potential Supreme Court Justice candidates on Monday as he works to fill the spot vacated by Justice Anthony Kennedy. He spoke alongside the Dutch Prime Minister, who was visiting the White House. (July 2) AP

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump says he likes all of his potential Supreme Court nominees.

Aides and advisers say he likes them for different reasons.

As Trump approaches Monday's announcement of his nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy, aides and advisers say the president is weighing different factors for different candidates.

Perhaps the biggest factor: The degree of difficulty for Senate confirmation.

"He needs to produce a nominee who is hard to criticize on objective grounds," says David Lat, founder of the legal website Above The Law, who is in contact with officials involved in the process.

Here's a scorecard of pluses and minuses for the people on the president's short list:

Brett Kavanaugh of Maryland, 53, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

Pluses: Like Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, named to the high court by Trump last year, he is out of conservative central casting. A Yale Law graduate to Gorsuch's Harvard, they served together as law clerks to retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy. Whip-smart and popular with the Federalist Society set, he has a long record of opinions and dissents that leaves little for Trump or Senate Republicans to worry about.

Minuses: That long record will give opponents much to work with. His mild dissent in a case upholding the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate left room for conservatives as well as liberals to disagree. His contention that presidents should be free from lawsuits and investigations likely pleases Trump but will confound Democrats. His work in the George W. Bush administration also could come back to haunt him.

Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana, 46, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Pluses: She rocketed to the top of Trump's list with a stellar performance during her confirmation last fall, when Democrats cited her deep Catholic faith as a potential problem. The mother of seven children, including two from Haiti and one with special needs, she offers the imagery Trump craves. Being a woman may box in Democrats. Being from Indiana may box in moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly, who faces a tough re-election campaign. Being the youngest on Trump's list buys more years on the court. And degrees from Notre Dame, where she taught for two decades, can't hurt.

Get the newsletter delivered to your inbox
We're sorry, but something went wrong
Alerts on breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.
Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-877-424-0225.
Delivery: Varies
Thank you! You're almost signed up for
Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration.

Minuses: She has served as a judge for just eight months, which gives her the least experience of any of the potential nominees. She has written that Supreme Court precedents are not sacrosanct, which liberals have interpreted as a threat to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide.

Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, 51, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit

Pluses: His strong adherence to textualism and originalism, the twin tenets that drove the late Justice Antonin Scalia, pleases conservatives. A finalist for the job last year, he emerged with Kavanaugh as a leading contender for the next opening. Like Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, he is a former Kennedy law clerk. He's known for his attention to detail in writing, which he often does from a remote, Internet-free cabin.

Minuses: Despite a decade on the appeals court, his record is thin in several areas of the law, which worries some conservatives. Though major cases on Obamacare and same-sex marriage came through his circuit, he did not serve on the panels considering them. His 2016 ruling that cellphone users do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their location records was overturned at the Supreme Court this term.

Amul Thapar of Kentucky, 49, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit

Pluses: After Gorsuch, he was Trump's first federal court nominee last year. His guardian angel in the Senate is Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a fellow Kentuckian. He would be the first Indian American on the court, and among few in history to have trial experience on a district court. Nevertheless, he often was designated to sit on appellate court panels, giving him needed experience. He is a strong writer.

Minuses: He has served on the appeals court for little more than a year and has yet to rule on most controversial topics, giving conservatives little proof of his convictions.

Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, 52, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit

Pluses: He was the runner-up to Gorsuch in 2017, giving him instant credibility. He's a law-and-order conservative in the mold of Associate Justice Samuel Alito, who came from the same appeals court. Maryanne Trump Barry, the president's sister, served with him until her retirement. He drove a taxi to get through law school, and his degrees from Notre Dame and Georgetown give him a non-Ivy League appeal.

Minuses: His star appears to be fading. A limited paper trail on the appeals court worries some conservatives. He is not known as a great legal theorist like Kavanaugh, nor is he a "feeder judge" whose law clerks are snapped up by Supreme Court justices. While Kavanaugh has sent 41 clerks there, Hardiman has sent none.

Show Thumbnails
Show Captions

Read or Share this story:


text:
Destination Golf Logo
Latest News

Our friends at the 5 star LA FINCA GOLF & SPA RESORT in #Alicante #Spain are giving one of our lucky Facebook followers a chance to #win ...

A 3 night break for 2 people sharing, including breakfast and 3 rounds of golf

Head over to our Facebook page @DestinationGolf and...

- Follow/Like our page - Tag the friend that you would like to bring - Sharing is caring

Terms & Conditions;
- Non transferrable - Cannot be exchanged for any monetary value - Blackout dates apply - Flights not included - Winner will be announced on this feed and will be DM'd on Wednesday 1st May 2019

For more on #LaFinca - see DG SPAIN #golfguide:


text:
Jim Chatelain and John Egner @ Simone DeSousa Gallery

Cass Corridor, Connecting Times: Jim Chatelain and John Egner at Simone DeSousa Gallery

In Specters of Cass Corridor, a review of a 2012 retrospective of Cass Corridor artists at N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art titled Menage a Detroit: Three Generations of Detroit Expressionistic Art, 1970-2012, the formidable Detroit art historian Vince Carducci wrote of the documentary, prophetic quality of the first generation of that movement’s work- of its deconstruction of the city’s transition from Fordism to Post-Fordism- from a stationary, vertically integrated manufacturing economy to a dispersed, continent-hopping manufacturing model and an economy in virtual free-fall (and this, in a metropolis built on rock-solid temples of industry.) The uncanny layering of chaos over order and of order over nature that provides a visual companion to Detroit’s narrative of cycling decline and renewal is explored from two sides of an ancient coin in Cass Corridor, Connecting Times: Jim Chatelain and John Egner, the newest in a string of Cass Corridor-centered shows curated by Nancy Mitchnick at Simone DeSousa Gallery.

Installation, Cass Corridor, Connecting Times: Jim Chatelain and John Egner, Images Courtesy of the Simone DeSousa Gallery

In Sexual Personae, Camille Paglia defines the Apollonian and the Dionysian as two sides of the coin of Western culture, held aloft with immense, opposed pressure. Apollo, god of light, solidity, and self-restraint, represents the empirical, continuous progress of the Enlightenment, of the Industrial Revolution, of the monolithic individual exemplified by such giants of Modernism as Pollack and Picasso. Dionysus, defined by Robert Pogue Harrison in Forests, The Shadow of Civilization as “…the mystery god of excess, orgiastic rapture, and visionary delirium- the god of the forests, as we have seen.” Connecting Times explores this opposition beyond language, juxtaposing the iron-clad elegance of John Egner’s forms with the visceral snarls of Jim Chatelain’s romantic visions.

Jim Chatelain, After the Garden is Gone, Oil on Canvas

Jim Chatelain and John Egner share a penchant for picture planes dominated by layered grids and powerful lines that radiate to the edges of their oblong panels. The grid can encompass both order and chaos. Egner’s web like Deep Storage evokes the logic of machine innards and the dense, precise organization of Diego Rivera’s Ford factory frescos, which every Detroit museum goer knows in her bones. Conversely, Chatelain’s After the Garden is Gone festoons a similar flat grid with stylized rose and leaf forms that compress into a shape reminiscent of a human skull- the modest slab of wood and rough, sticky surface of its make reinforces its status as an autonomous object. Even within the basic visual coda of Modernism, Chatelain’s images ring with a syntax drawn from Wordsworth- the same beautifully imperfect, melancholy ecology.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

-William Wordsworth, Lines Written In Early Spring

The assemblages of both artists travel along the same lines. While Egner’s Red Grid breaks familiar openings and angles into a minimal, abstract structure, Chatelain’s Candle Lamp brusquely reproduces two light-deliverers, a wax candle and a frumpy electric lamp, spliced together the way a violent god might splice two centuries. As in After the Garden is Gone, a rich, elemental symbolism connects Chatelain’s work to earth and embodied language.

John Egner,1972-6-Revised 73, Enamel on Masonite, 1973

What Chatelain and Egner’s work have in common, beyond the grid, is an important vein of Detroit history, opened and drawn into a narrative of Industry’s lights and shadows that applies to all cities of the Enlightenment. Their arch, and their decline, are calmly sifted into symbolic materials, surfaces and gestures by the ground-level view of these two artists.

