Image from Wastwater Chronicles A Very Relevant Blast from the Past - this is Geoff Betsworth's "Wrong Rock Blues" from over 10 years ago when the Solway Plain, Cumbria was in the frame -  Solway Plain or Lake District Coastal Plain - the "stuff they plan to bury underneath the Solway Plain will still be lethal in a hundred thousand years."  (and longer).    Click here to hear  Wrong Rock Blues     

 Last week Rock Solid? artists and visitors to Kendal Museum had a wonderfully creative time sketching from the amazing Cumbrian geology collections.  The sketches will inform artworks to be created for 'Rock Solid? 2'.  More events coming up - keep your eyes peeled!   Here are a selection of sketches....

 Sketching from the Amazing Geology Collections at Kendal Museum Join Artists to sketch from the collections of Lakeland Geology at Kendal Museum.  There will be art materials available for those who just want to 'have a go.'    Rock Solid? 2 Artists will be using their sketches to inform their forthcoming artworks.   Rock Solid? 2 is an exhibition scheduled for May and June in the People's Gallery at Kendal Museum,  exploring the geology of Cumbria through the prism of the plan to use that deep geology to contain humanity's most long lasting legacy - nuclear waste.                                 Baryte Hailmoor Mine- Beckermet from the Bill Shaw Collection Haematite/Specularite - West Cumbria from the Bill Shaw Collection Entrance to the Museum is £5 for adults this includes free annual membership - a bargain for this treasure trove of a Museum  which includes a corn...

  Devoke Water is the largest, and one of the highest, tarns in the Lake District, on Birker Fell near Eskdale  The latest Cumbria Geodiversity Statement and Action Plan states that:  For its size, Cumbria is one of the most geodiverse areas in Europe, with an abundance of important geological and geomorphological features, and landscapes of global significance. This is reflected in the county’s wealth of protected landscapes, and geological sites of both local and national importance. This is what makes Cumbria such a place of beauty and contrast with rich seams of romanticism, landscape diversity and a wealth of minerals. The latest Cumbria Geodiversity Statement produced by Cumbria GeoConservation can be read here:   www.cumbriageoconservation.org.uk

 New Year Greetings from Rock Solid 2 In this blogpost we look back at the past- what was happening in 1995 when NIREX (now Nuclear Waste Services) were pushing to deliver a "Rock Laboratory" in the Gosforth area of Cumbria near Sellafield.  The Rock Laboratory would investigate the geology ahead of a deep repository for LOW and INTERMEDIATE Level Nuclear Wastes.  Other areas of the country had already been looked at and ruled out with the whole of West Cumbria being looked at and narrowed down to the Longlands Farm area of Gosforth as the 'best site' in the UK for further investigation.  Local people saw this investigative "Rock Laboratory" as a Trojan Horse for a final nuclear waste 'repository' now called a Geological Disposal Facility Accross Cumbria large billboards went up sponsored by local people, Greenpeace & Friends of the Earth    The bill boards read: BURY NUCLEAR WASTE AND IT WILL COME BACK TO HAUNT US ALL CUMBRIANS DEMAND A PUBLIC ...

PRESS NOTICE Earlier this month, September 7th 2023,  a Winifred Nicholson oil painting of Blue Hyacinths in a Winter Landscape on board was bought for £48,000 at 1818 Auctioneers, Milnthorpe.     This is a snip for an artist whose work was m uch treasured by David Bowie until his death in 2016, the sale of St Ives Harbour set a new world record for a work of art by Winifred Nicholson at £245,000 .  Winifred Nicholson lived and worked in Cumberland for much of her life. Isle of Man from St Bees - Winifred Nicholson 1945                                              Lily of the Valley St Bees - Winifred Nicholson Winifred Nicholson (1893 -1981) loved Cumberland and this love shines through in her paintings, many of which explored light, space and colour through the prism of flowers placed in a vase with a landscape backdrop.  Some of the mos...

 CALL OUT FOR ARTISTS! “ROCK SOLID? 2”     Call for Artists 'Rock Solid? 2' invites artists of all mediums to submit works to an exciting new exhibition for next year beginning May 9th 2024    at  Kendal Museum ’s,  The People’s Gallery.     The exhibition encourages creativity and originality in response to the quest to find deep geology in Cumbria from the coastal plain extending under the seabed, to act as “the safest place on earth” for the UK’s heat generating nuclear wastes.    Cumbria’s coastal fringe cradling the iconic Lake District is on the front line of this quixotic quest.    Artworks are invited in all media taking inspiration from the diverse geology of the Lakeland mountains to the Sea.  We are honoured to have    Martin Greenland , an internationally renowned Cumbrian artist and winner of the prestigious John Moores Painting Prize as Guest Artist at Rock Solid? 2.      Th...