sarah gee - sunderland, uk

spring officially announced in sunderland.

sarah gee writes..." There is beauty in this city - but you have to look for it"

joshua daniels - london, uk

photographer joshua daniels has sent in this image from the big smoke

"Litter, smoke and alcohol I believe is the blood of the city running through all the streets like veins, people consume smoke and alcohol like food and drink, and discard the leftovers, which leave the streets with the tell tale signs of modern life. I decided to show a close up image rather than a city landscape to show the close up view of the reality of city life."

emily tull - ramsgate, uk

from freelance artist emily tull...

http://www.emilytull.co.uk/

http://www.theweirdworkingsofemilysbrain.blogspot.com/

this image was taken in my hometown of Ramsgate, a town of developement and much change which means it is a mish mash of modern and old. So much can be read about its history by just walking around for most of the things that have been modernised and replaced have been still left and not been removed. This sign represents the original route to London, once a prominent fixture, now faded and rusted but has a beautiful, quiet charm.

sonia shepherd - prague, czech republic

artist sonia shepherd's image comes from prague -

" I chose this concert poster because it represented Prague as a city that promoted live music everywhere. The guitars on it evoked memories of live music being played in pubs and clubs in Birmingham, UK, in the 1960's."

peter rose - stafford, uk

from peter rose in stafford

This is the Victoria Bridge over the River Sow in Stafford.

I think it's quite a beautiful place in many ways, even though it's in the middle of an urban sprawl.

It's a good place to contemplate whatever needs contemplating.

marianne richardson - harlow, uk

marianne richardson has been shopping...

My 'Beauty in the City image' ... was taken at The Water Gardens, a shopping complex in Harlow, Essex. I photographed shopping trolleys because they looked beautiful glistening in the sunlight and I liked the interesting patterns the overlapping legs created.

Our days are often taken up with mundane tasks like a trip to the supermarket, but sometimes beauty can be found where you would least expect it. Sometimes it is good to look at the world with fresh eyes, to look beyond the everyday, and to really appreciate what you see before you

siobhan tarr - sydney, australia

thanks to siobhan tarr who has sent in these two pictures from her old stomping ground in sydney.

Walking through Chinatown in Sydney I was delighted to rediscover this little water hydrant man who lives in a hole in the wall. I lived here a long time ago and used to smile everytime I passed him on this busy main road on my way to work. I´d forgotten all about him until recently, back on holiday in Sydney, waiting at the traffic lights I spotted him across the road – like all the other hundreds of times I had to grin back at him.

I thought this chunk of bright red water pipes/sprinkler system at the Rocks in Sydney could possibly be related to the red water hydrant man in Chinatown!

julie brixey-williams - london, uk

artist julie brixey-williams has sent in this wonderful magnet intervention.

www.juliebrixey-williams.co.uk

My studio is just around the corner of a municipal dump (Stirling Road, Acton, London W3). The guys who work there take the discarded objects and arrange them in different tableaux + I often visit it like a gallery to see what's new. This was today's new 'Still Life with David'.

and so the time has come. after two years, including an enforced break and a triumphant return, over 40 artists/photographers have submitted a total of more than 200 images, documenting cities around the world from the project base of stoke-on-trent to as far afield as chiang-mai and jakarta. each participant has referenced their city, finding their urban beauty and documenting it photographically in their own unique way.

the exhibition will take place at AirSpace Gallery, in stoke-on-trent and will run from the 5th-17th April in the gallery's window exhibition space. the show will take the form of a looped slideshow and will run continuously for the duration of the exhibition. take a look at AirSpace's website here.

http://www.airspacegallery.org/

and this is just the start. the project will go on! plans are in negotiation to build on the start and take the exhibition on tour - cities in spain and poland, france and germany will hopefully be experiencing our beauty in their cities, so...watch this space.

and in the meantime, it would be great if you could come and witness the project to date.

thanks, so much, to everyone who has taken part and ensured that many people will start to see the beauty in their urban everyday.

iain macleod-brudenell - nottingham, uk

thanks again to iain macleod-brudenell, this time for these two images taken in his home city of nottingham. it's interesting the way the railing separates two stratas of the city view.

he writes..."The... images were taken whilst waiting for the tram on a wet morning

Rain droplets- the ephemeral, often ignored, transitory beauty of the effect of weather in the city"

iain macleod-brudenell - new york, usa

CHARRED -was taken in New York - an incongruous burnt bill board hoarding. As well as the peeled posters it was possible to se through to the supporting structure. It looked as though a huge installation had been inserted in an otherwise 'normal' street. A beautiful and intriguing serendipitous work of art. - Iain Macleod-Brudenell

beauty of the month for february

congratulations to sophie gibson whose submission of this image d'amour is selected as february's beauty picture of the month.

ruth shaw-williams - oxford, uk

Ruth Shaw-Williams writes..." There is beauty in marmalade; I don't work in marmalade, but I do work for an Oxford-based, self-advocacy organisation, with offices in The Jam Factory and I do love the work. "

http://www.mylifemychoice.org.uk/index.html

http://www.thejamfactoryoxford.com/building.html

victor angelo - jakarta, indonesia

thanks to victor angelo "capital city beauty" sent from his hangout in jakarta

http://sites.google.com/site/victorangelo/

kamila szuba - warszawa, poland 3

some views of polish railway stations sent in by kamila szuba

sophie gibson - liverpool, uk 2

love is in the air in liverpool with this timely submission from sophie gibson who says, "Rumor has it this was painted on Valentine's Day about five years ago now."

julia warin - bath, uk

...from julia warin in bath...
Here's a couple of shots of the cross baths in Bath. Now that the new Spa has been built this hot spring has glass doors across where previously it was open and one could look in. It still reveals it's mystery through the beautiful steamy light.

bernard charnley - stoke-on-trent, uk

Stoke-on-Trent artist Bernard Charnley offers us a view of urban travelling.