Cass Corridor, Connecting Times: Jim Chatelain and John Egner Is on view at Simone DeSousa Gallery through July 8.

Simone DeSousa Gallery

Group Exhibition @ N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art

Jennifer Junkermeier Curates and Michaela Mosher Designs an Exhibition: Round in Circles.

Installation Image, Round in Circles, N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art, All Image Courtesy of the Detroit Art Review

For a gallery owner to ask someone to curate an exhibition is both exciting and a little risky.  But George N’Namdi has been in this business for more than thirty-five years, and he knows exactly what he’s doing. By inviting a guest curator Jennifer Junkermeier, he is injecting new energy into his space, one that capitalizes on Detroit-based artists (33) and may very well bring new audiences into the gallery. Simone DeSousa has done something similar in her gallery, recruiting Nancy Mitchnik to curate some 70’s aging Cass Corridor artists (she is one herself) into her gallery, and both go outside the regular season because summer is the right time to do it.  This is N’Namdi’s third annual summer show of Detroit artists with an invited curator. In 2016 it was Essay’d VI by Steve Panton, and 2015 was Mundo ‘Mericas curated by Vito Valdez.

Opening June 16, 2017, Round in Circles, is a collection of Detroit-based visual artists that provide nearly every medium, including painting, drawing, sculpture, video, projection, and literary work on the wall. If you need to tie that together with an idea, why not use the circle as a place to start, if not literally in the work, then probably in the mind of the artist, or a metaphor that applies to almost anything, dating back about 3000 years. She says in her statement, “Yes, going round in circles is dizzying, at once nauseating and exciting, impoverished and plentiful, the form that implies nothing also embraces the possibilities of being everything.”

It’s a pleasure for a writer to pick out some favorites, and say a little something because it is almost impossible to write a review when there is such a variety of work as there is in this exhibition.

Graem White, You Are Here: Center of the Universe, Mixed Media, 11.5 x 14″

Graem Whyte is an artist that works with a wide variety of three-dimensional material, sometimes on the floor, sometimes on the wall.  Born and raised in metro Detroit, Whyte is based in Hamtramck, MI where he and his wife Faina Lerman oversee the community-based activity at Popps Packing. Whyte’s work always feels very unconventional, driven more by the idea than the material, illustrated in his one-person exhibition at Oakland University in 2012. In his work, You Are Here, it seems to play on the border, a manipulated LP record, a gold plate, and a burst of Mixed Media, suggesting that music can be concrete. Graem Whyte is an adjunct art instructor at the Center for Creative Studies.

Shanna Merola, Untitled 2, from series “We All Live Downwind”, Archival inkjet pigment print, 14 x 20″

The photograph by Shanna Merola, from the series, We All Live Downwind, seems driven by her interest in documentary photography, and a deep concern for social justice. This writer is not trying to figure out the context of these orange gloves holding a ceramic dish, rather – enjoying the surrounding and colorful pieces of torn paper. Merloa was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1980, earned her BFA at Virginia Commonwealth University, and an MFA Cranbrook Academy of Art.  She lives and works in Hamtramck, Michigan.

Todd Stovall, Untitled, Acrylic, Wood, 2 x 2′ 2017

Detroit artist Todd Stovall keeps the minimalist shaped canvas work alive in his work, Untitled, although this piece is entirely made of wood.  The context for this kind of approach might be artists like Charles Hinman, Ellsworth Kelly, and Frank Stella.  Stovall is not trying to do much with color, rather the simple power of shape, although the red wall is there to support his effort.

Clara DeGalan, A Veiled Asking, Oil on canvas, 2016

This oil painting, A Veiled Asking, by Clara DeGalan reflects a deep and progressive direction from her earlier work in graduate school, an MFA from Wayne State University in 2015, and a two-person exhibition in 2016 at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center. It’s this idea of transparency and the illusion of dimension that creates a mystery that leaves us wanting, combined with an offset but a sturdy sense of composition. All of this held together by a circle and a piece of blue tape. Lovely.

Round in Circles is a group exhibition that explores formal and metaphorical implications of the circular.” Says Junkermeier.  The exhibition could send a signal to other galleries, to experiment (certainly some do) during your summer months, and realizing there is limited space for thirty-three artists, at least I can mention their names as part of this exhibition.

Contributing Artistis: ‘jide Aje, Danielle Aubert, Corrie Baldauf, Davin Brainard, Tyanna J. Buie, Alexander Buzzalini, Shane Darwent, Clara DeGalan, Simone DeSousa, Erin Imena Falker, Jessica Frelinghuysen, Ani Garabedian, Richard Haley, Asia Hamilton, Megan Heeres, Eli Kabir, Osman Khan, Austin Kinstler, Nicola Kuperus, Timothy van Laar, Anthony Marcellini, Adam Lee Miller, Shanna Merola, Eleanor Oakes, Ato Ribeiro, Robert Platt, Marianetta Porter, Dylan Spaysky, Todd Stovall, Gregory Tom, Graem Whyte, Elizabeth Youngblood, and Alivia Zivich

N’Namdi Center for Contemporary Art

Round in Circles through August 26, 2017

Whitney Biennial 2017: an Observation from Detroit

Whitney Museum of Art, Exterior, 2017 Courtesy of WMA by Ed Leaderman

The Whitney Biennial draws to a close, but not without a review from Detroit that showcases artists with roots in Metro Detroit.

Moving downtown into the Renzo -Piano- designed building on New York City’s Gansevoort Street delayed the 2017 Whitney Biennial a year, but it was worth the wait, as the spacious and beautiful new museum sits high just off the Hudson River overlooking the Highline Park and Chelsea art community. Organized by Christopher Y. Lew, the Whitney’s associate curator, and Mia Locks, an independent curator, the exhibition highlights work by sixty-three individuals and collective’s artist works from all parts of the United States. The diversity of artists and media is staggering when considering the large demographic of contemporary art that is represented.

I was mostly surprised by how much space was committed to each artist, where entire rooms with 5 to -7 pieces of work were on display by each artist. It speaks to the size and space the new museum provides, luring an art-world audience, as the selections confront edgy social issues in the American culture.

Maya Stovall, Liquor Store Theatre, Video Performance, 2016

As promised, let’s start with Detroit. The videos of post-minimalist ballerina Maya Stovall are front and center as she offers her art from the sidewalks of Detroit illustrating modern dance working with collaborators Biba Bell, Mohamed Soumah, and Todd Stovall, she presents the motivations, genealogies, and sources of her Liquor Store Theater.

She says in her statement, “I am an artist interested in monumental questions of human existence. I am interested in place and space, cities, power, and the affect and desire of the day-to-day in people’s lives. I approach monumental questions of human existence with up close rigor. My work is steeped in philosophy, theory, and resonates with my way of being in the world.” The video screens and audio-fed headphones document a series of dance performances from the streets of Detroit. Stovall pays respectful homage to the cultural traditions in the Detroit black community as commercial developers swirl rapidly to gentrify the city.

Dana Schutz, Elevator, 2017. Oil on canvas, 144 x 180″

The artist Dana Schultz grew up in Livonia, attended High School at the Adlai Stevenson High School, and went on to obtain her BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art, and an MFA from Columbia University. As the elevator opens on the fifth floor of the Biennial, the viewer is immediately confronted with a large figurative oil painting, Elevator, which displays a kind of chaos occurring in the transitional space between two elevator doors, perhaps either opening or closing. There is an abstract, even cubist feeling to this colorful figure painting, depicting struggle and larger-than-life insects, adding to the feeling of anxiety, even fear. It took me a moment to understand why there were these two side panels attached to the work, until I read the title.

Dana Schutz, Open Casket, 2016. Oil on canvas, 40 x 56″

Schutz’s work seems to draw on social environments, best illustrated in her 2016 painting, Open Casket, that depicts her version of the mutilated corpse of Emmett Till, a seminal event in the American civil rights movement. Controversy swirled around the work as exploitation, best described in The New Yorker by Calvin Tomkins:

In the current climate of political and racial unrest, Emmett Till seemed like a risky subject for a white artist to engage with. “I’ve wanted to do a painting for a while now, but I haven’t figured out how,” [Schultz] said. “It’s a real event, and it’s violence. But it has to be tender, and also about how it’s been for his mother. I don’t know, I’m trying. I’m talking too much about it.” In a later conversation, [Schultz] said, “How do you make a painting about this and not have it just be about the grotesque? I was interested because it’s something that keeps on happening. I feel somehow that it’s an American image.”

