iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

It was lovely to meet so many of the artists exhibiting at North Yorkshire Open Studios’ and Rural Arts’ exhibition Idea of North, which I’m helping with the publicity for. So much talent and interesting, diverse processes. And yes that is an enormous beetle

Giant beetle sculpture outside a grand looking building with a sign reading Rural Arts

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Having a lovely time interviewing people about their memories of this incredible place - Theatr Clwyd - that will form part of a new heritage trail. It was so misty there yesterday that I couldn’t get a photo of the view - so here’s the theatre under construction

Photo of Theatr Clwyd, a red and grey 70s-style building of different heights, on the opposite side of the road

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

In this week’s Stored Honey, I make myself at home in Chila Kumari Singh Burman’s new exhibition at IMW North and remember a time I nearly pursued Alistair Campbell into the gents www.stored-honey.com/p/chila-kuma...

stored-honey.com

Corner shops and tigers

Chila Kumari Singh Burman: Chila Welcomes You at IWM North | HOME's new artist development hub | Latest NW arts news

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 01/02/2025

Feel like I’m being haunted by the ghosts of old intros this morning. Everytime I think of a way into the article I’m writing I can hear echoes of things I’ve written before

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

Loved meeting Chila Burman in her new exhibition IWM North yesterday - and chatting about her work and memories of growing up in Merseyside. The show is like being invited into someone’s home to listen to their stories

Image of an art work in which a corner shop is depicted in pink, red, blue and green neon. Above the door is the word ‘Burmans’ and above the windows are the words ‘Silk Cut’. In one window is a sign that says ‘Open’.

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

A foolish move to read A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter during some of the chilliest days of 2025 so far? Her descriptions of a year spent living in a tiny hut on the frozen Spitsbergen carry you off to that beautiful, terrifying world - but you don’t have to eat bear. It’s a win-win

Photograph of a book. The cover is white with a simple drawing of mountains in pale blue,
and the outline of waves in navy. There are also the silhouettes of seabirds in navy. Text reads: Christiane Ritter. The classic memoir of a year in the Arctic wilderness. A Woman in the Polar Night.

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 10/01/2025

Jack Frost showing off in the woods opposite our house. I can overlook ego when it’s accompanied by this level of talent

Trees with their bare branches covered in white frost

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Given the weather, I’m dipping back into Fifty Words For Snow by Nancy Campbell. My favourites include Tykky (‘thick snow and frost that accumulates on tree branches and other structures’ - Finnish) and Cīruļputenis (‘a blizzard of skylarks’ - Latvian)

Book jacket for Fifty Words For Snow by Nancy Campbell. Navy blue with white text and frost like swirls

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 09/01/2025

Why do I work so much better with deadlines but also resent them?

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Liverpool folks - does anyone know if the statue of John Lennon is still at Liverpool Airport please?

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

We’re at that point in January when Christmas seems like a fever dream

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

Spent yesterday writing about a musician who spent six months living on a boat and now there’s only one thing stopping me from swapping life on land - no room for my towering to-read list

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

While I’m waiting for the inside of my car windscreen to de-ice, here’s a small diversion: a quiz on NY folklore I wrote for the BBC www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/art...

bbc.co.uk

Quiz: How well do you know the UK's New Year folk traditions? - BBC Bitesize

From burning straw bears to hanging toast in trees, test your knowledge of the UK's New Year folk traditions.

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 29/12/2024

Going for a walk in my old stomping ground of Formby pinewoods with some friends today. Wondering if my favourite tree has survived. Here’s a polaroid of it by Nathan Pendlebury that sits on my mantlepiece

A Polaroid photo inside a white surround and brown wooden frame sits on a wooden mantlepiece decorated with red berries. The Polaroid shows a pine tree that has a bare trunk except for a few branches at the top that have been wind blown to grow all to the left hand side. There are clouds in the background and a tiny bit of blue sky. There’s a greenish tint to the photo.

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

Finished my Christmas Eve book this evening: The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel. Well- constructed story of a man who chose to completely isolate himself. Provokes questions of why we are compelled to pathologise someone’s behaviour that’s different to the ‘norm’.

Book cover that is white, mostly covered with an image of a tiny figure walking though woods. The tree trunks are towering over him. The text reads: The Stranger in the Woods. ‘A meditation on solitude, wildness and survival’ WALL STREET JOURNAL. Michael Finkel’

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

Hope everyone who celebrates had a lovely Christmas Day - and that those having a tough time were treated kindly. After a whirlwind of family time I will mostly be catching up on Christmas TV today

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

I’d love to know the story behind this festive photo of my grandparents and their friends/relatives (?). My grandma is in the front row with the pig and my grandad is far left at the back. He was a keen photographer so we have lots of photos from a time when it was still fairly unusual

Black and white photo of a family party c.1940s/50s. There are 11 adults sitting in rows, many of them wearing party hats. At the front, a woman with brown curly hair, wearing a mid-length long-sleeved dress with buttons at the neck is holding a pig toy.

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

My son just tried to burn me by saying I’m so old I had to wait for the DVD to launch when I was a kid. Erm…

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 19/12/2024

My seven-year-old son recommended CBBC’s take on this to me yesterday. It stars Andy from Andy and the Band. There’s a version of this tale for every demographic!

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

Caught up with friends from UCLan’s Journalism Innovation and Leadership Programme a year after we finished this weekend. I miss talking to people from all over the world every week

Screenshot of a Zoom call with the screen split into six sections. The three with their cameras on are a woman with bobbed, brown hair, a man wearing glasses and a women wearing glasses with her brown hair tied back.