"My ‘thereisbeautyinthecity’ spot is the play of light and colour between the dash in my car and the stop lights before the Hanford roundabout in Stoke-on-Trent . Even the fuel indicator is joining in!"

http://www.bernardcharnley.co.uk/

vivien peach - manchester, uk

vivien peach has sent in this image from a film shoot in manchester city centre.

http://vivienpeach.com/

beauty of the month for january

january's selected image, submitted by ella klenner from bad oldesloe in germany, references themes of evolution and age progression as well as the idea of urban community, seen in the old ladies' group. click for an enlarged image to get a true picture of this communal scene.

ella klenner - bad oldesloe, germany

ella klenner has sent in these images from bad oldesloe in germany...

"The magnet is stuck to a sprayed electricity box in front of the home for elderly people. It reminds me of where we come from and where we are going. Often the old people are standing next to the monkey with their zimmer-frame, watching the life on the street or they are waving from behind the window (background) to the people passing by."

lester kong - stoke-on-trent, uk 4

photographer lester kong highlights the plethora of urban notices telling its dwellers what to and not to do. He writes...

"on a recent walk around my home town i was struck by the amount of ad hoc fencing, barbed and razor wire and signs issuing me with direct orders on how i should behave and where i was forbidden to go. i live in hope that one day, i'll stumble across a sign inviting me to "please walk on the grass".

abe honest, wolverhampton, uk

artist abe honest tells of a folk figure from wolverhampton's past...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/abehonest/

http://www.myspace.com/abe_honest

It (the magnet) is placed on the nearest tree on Wolverhampton's Inner Ring Road, where the famous tramp Josef 'FRED' Stawinoga (15/12/20 – 28/10/07) lived for 40years in his tent.
He is thought to have been involved in the Soviet invasion of Poland (1939), before emigrating to the UK in the 1940s.

After the war he lived in Wolverhampton, finding work and a place to live – and an Austrian wife who left him after a year, according to Juliusz Leonowicz, who identified himself as Stawinoga's friend.

Official records show that Stawinoga married a woman called Hermine Weiss in Wolverhampton in 1952.

It has been reported that Stawinoga worked for some time at the Stewart & Lloyds steelworks in Bilston. One day, however, he did not turn up to work and the next his colleagues knew "...he was pushing a pram with all his possessions and had grown an ankle-length beard"
Thus, at a date given by different sources as 1954 and 1967, he opted out of society for unknown reasons, left his job, and became homeless. He was evicted from several lodging houses, and by the 1970s he had moved into a tent on the central grass reservation of the town's inner ring road. The council tolerated his presence, as he was claustrophobic, and he became something of a local character. A series of replacement tents was erected by the authorities over his original plastic sheeting; in April 2003 this involved "an operation involving the army, the police, social services and environmental health".

Fred was treated as a holy man by the Hindu and Sikh communities, with many people believing he lived a truly enlightened life. A group devoted to him on the social networking site Facebook had over 4,000 members in early October 2007.

Józef Stawinoga died on 28 October 2007, aged 86. Wolverhampton City Council announced that it would cover the cost of his funeral if none of his family came forward, and the possibility of a memorial to him has been discussed. His tent was removed by the council at the request of West

Midlands Police, who were concerned that the area would become a tourist attraction^.
(INFO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA)

I find this very appropriate to place the magnet by Fred's home of 40 years, it is giving him some sort of recognition that he was the beauty in the city during his time living there.

nathaniel pitt - worcester, uk

artist and curator nathaniel pitt uses the beauty magnet to highlight this innovative use of a household feature - diy art gallery at its most inventive.

http://www.artistsonscreen.co.uk/nathanpitt/

http://www.pittstudio.com/

les arnott - lichfield, uk

...for les arnott - "a quiet spot to relax and reflect" in lichfield

The Garden of Remembrance in the city of Lichfield

iris bertz - leamington spa, uk

thanks to iris bertz for these wintry images of allotments in leamington spa

jodie cresswell, gunthorpe, uk

artist jodie cresswell has set beauty free, to boldly go...

she writes...

This river passes through the ‘shires and city’s of the midlands where I belong.

The ‘beauty in the city- message in a bottle’ was released New Years Eve at Gunthorpe, Nottinghamshire. Hopefully it will find its way to the North Sea, seeing much beauty as it travels- alone and undocumented. This micro project will only be closed when it has been found.

It has my address & your blog inside – so hopefully it will be recycled by its ‘finder’ and used for their 'beauty in their city'.

I am ever inspired by the ‘passing through of cities’, the glimpses that are lost and remixed in a memory format only. I like the privacy of its capturing and power of its faded reminiscence. I felt my contribution to your project should demonstrate/ actively participate this.
My current practice is investigating: The distance Between

The dialects of here and there has been promoted to the rank of absolutism according to which these unfortunate adverbs of place are endowed with unsupervised powers of ontological determination.
Gaston Bachelard

susana lopez fernandez - barcelona/gijon, spain

thanks to susana lopez fernandez for this image taken in catalonia's capital...

and this one from her native gíjon

december beauty

this month's selected image was submitted by jen cantwell - an icy view over inverness's beauly firth.

kamila szuba - warszawa, poland 2

...from kamilla szuba

emma little - birmingham, uk

artist emma little has sent in this image...

" I'd just like to say that this image is an homage to the assemblage style sculpture of early avant-garde artists like Picasso. The simple act of improvisation in this image is what I find interesting in this picture, as well as a possible conceptual edge...the Barber Institute? This magnet is in there somewhere...zoom may be required! (p.s. it wasn't my bike!) "

philip ryland - farnham, uk

beauty on philip ryland's fridge