Dana Shultz resides in New York City, works out of her studio in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn, and is represented by the Pretzel Gallery in New York City.

Carrie Moyer, Glimmer Glass, 2016. Acrylic and glitter on canvas, 96 x 78 in”

Another Detroit artist in the Biennial, now living in Brooklyn, NYC, is Carrie Moyer, who received a BFA from Pratt Institute in 1985, and an MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College in 2001. In an interview with Jennifer Samet for Hyperallergic, she says, “I was born in Detroit, where my family has longstanding roots. My grandfather was a policeman during the Detroit riots in the 1960s. But I had countercultural parents who put us in a van when I was nine and drove us out to California with all of our belongings. My family lived all over the Northwest for the next ten years — California, Oregon, and Washington.”

In her large acrylic painting, Glimmer Glass, it is the overlay and transparency that compliments her distinctive use of form. The vibrant painting embraces visual pleasure with watery veils of florescent hues, often mixed with glitter. The artist explains, “I’m interested in abstract painting that is experienced both visually and physically. The forms are constantly shifting from the familiar to the strange in a way that seems to escape words.”

Carrie Moyer, Candy Cap , 2016. Acrylic and glitter on canvas, 72 x 96″

With her beginning in graphic design, Carrie Moyer has been a force in abstract painting since 2000 with a strong familiarity with the language of Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism; she draws on influences like Georgia O’Keeffe and Elizabeth Murray. I was struck by the work, Candy Cap, where she depends heavily on a feminine composition of flower and organic shapes to form this work using acrylic transparency, glitter, and Flashe on canvas. Moyer is a Professor in the Art and Art History Department at Hunter College, where she is the Director of the Graduate Program. Moyer is represented by DC Moore Gallery.

Samara Golden, The Meat Grinder’s Iron Clothes, 2017. (Installation, 5th floor West Gallery). Insulation foamboard, extruded polystryrene, epoxy resin, carpet, vinyl, fabric, acrylic paint, spray paint, nail polish, plastic, altered found objects and mirror.

The artist Samara Golden was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1973, and received her BFA from Minneapolis College of Art & Design, and an MFA from Columbia University in 2009. She is an installation artist based in Los Angles, CA where her work often includes a combination of sculpture, video, and sound. Her first solo exhibition was The Flat Side of the Knife and was organized by Mia Locks at the Museum of Modern Art PS1. Golden’s work in the Biennial, The Meat Grinder’s Iron Clothes, feels like a dystopian environment overlooking the Hudson River that contrasts office and domestic spaces. Admittedly, this writer has limited skill in describing the aesthetic aspects of this work of mirrors, living rooms, and wheelchairs.

Henry Taylor, “THE TIMES THAY AINT A CHANGING, FAST ENOUGH! (2017), acrylic on canvas, 72 x 96″

There are sixty-three artists represented in the Whitney Biennial, and this review has had Metro Detroit artists as its focus, but I would like to mention another artist, Henry Taylor, living and working out of Los Angeles, CA. With a BFA from California Institute for the Arts and a variety of life experience, Taylor has created a body of work that has a critical social sensibility that confronts the racial tension between law enforcement and the community they serve. In his work, The Times They Ain’t A Changing, Fast Enough! drawn from video, captures the moments after Philando Castile had been fatally shot by a police officer. Aside from the social message, I am drawn to the composition and naïve style in which Taylor executes his unaffected imagery. His empathetic style may draw on his ten years of working at the Camarillo State Mental Hospital near Santa Barbara, CA. Taylor’s work is represented by Blum & Poe in Los Angles, CA.

Aliza Nisenbaum (b. 1977), La Talaverita, Sunday Morning NY Times, 2016. Oil on linen, 68 x 88″

It could be that because this writer is also a painter, the work in the Biennial by Aliza Nisenbaum is immensely attractive. Known for depicting undocumented immigrants, there is something in the work La Talaverita, Sunday Morning NY Times, that combines working from live models, an elevated camera angle, and the casually colorful subject that connects with so many people. Born in Mexico City, Nisenbaum earned a BFA and MFA from the Chicago Art Institute. She says in her statement, “My work has repeatedly reflected on ideas of empathy or pathways for exchange between different people. My status as a legal American citizen makes me one of the few and privileged immigrants from my home country. Whether working with abstraction or, more recently, with still life and portraiture, I have tried to make paintings that support the experience of looking closer and with greater intention. My current body of work makes this connection explicit in its focus on the human face, which the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas suggests is inherently an ethical call to greater human justice.”

For me, her work personalizes the immigrant experience and could easily reflect the life in South West Detroit.

The new Whitney Museum of Art in its new location demonstrates in the curation of it’s 2017 Biennial a refreshing supply of under-recognized artists with diverse perspectives from all parts of the United States, and places itself at the center of American contemporary art.

Whitney Museum of Art

Bearing Witness: Carole Harris @ NCRC Rotunda Gallery

Carole Harris, University of Michigan, North Campus Research Center Rotunda Gallery, Installation Image

Talking in layers: walking into the enormous and alien territory of the University of Michigan’s North Campus Research Center to see the exhibition “Bearing Witness,” the quilt works of Detroit artist Carole Harris hanging in the building’s Rotunda Gallery. Dramatically lit, a series of Harris’ dazzlingly colored fiber works punctuate the security-conscious, antiseptic space. It is a research facility that was formerly Pfizer Pharmaceutical (think Revolutionary anti-cholesterol med Lipitor that paid for the amazing building complex) and that, after the economic “downturn” of the ’80s, was purchased by the University of Michigan to now serve primarily as a medical research complex.

Harris’ brilliant, lively and layered textiles offer a shocking, perhaps painful contrast to the generic, monochromatic, modernist architectural surroundings of the NCRC building.  As a child growing up in Detroit, Harris was taught embroidery and stitching by her mother, and, being “height challenged” and quite petite, she learned to make her own clothes so they would fit properly. In high school at Cass Tech she studied music and science before settling on art, and, after graduating from college in 1966, she began an interior design practice that she maintained until recently.

In an ironic twist, her magnificent, globally influenced art looks almost captive in this sequestered, post-industrial landscape. It’s a long distance from Harris’ vibrant life in Detroit to the strange, emptiness of the medical research center.

In a recent talk at Detroit’s Charles H. Wright Museum, Harris talked about her evolution as an artist and about deciding in 1966 to make her first quilt for her upcoming marriage. For a start, she used the simple, standard “pin wheel” pattern, and for “stuffing” used an old blanket: humble materials for a special moment. It’s a tradition for quilters to commemorate a birth or marriage by making one, and it was an auspicious moment for Harris and her husband, the playwright Bill Harris, the beginning of a marriage that has endured for over fifty very creative years.   While maintaining an interior design practice, she kept up her chops as a quilter and, like the jazz musicians she regularly honors in her quilt designs and titles, she played her scales: scissoring, stitching, splicing, editing, and learned her art form to perfection.

Harris’ fiber pieces at the Rotunda Gallery are a retrospective of the last twenty-five years or so of her work and feature what seem to be breakthrough visions for her. After years of using traditional forms, she recently began experimenting with works inspired by such diverse sources as the African Yoruba tribe’s Egungun textiles, Japanese Boro or “patchwork” folk textiles, architectural spaces derived from such American Abstract Expressionists as painter Richard Diebenkorn (especially his “City Scapes” and “Ocean Park” series), her childhood memories, or the storied erosion of historical buildings of the city in which she grew up, all with the astonishingly inventive, constant background soundtrack of black American music. In the process, Harris has quietly become an American master in a medium nurtured and influenced by black rural culture.