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

Looking forward to listening to the latest @folkonfoot.bsky.social episode later. When my Dad was very sick mid-lockdown I discovered John Kirkpatrick’s Carol Chariots and found it very comforting (not to mention beautiful) podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/f...

podcasts.apple.com

A Shropshire Christmas with John Kirkpatrick

Podcast Episode · Folk on Foot · 13/12/2024 · 58m

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

Gorgeous festive concert at @livuninews.bsky.social’s Tung Auditorium this lunchtime. The acoustics in this space are lovely. Thanks to @onefellswoopagency.bsky.social for the invitation

Concert hall with a big screen that says: Northern Lights

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 10/12/2024

Press view of David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller &further away) @avivastudios.bsky.social. Can’t wait to step inside

Gallery cafe with large screen showing art work by David Hockney

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Got the kids off Roblox for long enough to decorate the Christmas tree. The rest of this room is consequently an absolute tip, but hey - twinkly lights!

A real Christmas tree with colourful lights, covered in baubles and decorations

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Well on the way with the Christmas baking, mainly because I’m not cooking dinner this year. These bunloaves are a Davis family tradition passed down from my Grandma to my Mum (her DiL) and to me. I thought they went further back until I discovered the recipe in my Grandma’s Trex cookbook

Bunloaves - rectangular fruit cakes - in their baking tins, on a metal cooling tray with a tea towel underneath

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Love this tale about Rick Astley in India Knight’s latest Substack post. What a top bloke

Text reading: RICK ASTLEY. I know, like a cheese dream. He’s written an autobiography and his own massive queue had temporarily abated, so he came to visit everyone else and bought copies of all their books. I said ‘you really don’t need a beauty book for middle-aged women,’ but he just said ‘Can you put ‘to Rick and Lene’ please, love’?’ and went on his way. Talk about charming. Also, magnificent, lustrous quiff.

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Ooh, I could crochet a version of this

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

A friend recently told me my scruffy green jumper looks like I’m wearing moss (she likes moss) and now when I walk past these sandstone walls, instead of marvelling at the marks made by the builders’ tools as I usually do, I keep noticing the green

Section of a wall made of red sandstone blocks, covered in bright green moss

Section of a wall made of red sandstone blocks, covered in bright green moss. Fallen leaves are on the ground in front

Section of a wall made of red sandstone blocks, covered in bright green moss with some green leaves growing in the cracks

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Bizarrely, Formby also had a Phantom Baby Jesus Snatcher who took the figurine from the crib every Christmas (and did return it). He also confessed on radio years later - on Simon Mayo’s True Confessions

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Was thinking about Christmas shows and the time David Gest serenaded me and my unborn baby (now 10) during a break from rehearsal - and realised I’m going to be one of those old people whose stories nobody believes

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Lunch break with this fascinating book that I temporarily mislaid after receiving it for Christmas a few years ago. Worth the wait

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Reposted by Laura Davis

Sarah Hartley @sarah-hartley.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Today's newsletter is out with the main focus on the book recommendations from our lovely independent book shop owners Claire and Alan! There's also the latest #river news as well as many links to local journalists with #environment news tinyurl.com/4tcskhm9

thenortherneco.substack.com

River campaign aims for 2025, shooting petition progress and call to protect salt marshes

Plus some inspiring reading recommendations to snuggle up with this winter

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Anyone read any really good history books recently? Husband and I are giving each other a book this Christmas and that’s it so I need to make it count

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Of all the projects I’ve managed over the years, running the school Christmas Fayre has to be the most challenging. Currently in an episode of Motherland

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Really enjoyed delving into @liveveryplay.bsky.social’s history to write this piece. And it was a treat to re-read Ros Merkin’s brilliant book about the theatre after so many years

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

We’ve already started our annual weekly rewatch so that the final episode coincides with Christmas Eve. The wolves are running! 🐺🐺🐺

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Reposted by Laura Davis

Stored Honey @www.stored-honey.com · 18/11/2024

If you’re a North West artist, theatre maker, creative, or arts organisation please say hi 👋

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Woke earlier than I wanted because my little boy woke, came into our room and promptly fell back asleep. Spent the last precious hour listening to him breathe. Soon he’ll wake and tell me something ‘very important’ about Roblox

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

This week my NW arts newsletter @storedhoney.bsky.social is all about the social power of singing. There’s also 5 theatre shows you can book now for spring and lots more www.stored-honey.com/p/county-of-...

stored-honey.com

If you want to sing out, sing out

County of Song creates a sense of community | 5 theatre shows to book now for spring 2025 | Latest NW arts news

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 16/11/2024

Wow this quiz from Penguin Books got my reading habits totally wrong. I am definitely not a Comforting Comedies sort of person. Fun though www.penguin.co.uk/articles/202...

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 15/11/2024

Nice interactive piece by Camille Smithwick in the Into the Wyle exhibition at the Williamson Art Gallery. My spin landed on a card saying ‘Enter’ so I got to pull back the curtain to view a devotional painting. Would have I obeyed the rules if my card had read ‘Do not enter’? I genuinely don’t know

A white card with a pencil drawing of a cockerel and the word enter

A drawing in a black frame showing the top half of a woman’s face in front of a spin wheel. The text says Spin Fortuna’s Wheel

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Laura Davis @lcdavis.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

Spending today helping to turn WACCLT’s vision for Ron’s Place, an extraordinary ‘Outsider Art’ environment in Oxton, into an action plan. Excited by what we can achieve by thinking differently

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