Carole Harris, Textile, Straight No Chaser, 60 x 69” 2006

The early work at the Rotunda Gallery reveals her break from traditional quilt patterns and shapes and, like much of the painting of the ’80s and ’90s (by Elizabeth Murray, Kenneth Noland, Frank Stella, et al.), explores ways of sculpting and lifting three dimensions to the flat surface of an abstract painting. “Outside the Lines,” 1994, posits an irregular shape, with a broad swath of negative space, corded fabric and loosely hanging strips, to create a sense of movement suggesting Harris’ homage to a Yoruba Egungun ceremonial dance that celebrates departed elders. Despite the radical break, Harris still uses basic quilt-making components such as individually composed “squares” and elaborate stitching to give texture and amazing painterly pattern to the surface.

Carole Harris, Textile, Way Across Town, Textile, 59 x 70” 2008

There are two straight-up stunning works that employ hard-edged, geometric shapes of vibrant color balanced by coal-black negative space: “Way Across Town,” 2008, and “Straight No Chaser,” 2006, both in homage to Thelonious Monk, and that show Harris to be a daring colorist with both quilts centering a rectangle of electric purple supporting an array of oblique wedges and squares of oranges and reds. Not always a compliment, to be called a colorist sometimes implies that one is artistically not up to snuff, but this is hardly the case, as both of these works feature eye-popping geometric invention, and there’s real graphic genius operating here. With their daring, geometric slashes and exploration of architectural space, they might even reference the agitprop designs of the great Russian constructivists El Lissitsky and Rodchenko, from whom Diebenkorn, one of Harris’ honored influences, certainly learned. Throughout this visual musicality Harris keeps up an overall rhythm with a running stitch, sometimes with curving arabesques, sometimes with an angular geometric backbeat.

Carole Harris, Textile, From Before, 58 x 45 2013

Harris’ quilts from the last couple of years suggest the influence of the Japanese phenomenon of Boro patchwork clothing. Japanese peasants, especially in the 19th century, being economically challenged, would patch their clothing with remnants of old, worn-out garments, creating a remarkably beautiful folk style of dress. Using the running stitch, sashiko, to bind the patches to the old clothing, they would create a decorative pattern. There are six works in “Bearing Witness” that use the Boro technique. “From Before,” 2013, uses a layering of remnants or swatches — one is hand-stained with a radiating pattern– that overall suggests a geographical mapping. The irregularly shaped “Other People’s Memories,’ 2016, layers found remnants of clothing in various colors and patterns and combine machine and hand stitching to create what feels like a fragment of an ancient textile.

Carole Harris, Textile, Other People’s Memories 39 x57” 2016

Likewise, three small seasonal “sketches” — “Spring Ascending,” 2016, “Fall Etude,” 2015, and “Winter Etude” 2015 — combine stained remnants, machine and hand stitching, burnt holes, and hand-stitched florets, to image topographical maps that indeed, in their lyrical beauty, echo Chopin’s Etudes themselves.

The last piece to come out of Harris’ studio just for the exhibition was indeed the title work.

“Bearing Witness” is a tour de force of contemporary image making. It amalgamates not only Harris’s quilt-making magic with the disparate influences of her far-reaching eye, but is a profoundly rich metaphor for the deep struggle of living, of the balancing of life’s experiences, of listening and watching and caring for the world. This sublimely visual layering of color, shape, and line is not only an act of art but — what resonates through in this process of layering the fabric of life by hand— is an act of deep caring. The title “Bearing Witness” is thus not misplaced on Carole Harris’ practice as a whole.

Carole Harris, Bearing Witness, Textiles, 42 x53” 2017

“Bearing Witness” continues at the Rotunda Gallery through August 23

U-M North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Road, Building 18, Ann Arbor, MI 48109

Rodin @ Flint Institute of Arts

An Exhibition from the Gerald Cantor Foundation

Installation Image Flint Institute of Art

Fresh out of the army, in 1946 Gerald Cantor purchased a bronze version of Rodin’s The Hand of God, thus beginning what he called his lifelong “magnificent obsession” with Rodin. Today, with over 750 sculptures and drawings in its collection, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation boasts of the world’s largest private collection of works by the artist, the majority of which have been gifted or loaned to museums throughout the world. Rodin, The Human Experience, on view at the Flint Institute of Arts, is a muscular exhibition of 45 sculptures on loan from the Cantor Foundation, offering an impressive survey Rodin’s artistic career. Expect to see more Rodin in one place than nearly anywhere else this side of the Atlantic.

Auguste Rodin, French, 1840-1917, Large Hand of a Pianist, modeled 1885, Musee Rodin, cast 9, 1969

Rodin possessed an uncanny knack for creating emphatically expressive sculpture, even when the sculpted forms were merely a clutching hand or straining torso. They surge with energy, and the surfaces of his figures were left calculatedly rough, so as to catch the light and imbue a sense of movement. They need to be seen in the round, and, thankfully, nearly all the works on view are thoughtfully displayed for viewing from multiple sides.

Auguste Rodin, French, 1840 – 1917, Narcisse, modeled about 1882,enlarged and retitled 1890; Musée Rodin, cast 8/8 in 1985, Bronze, 32 × 13 × 12 1/4 inches. Lent by Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.

The exhibition comfortably fills the spacious Hodge Galleries with works both large and small. Some of the most interesting sculptures, in fact, are the wispy, diminutive studies Rodin made—never intended for display—which reveal how he worked out compositional problems. These offer a glimpse at his working process.

The Gates of Hell was his breakout masterpiece, and the teeming cascade of figures which writhe on its surface served as inspiration for many of his subsequent works, like The Thinker, which in its original state, was perched high on the doors, meditatively and dispassionately contemplating the inferno below.

Auguste Rodin, French, 1840 – 1917, Three Faunesses, modeled before 1896; Musée Rodin, cast in 1959, cast number unknown, Bronze, 9 1/4 × 11 1/2 × 6 1/2 inches. Lent by Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation.

Several studies for Rodin’s triumphant posthumous monument to Balzac are on display; one of his most iconic works, Rodin obsessed about getting the likeness correct, going so far as to arrange for Balzac’s tailor to make a suit of Balzac’s dimensions; this was worn by a model who was a dead-ringer for the author himself. In the end, though, Rodin sculpted Balzac shrouded the monk’s robe he famously wore as he wrote.

Auguste Rodin, French, 1840 – 1917, Bust of Victor Hugo, modeled 1883; cast number and date unknown, Bronze, 17 × 10 1/4 × 10 3/4 inches. Lent by Iris Cantor

There are several studies for the Burghers of Calais, a project that now seems ideally suited for Rodin, though it was poorly received at its unveiling. The emotionally charged ensemble depicts a group of citizens of Calais about to sacrificially offer themselves to the English, who during the Hundred Years War, had laid siege to the city. Each man reacts differently; one, clasping his head, seems distraught. On the face of another we read steely determination. Their entire bodies viscerally respond to the emotional weight of certain death, and the ensemble allowed Rodin to fully explore sculpture as a vehicle for expressing emotion.

Auguste Rodin, French, 1840 – 1917, Fallen Caryatid with Urn, modeled 1883, enlarged 1911-17; Musée Rodin, cast 4 in 1982, Bronze, 45 1/4 × 36 3/4 × 31 1/8 inches. Lent by Iris Cantor.

When Sixteenth Century art historian Giorgio Vasari described Michelangelo’s sculptures as terribilita (“terrible,” in English), he certainly wasn’t insulting them; the word then meant what we might today describe as “awesome,” like a fearfully powerful thunderstorm.   It’s hard not to experience a streak of the same sensation as you stand in these rooms full of Rodin’s sculptures; they’re absolutely sublime.   The forty-five works which comprise this exhibition are an infinitesimally small fraction of Rodin’s prodigious output; nevertheless, they’re more than enough to support the assessment, made by many, that Rodin was, without question, the greatest sculptor of his time.

Flint Institute of Art   This exhibition has been organized and made possible by the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Foundation. On exhibition through July 30, 2017


text:
Punk Rock Graphics 1976 – 1986 @ Cranbrook  Art Museum

Installation Image, Cranbrook Art Museum, Punk Rock Graphics 1976 – 1986, 2018

Punk Rock is a music genre that developed in the mid-1970s in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. Rooted in 1960s garage rock, punk rock bands rejected perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock by typically producing short or fast-paced songs, with hard-edged melodies and singing styles, stripped-down instrumentation, and often political, anti-establishment lyrics. Punk Rock embraces a “do it yourself” ethic; many bands self-produce recordings and distributes them through independent record labels and other informal channels.  Accompanying the music is byproduct: a distinct style of graphic art.

Installation Image, Cranbrook Art Museum, Punk Rock Graphics 1976 – 1986, 2018

Although I was there during this time, and in the early throws of raising a family, I was not drawn to the anti-establishment, but rather seduce by the  music of Motown, Detroit Jazz, and the 60’s music of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Sting and Bob Dylan. Punk Rock was a distraction for this writer and as an observer, I missed the graphic art side of the cultural phenomenon. If that resonates, no matter what your age, this exhibition opens up a trove of information and design that can take you on a journey and easily introduce you to a culture defined, in part, by its graphic design.

The Cranbrook Art Museum opened a large and sprawling exhibition of Punk Rock Art Graphics (600 pieces), Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die: Punk Graphics, 1976 -1986, 0n June 15, 2018.

The exhibition features several hundred posters, flyers, fanzines, handbills, record sleeves, badges, clothing and other graphic materials from the New York collector Andrew Krivine.  In addition Robert St. Mary, a local author and music historian, helped to curate the Detroit portions of the exhibition at the request of Cranbrook Art Museum. St. Mary was asked to contribute his knowledge of the Detroit punk scene as an extension of a project he is working on as a recipient of the 2017 Knight Foundation Arts Award. In his 2015 book, “The Orbit Anthology,” St. Mary focused mainly on the punk scene at Bookies, known as the original punk nightclub in Detroit. Most people know about the famous London, New York City and Los Angeles bands, but St. Mary points out that the origins of punk are really right here in Detroit.

He says, “When we talk about punk, the primordial ooze of it is here,  with The Stooges and the MC-5”

Jamie Reid, Sex Pistols, God Save the Queen, Poster, Collection of Andrew Krivine, 1977

“That’s the arc of the show — from a black-and-white gritty feel to this explosion of color and pattern,” says Cranbrook Art Museum director Andrew Blauvelt. “The graphic language of punk was much broader and really paralleled what was happening — and was even ahead of — contemporary art in the 1970s and 1980s.”

Blauvelt says patrons will be quick to recognize the work of a featured artist who, in many ways, defined the visual representation of the punk rock movement. “What most people think of when they think of punk is the work of Jamie Reid,” says Blauvelt. “They may not know him by name but they would certainly know him by his work with the Sex Pistols.”

Installation, Punk Rock Memoirs 2018

While Too Fast to Live isn’t an exhibit based on musical history, it does present a chronological timeline tracing the evolution of the punk and new wave music genres overseas and in the U.S. via New York City. During this era, New York served as ground zero for a critical mass of counterculture musicians and artists who were forging an aesthetic that continues to be an influential force in contemporary design.

Robert L. Heimall -Design, Robert Mapplethorpe – Photographer, Patti Smith, Horses, Poster, 1975

In her debut album, Horses, 1975, Patti Smith became a fixture in the New York punk rock scene.  Critics have viewed the work as one of the most influential albums in the history of the punk rock movement.  Her three-cord rock was a simplistic cord structure, with rudimentary guitar work, and lyrics channeled by influences from William Blake to Arthur Rimbaud. Her performances often provided room for musical improvisation, and drew at times on Reggae, and jazz riffs. Horses mixed philosophical elements with traditional rock elements. Her early biography bleeds over into the life of Robert Mapplethorpe, who took the black and white image for the cover, as the two live together for a short time in lower Manhattan.

Smith says, “Horses was a conscious attempt to make a record that would make a certain type of person not feel alone. People who were like me, different … I wasn’t targeting the whole world. I wasn’t trying to make a hit record.”

The B-52’s, American rock group, 1979

Go-Go”s, American all women rock group, Poster, 1981

The design of punk graphics ran concurrent to postmodern art practices of the times by raiding popular culture, scavenging history, subverting messages, and transgressing aesthetic rules. Punk fed the alternative music scene that would emerge in the late 1990’s as well as today’s do-it-yourself cultures that blur and erase the lines between professionals and amateurs.  Punk’s trangressive spirit emboldened people from all walks of life to reimage themselves as creative agents and active participants in a culture driven by music, art, and design.

The legacy of punk has permeated modern culture and society, and its visual vocabulary infuses much contemporary art, while the punk spirit resonates in particular with the anti-elitist, DIY ethos of today’s young, blogging artists and musicians.  Too Fast to Live…, recalls the anarchic spirit of authenticity and amateurism, the volatile and ambiguous celebration of negativity, and the creativity that was punk.

Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die: Punk Graphics, 1976-1986” and the related Shepard Fairey. Salad Days,1989-1999 run June 16-October 7, 2018.

Cranbrook Art Museum


text:
New York – Chelsea Clinton has announced her family is expanding.

The 38-year-old former first daughter tweeted Tuesday that she and her husband Marc are expecting another child in the summer.

The couple has a daughter Charlotte born in 2014 and a son Aidan born in 2016. She did not announce the sex of the third child.

In a reply to congratulations on Twitter, Clinton said Hillary and Bill are thrilled.

Clinton and 41-year-old investment banker Marc Mezvinsky have been married since 2010. They live in New York.

Clinton is writing another children’s book to accompany the two she’s already published. The picture book about endangered animals is slated for an April release.

Read or Share this story:


WARC-Identified-Payload-Type: application/xhtml+xml

text:
0 items — £0.00
Edit  |  Go to Checkout

Photo 27 - Linnet by Derek Stacey

Photo 27 - Linnet by Derek Stacey

(members £––.––sign in)

£12.50 + £7.50 postage and packing, or can be collected by arrangement from Moreleigh.

Set in white mount with black Aukland Pine frame.

Framed size: 14 × 11 inches (35.5 × 28 cm).

Available on a “first come, first served” basis. Photographs that have sold will be removed from sale as quickly as possible, but any orders placed in the interim will be cancelled and refunded.

If you wish to pay by bank transfer, please firstly email Roger Little to reserve this photograph. When you have received confirmation that it is still available, transfer the appropriate amount to CAF Bank Ltd, sort code 40-52-40, account 00094909, quoting your name as a reference.

The preview image on this page is digitally watermarked to protect the copyright of the photographer.


text:
Pillows need to be replaced frequently in order to ensure they help you get to sleep, rather than keeping you awake - according to experts.

And they have revealed there are two simple tests to show whether your pillow needs to be replaced.

Experts from Tielle Love Luxury's pillow swap programme have revealed that it all comes down to a press test or a saddlebag test, reports  Femail.

And while those may sound odd, they're actually very simple and will take you no time at all to complete.

The saddlebag test, involves laying your pillow over your arm. If you can fold the pillow in half over your arm, like a saddlebag, then your pillow is past it's prime and it's time to get a new one.

If you cant easily fold the pillow, it's still got plenty of life left in it.

The other test, the press test, is also very straightfoward. To find out if your pillow is up to scratch, place it on a firm surface, such as the floor or a table top and simply press down on the middle of the pillow.

If it 'lofts' back into shape when you remove your hand, then it's still good to sleep on.

However, if it remains flat you really need to get rid of it.

The  experts also revealed what kind of pillow you should purchase, depending on the position you prefer to sleep in.

Those who like to sleep on their back, should go for a soft pillow as it won't put too much stress on the neck.

Meanwhile, those who sleep on their side need a firmer, higher pillow, in order to keep their neck aligned with their spine.

And if you switch it up while you sleep and move around into different positions, it's recommended you buy a medium height pillow - to give you the support you need when on your side, but also on you back, as it won't throw your neck too far forward when you're lying flat.


text:
20 SEP 2018

20 SEP 2018 Press release

Press release

Diageo issues trading statement ahead of AGM 2018

Ivan Menezes, Chief Executive, commented:

"The year has started well and performance is in line with our expectations. We continue to execute our strategy with discipline and agility and despite seeing increased volatility in some markets we continue to expect organic net sales growth in F19 to be broadly in line with last fiscal year and consistent with our medium-term guidance of mid-single digit growth.

We are focused on delivering both growth and efficiency, allowing us to continue to reinvest in the business to support the long-term growth of our brands. We continue to expect to grow organic operating margins in line with our guidance of 175bps of margin expansion in the three years ending 30 June 2019.

In recent weeks, we have experienced some increased emerging market foreign exchange volatility, which has been partially offset by a strengthening of the dollar. Based on current rates* we currently expect exchange to have a negative impact on net sales of £175m and a negative impact on operating profit of £45m for the fiscal year".

*Rates £1=$1.32, £1=€1.13

Media relations:

Dominic Redfearn +44 (0) 208 978 6000
Rebecca Perry +44 (0) 208 978 1665
Clemmie Raynsford . +44 (0) 208 978 1221

Investor relations:

Sharon Rolston +44 (0) 208 978 1219
Andrew Ryan +44 (0) 208 978 6504

About Diageo

Diageo is a global leader in beverage alcohol with an outstanding collection of brands across spirits and beer categories. These brands include Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, J&B, Buchanan’s and Windsor whiskies, Smirnoff, Cîroc and Ketel One vodkas, Captain Morgan, Baileys, Don Julio, Tanqueray and Guinness.

Diageo is a global company, and our products are sold in more than 180 countries around the world. The company is listed on both the London Stock Exchange (DGE) and the New York Stock Exchange (DEO).

Celebrating life, every day, everywhere.


text:
Mending Broken Hearts

Probing the heart’s muscle fibres to tackle defects and disease

When 23-year-old footballer, Fabrice Muamba, stepped out onto the pitch back in 2012, no-one expected he would be carried off in an ambulance after a serious cardiac arrest.
Thankfully, doctors managed to save the young man’s life, but Muamba’s near-miss underlines the potentially stark consequences of heart defects, particularly for those with an undiagnosed and possibly life-threatening condition.
Around 9 in every 1,000 babies born in the UK are affected by a particular type of heart defect known as ‘congenital heart disease’. This term incorporates a number of different conditions: some can be mild or manageable with treatment, but others can be life-changing.
There’s no straightforward cure, but we’ve made huge progress in treatment and science is helping us to go even further.
As research and technology advances, we’re learning more about how defects occur. This vital research may help us to improve treatments, but it could also allow us to better diagnose conditions before a baby is even born.
And knowing about a condition then could have major implications: for a small number of conditions it may actually be possible to reverse congenital heart disease at the fetal stage.
The experimental set-up on I13
But to get there requires a lot of research. The heart is a complex organ, and sometimes very significant defects can be traced back to developmental issues on the smallest scale. That’s why Dr Andrew Cook and his group from University College London (UCL) are studying the tiny fibres that make up the heart’s muscular wall.
Known as the myocardium, the heart’s muscles contract and relax to pump blood around the body.
Because they’re so central to the function of the heart, the individual fibres that make up these muscles must be precisely aligned – if they’re not then the heart won’t pump correctly.
This can cause real problems when the body is put under stress – for instance, when running or in surgery – as these muscles might falter and thereby damage the heart.
We still don’t know enough about how the heart’s muscle fibres form, or at what stage in a pregnancy they become misaligned. And so Andrew and his group are using Diamond’s Imaging and Coherence beamline (I13) to study the process.
“Like a grain in wood, these fibres are oriented in a certain direction. We want to study how this alignment is formed and how it might be correlated to congenital heart defects”, Andrew explains.
“We’re seeing hearts with major problems, like artery defects, also showing signs of misalignment in the heart muscle fibres. Why is that? Could there be a link there?
“If we can answer these questions, we can develop new ways of diagnosing, treating and, yes, even correcting congenital heart disease”.

Andrew’s research is helping to unpick some of the uncertainty surrounding congenital heart disease, but the impact of the study goes even further. The UCL group use a technique called X-ray phase contrast imaging for their research.
This relatively non-destructive technique uses light waves to create an intricate picture of matter and its surroundings. At Diamond, the group are pushing the boundaries of what this technique can achieve, opening up new avenues for the study of human hearts.
This is not just exciting for early-stage medical research: it may also have applications in a clinical setting. If it’s further progressed, phase contrast imaging could help develop new ways of performing non-surgical diagnosis of heart defects.
At the moment, these things are impossible to properly see beyond a certain level of detail without surgery. We can detect heart defects using a range of techniques – from MRI scans to blood tests. At the foetal stage, ultrasound is often used to identify potential problems.
But it’s not always easy to scrutinise the exact problem with a patient’s heart without exposure to radiation. Although radionuclide tests do exist, the amount of radiation needs to be very small, meaning that the information clinicians get is not as detailed as it could be.
But phase contrast imaging uses less radiation than this test, and yet is capable of producing more in-depth information than ultrasound, MRI scanning and other techniques.
If we can further develop phase contrast imaging for use on human hearts – as Andrew and his team are currently doing – we may see it become widely used in clinical diagnosis to provide patients, expectant mothers and medical practitioners with more in-depth information on individual heart defects.
In the 1950s, only 2 of every 10 babies born with complex congenital heart defects made it to their first birthday. But thanks to the great work of scientists and charities like the British Heart Foundation, we now have 8 in 10 children with congenital heart disease surviving to adulthood.
With research like Andrew’s, that number will continue to increase, as more lives are saved and more hearts kept beating.

Read more about cutting edge research in Diamond's popular science magazine:

Or read the PDF version here


text:
Madrid Accented Round cut Engagement Ring

14K White Gold, Default,
14K White Gold, Hover,
14K White Gold,
14K White Gold,
14K Yellow Gold, Default,
14K Yellow Gold, Hover,
14K Yellow Gold,
14K Rose Gold, Default,
14K Rose Gold, Hover,
14K Rose Gold,
14K White Gold,
14K White Gold,
14K White Gold,
14K Yellow Gold,
14K Rose Gold,
89612,14K White Gold,
89608,14K White Gold,
50292,14K White Gold,
89612,14K Yellow Gold,
89608,14K Yellow Gold,
50292,14K Yellow Gold,
89612,14K Rose Gold,
89608,14K Rose Gold,
50292,14K Rose Gold,

Madrid Accented Round cut Engagement Ring

Sale $1,333.60

Was $1,667.00

You could receive 500 Points for writing a review and/or rating this product.

* Required Fields

Sale $1,333.60

Was $1,667.00

*Ship Date: , if ordered by 2PM (CT).
What are you shopping for? We'll keep you informed about the newest designs, latest trends and exclusive discounts.
Asset 1 Asset 2

Madrid Accented Round cut Engagement Ring was added to your cart.

View Cart Continue Shopping

30 day money back guarantee | free shipping over $100

Oops, something went wrong

This item could not be added to your cart.
Please try again or call 1-800-509-4990 for immediate assistance.

Continue Shopping

The ultimate halo engagement ring. The popular Round Brilliant cut Nexus Diamond™ Alternative stone is the perfect centerpiece for this heavenly ring. The round halo and accented band add more sparkle, while the lower profile setting make it easy to wear every day.

  • Center stone is available in a variety of carat weights; choose yours from the menu above.
  • Complete the look with the matching Madrid Accented band.
  • Order additional services like a personal engraving or an appraisal for $25 each. Contact customer service for details at 1.800.509.4990.
  • Shown in 14k gold; call customer service for an upgrade to 18k or platinum.
  • Product Model: LRENOR0106XRB
Write Review

Write Your Own Review

Shipping & Returns

Ship Rate

This is a Standard ship item. Your piece is produced to your specifications when you order it and will take eight (8) business days to create. Your choice of shipping method will determine when you receive your product.

Free Shipping
All orders over $100 USD are shipped free with signature required. Contact Customer Care for information on expedited shipping options. APO/FPO orders always ship free.

International Shipping
We ship to international destinations via UPS. Customers outside of the U.S. will pay for shipping, duties, taxes, customs fees and other charges or fees that are incurred by importing products into the country of destination.

30-Day Free Returns
See It, Wear It, Love it and if you’re not 100% satisfied with your Diamond Nexus jewelry, send it back, no hassles.

Lifetime Stone Guarantee
A Diamond Nexus stone will last forever and never chip, scratch or discolor. We ensure this by guaranteeing them for life. Learn more.

This item can be resized between a size 4 and 10. New engagement rings include one free ring resizing, up to one year after purchase.. For ring sizes outside the range of 4-10, a resizing fee may apply.

Conflict-Free and Eco-Friendly Guarantee
With stones made in the USA, consciously-sourced or recycled materials, and craftsman located in Milwaukee, WI, you can always feel great about wearing our jewelry.

You should be able to get the ring or fine jewelry that you really want. That’s why we offer two great options for financing your purchase.
Affirm Financing
This option includes a quick and simple process to see if you’re approved, and several options for paying over time. Affirm is flexible and allows you to see exactly how much you’ll pay each month. Learn more.
PayPal Credit ®
If you are a regular PayPal user and plan on paying off the loan within six months, this is an excellent option. You can apply for purchase protection, and you won’t accumulate interest for six months. Learn more.
Progressive Leasing Logo
Affirm Logo
You may also like
thank you!
You're now entered to win a $2,500 Diamond Nexus shopping spree. Don’t let that stop you from shopping though, if you make a purchase and win, we’ll simply credit your account. Make sure you watch your email for more information from us and enjoy shopping our site


text:
[ad-mish-uh n]

Nearby words

  1. admirer,
  2. admiring,
  3. admiringly,
  4. admissibility,
  5. admissible,
  6. admissive,
  7. admit,
  8. admittance,
  9. admittedly,
  10. admittee

Origin of admission

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin admissiōn- (stem of admissiō), equivalent to admiss-, variant stem of admittere to admit + -iōn- -ion

SYNONYMS FOR admission
1. See entrance1. 2. access.

Related formsnon·ad·mis·sion, nounpro·ad·mis·sion, adjectivere·ad·mis·sion, noun Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for admission

British Dictionary definitions for admission

permission to enter or the right, authority, etc, to enter
the price charged for entrance
acceptance for a position, office, etc
a confession, as of a crime, mistake, etc
an acknowledgment of the truth or validity of something
Derived Formsadmissive, adjective

Word Origin for admission

C15: from Latin admissiōn-, from admittere to admit

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for admission

early 15c., "acceptance, reception, approval," from Latin admissionem (nominative admissio) "a letting in," noun of action from past participle stem of admittere (see admit). Meaning "an acknowledging" is from 1530s. Sense of "a literal act of letting in" is from 1620s. As short for admission price, by 1792.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper


text:
[ih-mer-i-tuh s]

retired or honorably discharged from active professional duty, but retaining the title of one's office or position: dean emeritus of the graduate school; editor in chief emeritus.

noun, plural e·mer·i·ti [ih-mer-i-tahy, -tee] /ɪˈmɛr ɪˌtaɪ, -ˌti/.

an emeritus professor, minister, etc.

Nearby words

  1. emergent norm,
  2. emergicenter,
  3. emerging,
  4. emerging market,
  5. emerita,
  6. emerize,
  7. emersed,
  8. emersion,
  9. emerson,
  10. emerson, ralph waldo

Origin of emeritus

1785–95; < Latin ēmeritus having fully earned (past participle of ēmerēre), equivalent to ē- e-1 + meri- earn + -tus past participle suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for emeriti

(usually postpositive) retired or honourably discharged from full-time work, but retaining one's title on an honorary basisa professor emeritus

Word Origin for emeritus

C19: from Latin, from merēre to deserve; see merit

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for emeriti

c.1600, from Latin emeritus "veteran soldier who has served his time," literally "that has finished work, past service," past participle of emerere "serve out, complete one's service," from ex- "out" (see ex-) + merere "to serve, earn," from PIE *(s)mer- "to get a share of something" (see merit (n.)). First used of retired professors 1794 in American English.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper


text:
Velociraptor And Other Trending Words On

The royal wedding taught the world a few new words, but it wasn’t the only thing driving our trending searches this week.

Fascinator, pomp and circumstance, and ginge

The royal wedding didn’t just bring Prince Harry and Meghan Markle together in holy matrimony. It offered up a vocabulary lesson or two! Searches for the fancy hats traditionally worn to royal shindigs—fascinators–climbed 3,330% during the middle of the ceremony, while queries for the meaning of pomp and circumstance saw a more gentle 1,400% climb. The latter term can refer to either a splendid celebration with ceremony and fuss (such as a wedding) or the title of a military march played at ceremonies, such as graduations. Prince Harry himself claims the honors for the third big trend on his wedding day: ginge, which is an informal word for a person with ginger hair. It saw a 651% boost in searches.

Fans of tennis phenom Caroline Wozniacki gave guileless an 881% boost this week, after a profile by ESPN writer Allison Glock noted the 27-year-old “looks more like a guileless teenager than a 2018 Grand Slam titleholder and current No. 2 singles player on the WTA tour.” The suffix -less indicates the word means without guile, but what is guile, anyway? It means “insidious cunning in attaining a goal; crafty or artful deception; duplicity.” It’s a good thing to have less of in this world!

Readers of an opinion piece published by the Wall Street Journal‘s Editorial Board regarding the possibility of an FBI informant placed inside the Trump campaign spiked searches for the meaning of casuistic by 474%. “We’ll let readers parse that casuistic distinction, which is part of a campaign by the FBI and Justice Department to justify their refusal to turn over to the House Intelligence Committee documents related to the informant,” the Journal wrote. What were they talking about? Well, casuistic means “oversubtle; intellectually dishonest; sophistical.”

A sinkhole opened up on the White House lawn this week, and searches for the meaning jumped 108%. So, what does it mean? A sinkhole can be a hole formed in soluble rock by the action water. It can also be a place into which foul matter runs.

If your binge of Dear White People sent you running for for the meaning of the word hotep, you’re not alone. The word, which can be used to refer to Afrocentrists (both by themselves and by others who use the word derisively), saw a 563% spike in searches this week. Although it’s often used online, hotep appeared in an episode of Justin Simien’s college-set Netflix series, which came back to the streaming service with season two this month, exposing it to a whole new audience.

Quid pro quo

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin helped give searches for quid pro quo a 1,282% boost this week, with his declaration that “we didn’t agree to any quid pro quo” with China, despite President Trump’s recent tweets about Chinese cellphone company XTE. The Latin phrase means “something that is given or taken in return for something else.”

In the world of paleontology, a velociraptor is a small carnivorous dinosaur. But, it wasn’t the scientific community that sent searches for this extinct beast up 139%. The credit goes to a former US ambassador to Panama. John D. Feeley said to the New Yorker, “He’s like a velociraptor. He has to be boss, and if you don’t show him deference he kills you.” Who was he referring to? In this case, President Donald Trump.

Summa cum laude

Searches for summa cum laude, and its sister phrase magna cum laude, tend to trend on this time of year. After all, it’s graduation season, when parents, families, and friends pay tribute to kids who have kicked some testing tail to come out on the top of the class. But, summa cum laude earned a 475% spike over the norm this week thanks to a cake kerfuffle at Publix. The grocery store censored the word cum on a cake. As dirty as it sounds, the three-letter-word is simply a Latin version of with.

Deep state

For the second time this spring, the phrase deep state climbed substantially in searches, this time by 590%. The Deep State supposedly controls state policy behind the scenes, while the democratically-elected process and elected officials are merely figureheads. It got attention this week thanks to a President Trump tweet alleging that there is a criminal deep state.

Need more Trending Words in your life? Find out why derecho, BTFO, and oleaginous drew searches last week.

Sign up for our Newsletter!
Start your day with weird words, fun quizzes, and language stories.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The Dictionary Is More Than The Word Of The Day

Enter your email for quizzes, quotes, and word facts in your inbox every day.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.


text:
Why Learning Digital Marketing Can be the Best Decision in 2018

Why Learning Digital Marketing Can be the Best Decision in 2018

In today’s times, we live and work in a highly dynamic environment. Everyday we wake up to the launch of a new, breakthrough technology, turning many other technologies and ‘people’ outdated. It is also a fact that how machines will be taking over a vast number of jobs in the near future, throwing a large set of professionals out of work. In a professional environment with such fast moving dynamics, it is important to keep yourself aware and up to the date.

Then how do you prepare yourself for the future? How do you make sure that you are still able to get good work, and earn good money even when the market turns upside down?

DIGITAL, is the future!

Deciding to learn Digital Marketing can be the best professional decision that you can take today. Digital Series is a digital marketing agency and digital marketing learning hub in Chandigarh, and here we bring to you 3 reasons to take up learning digital marketing this season:

Supply vs Demand

Going by the current trends, the market is severely short of good digital marketers. With more and more businesses and brands embracing the power of digital, there’s an ever increasing demand for professional in the digital marketing field. The number of youth actually taking up digital marketing as a career, on the other hand, is still pretty less. Evidently, this accounts for a perfect timing, and an incredible opportunity to set on a career in digital marketing!

Career Opportunities are Immense

Digital Marketing is a fairly vast field. What appears to an outsider is merely the tip of the iceberg. As one of the best agencies for digital marketing in Chandigarh we say that there are limitless number of opportunities for a fresher in the field. You can be an analyst, a Social Media manager, an SEO specialist, a content writer, a designer or a developer – whatever you wish to be! While being a digital marketer, you would never be short of opportunities, each one equally exciting.

Digital is Easy, and Interesting!

While most career avenues require a good professional education of at least a couple of years, where you need to first get admission, then attend regular classes, pass examinations, get a degree and then start with a job, the digital marketing world works in a different fashion. You can take up a course online or offline, start building things while you learn, and start marching upwards in a good job, or an entrepreneurial venture. It’s as convenient as that!

No Comments

Post A Comment


text:
Cookie Settings

You can manage your cookie settings by turning cookies on and off.

Click on the different cookie  headings to find out more about the types of cookies we use on this site and to change your settings. Please be aware that if you choose to turn off  cookies, certain areas of our site may not work and your browsing experience may be impacted.

For further information on how we use cookies, please see our cookies statement.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are essential for the technical operation of and proper functioning of our site  and enable you to register and login, to easily move around our site, and to access secure areas. Without these cookies our site won't function properly.

These cookies are required

Performance Cookies

Performance cookies allow us to collect aggregated and anonymous data on how our site is used, such as the number of visitors to our site, how you navigate around and the time spent on our site and also to identify any errors in functionality. These cookies also help us to improve the way our site works by ensuring that you can find what you’re looking for easily, to better understand what you are interested in and to measure the effectiveness of the content of our site.

Marketing Cookies

These cookies allow us to advertise our products to you and allow us to pass this information on to our trusted third parties so that they can advertise our products to you on our behalf. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. No personal information is shared to third parties. Any personal information collected while using our website could be used for direct marketing from Dimension Data only.

Technology empowers medical services in the Western Cape to provide more efficient services

Video length: 5:32 minutes.

Middle East & Africa | South Africa | Healthcare | Hybrid IT

Improving the quality of clinical services

Western Cape Emergency Medical Services (EMS) improves emergency response times and patient services through innovative communications and a mobility solution.

Download this case study (pdf, 411.88KB)
Robust Infrastructure

Better communication between the contact centre, dispatchers and response teams is needed to improve response times and the quality of clinical services.

Read below
Cloud Contact Centre

A central, hosted infrastructure is deployed to support control centres, mobile devices and medical facilities, while a new command system handles the incident lifecycle.

Read below
Faster Innovation

An integrated, scalable call-taking and dispatch solution improves response times and the quality of patient care while minimising the margin for human error.

Read below

The challenge of covering a wide area

The ambulance service of the Western Cape Department of Health is one of the largest ambulance services in South Africa. It serves a population of over 6 million and covers an area of almost 130,000 square kilometres. ‘We transport between 45–50,000 patients a month,’ says Dr Shaheem de Vries, of the Western Cape Government. ‘It’s critical to get the right people to the right place, at the right time. When you’re moving this many patients, efficiency and speed are important.’

Serving non-critical patients

Besides responding to medical emergencies, its HealthNET service also provides non-emergency patient transport services. ‘We move patients across the province to central or regional hospitals and other facilities,’ he says. ‘This could be for services at academic institutions or to have specialised procedures carried out.’

Finding the right partner for the future

In 2013, Western Cape EMS wanted to improve its response times and quality of service. To achieve these ambitions, it needed to look at creating efficiencies in the critical systems used in its communications model. ‘We’re a medical organisation and we focus on patient care,’ Dr de Vries says, ‘so we needed a partner who could interpret our needs and create a solution that would deliver better efficiencies for us.’

Back to top

Real-time rapid response

After consulting with Western Cape EMS, we proposed and implemented a calltaking and dispatch solution. We created a hosted infrastructure on our private cloud platform for centralised deployment. This supports Western Cape EMS’s six emergency control centres and new mobile devices in its ambulances. The solution is underpinned by a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) wide area network (WAN) and a security layer.

‘An emergency call to our contact centre is routed to the most suitable call taker,’ explains Dr de Vries. ‘The call taker captures the location and other details using an intuitive map and map search functionality. The system finds the most appropriate dispatcher and feeds them this information in real-time.’

The incident and patient information are stored directly on the web server, which allows for centralised data storage. From this point, the dispatcher is able to select and assign the closest ambulance and response unit.

Mobility and the on-the-scene tracking

‘The ambulance’s location is constantly tracked and updated,’ he says. ‘The response team can follow the most efficient route using a mobile tablet in the front of the ambulance, while receiving updates or sending other requests to the dispatcher.’

In the back of the ambulance, paramedics use a device to electronically receive and update clinical records about the patient’s condition. ‘While this doesn’t affect performance,’ he says, ‘it’s a critical function and will impact the immediate care of the patient – it also allows us to analyse the quality of the care at a later stage.’

From the time an incident is logged to the moment the patient is handed over to staff at a hospital or medical facility, the status and progress of the incident are tracked and, more important, captured for further analysis and insight.

Streamlined services

For the non-emergency patient transport services using HealthNET, we streamlined a booking system that simplified communication and improved the service.

‘Patients can book transport when visiting a facility and receive an SMS to confirm dates, time of arrival, and so forth,’ says Dr de Vries. ‘If the patient isn’t able to make an appointment, it just takes a simple SMS to cancel the service.’

Back to top

Since the solution went live, Western Cape EMS has reported significant improvements in its services to the people of the Western Cape. Accuracy and dispatch response times have greatly improved; there have also been reduced mobilisation times and improvements in journey times. The network is scheduled to be implemented across the entire province by March 2016.

‘It’s important to understand that this solution aims to address a need in a developing country with incredibly austere environments and socio-economic challenges,’ he says. ‘Both my team and those within Dimension Data have really owned the challenge. We’ve ended up with a solution that’s far better than the one we originally anticipated.’

While it’s difficult to predict the long-term impact the solution will have on the way the Department of Health operates, Dr de Vries agrees that Western Cape EMS has more detailed access to information.

‘In the future, we’ll look at every element of emergency care and how technology can make it more efficient and reliable,’ he concludes. ‘Additionally, with improved access to business intelligence we’ll be able to respond better to patients’ future needs.’

Back to top Download this case study (pdf, 411.88KB)

Next Case Studies


text:
Coby Jones

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share in Email Print article
Written by Administrator

Coby Jones uses her skills and experience in writing, editing, video production and social media management to promote gender justice and equality through her work and writing. Coby is passionate about global women’s issues. She is a dedicated international development professional with a Master’s degree from The London School of Economics and Political Science and has years of experience working in the gender and development space. Coby has traveled to the field in countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Australia in her communications assignments. In her free time, Coby enjoys reading, cooking, and traveling.


text:
Summoned to the Headmistress

Submitted by Natasha
180 days ago
Juicy Ginger and I were two of the Naughtiest Schoolgirls you could Imagine and we were always getting into trouble, we were at a posh boarding school for Young Ladies but that wasnt a lot of good for us two Cock Hungry Tarts, the Headmistress had summoned us to her bedroom, so we presumed we were in for a good Telling Off or a spanking, but we got a lot more than we bargained for and the Headmistress had a lot more to her than we could have ever imagined. Trisha xxx

Comments (0)

You must be logged in to post wall comments. Please login or signup .

  • splat_bukkake

net nanny