Check this out: Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty Exhibition

Picture sourced from https://fashionworked

This month sees the opening of the much awaited Alexander McQueen exhibition at the V&A, Savage Beauty.  We seriously cannot wait!  The tickets sold out in record time, but a few weeks back they allocated some more tickets and so we were first in line!  We do however need to wait till May to go, but are looking forward to it so much already.

Picture sourced from https://fashion2011marketing

We are both big fans of McQueen's work and so fingers crossed it delivers and with all the people who will be going to see it, fingers crossed we can actually see the items on display as this will be the first and largest display of his work in Europe.  The exhibition was shown at the Met in New York in 2011 and was one of their top 10 most visited exhibitions, not too shabby hey!

Picture sourced from http://dressful.com/

Are you going to see the exhibition or is there an exhibition coming up that we should check out?  Let us know in the comments below.

H

Bloglovin / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Google+ / Instagram

Link for the week: Saatchi Gallery

photograph courtesy of www.saatchigallery.com

Last week I sent a friend over to the Saatchi Gallery on her week off to check out a new exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London called Paper and so I thought I should extend the invitation for you to go visit too, before it closes on Sunday 3rd November.

http://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/paper/

The exhibition celebrates the use of paper in contemporary art and the paper sculpture above is by Marcelo Jácome and was what first made me want to go see the show.

You can have a look at a great review of it here.

If you do go, please let me know what it's like as with Half Term next week at work, I don't think I am going to have the time to go see it.

Live it

H

Link for the week: Must See Exhibitions

Hello all and it's that time of the week where I tell you about something new to go and take a look at.

This week, it's a few exhibitions that I really want to go see.  Some of which I don't think I will get around to but I thought I would share with them with you guys and if you have been or do go, them please do leave a comment below about what it was like.

First up is the Zandra Rhodes exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum in London.  This place is a little known museum I feel, but its definitely worth a visit.  I went a few years ago for a Sanderson exhibition and loved it.

http://ftmlondon.org/ftm-exhibitions/zandra-rhodes/

I feel this may well be one of the exhibitions I won't get to though as it finishes at the end of this month and I just don't see me squeezing in a time to get there. So if you go, please let me know what it was like.

Next up is an exhibition at my favourite museum, the V&A.  We all know I love it here so no introductions needed to the museum but this exhibition on 'Club to Catwalk, London fashion in the 1980's' looks so good.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-from-club-to-catwalk-london-fashion-in-the-80s/about-the-exhibition

I missed the Hollywood costumes exhibition a few years ago - as it was always fully booked and so I am determined not to miss this one!

And finally, it's an exhibition on 'Extraordinary stories about Ordinary things' at the Design Museum. 

http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/2013/extraordinary-stories

I love objects and seeing what people think of boring items which can be seen in a different way. It was one of my main research loves when I did my masters a few years back and it has stayed with me.

So, I think that's enough for one day.  Hope you get to go see something soon too, let me know in the comments below.

Live it

H

Live it: Dulwich Picture Gallery

One of the very many great things about my job is that I get to go and see other museums and galleries as research.

I have been passionate about museums and galleries for as long as I can remember.  I studied to be a designer, then a curator and now I work at The Lightbox which enables me to combine both things whilst also assisting children and adults to learn new arts and crafts things in my education role.

Part of my role is currently to develop a new funded older people strand to our education programme and the Dulwich Picture Gallery have been doing great things for over 8 years now, so it seemed like the perfect place to visit and gain knowledge from them.

They run a very successful older people programme with; 'Good times' which gives groups the chance to find out more about paintings and a cup of tea and catch up afterwards; there is also their 'Prescription for art' programme which gives individuals a chance to come together to learn a new arts skill.  These are both very successful and long running programmes which we are very interested in learning from for a pilot programme later this year at The Lightbox.

It also happened to be a lovely sunny day and with their gardens outside the gallery, it was a lovely place to sit and wait as I was a little early.

Dulwich Picture Gallery is England first Public Art Gallery; it was founded in 1811 when Sir Francis Bourgeois RA bequeathed his collection of old masters “for the inspection of the public”.  It is certainly a very different place to The Lightbox.  The works are from the 17th and 18th century and are an introduction to the Baroque style, more information on the gallery and the collection can be found here.

The Skylights above give the gallery much needed light and keep it from being dull inside.  It was a very sunny day when I went but I think the skylights would have the same effect on a dull day.  There is currently a special exhibition on alongside the permanent collection - Murillo & Justino de neve: the art of friendship.  This exhibition has been given a different feel to it with grey walls and a very church-like effect display.

I love checking out different museums and galleries and have been known to drag my friends to them on holidays and days out.  I love discovering new places too and Dulwich Picture Gallery was one I have not been to before.  It is definitely well worth a visit if you happen to be in the area and the Dulwich Park is lovely to walk around too after perhaps a cake in the Gallery Cafe - they looked amazing!

What's your favourite Gallery or let me know where you recommend?

Live it

H

Link for the week: Lichtenstein Exhibition at the Tate Modern

Photo courtesy of http://www.tate.org.uk

I thought with this weeks link I would share with you an exhibition which I think is a must see!

The Tate Modern has a retrospective of Roy Lichtenstein's work from now until the 27th May and it will be well worth a look.

I saw some of his work a few years ago now while at the Guggenheim Bilbao and the scale of some of his work and the colour is amazing!  For all those not sure about art, it may well be just what you are looking for to get your thinking about art in a different way as its imagery is so powerful, there will always be something for you to connect to.

As the Tate website says "Lichtenstein is renowned for his works based on comic strips and advertising imagery, coloured with his signature hand-painted Benday dots. The exhibition showcases such key paintings as Look Mickey 1961 lent from the National Gallery Art, Washington and his monumental Artist’s Studio series of 1973–4. Other noteworthy highlights include Whaam! 1963 – a signature work in Tate’s collection – and Drowning Girl 1963 on loan from the Museum of Modern Art, New York."

I definately advocate that there is an art form for everyone and that people take for granted what art is and think it is not for them or there are unfortunately others who think that art should be for a specific set of people!  Those people are wrong by the way.

Anyway, I was looking at the 'What Katie Does' blog, as I have been reading on and off and saw that the lovely Katie had managed to get into a press night for the Lichtenstein exhibition (exciting!) and so was able to take photos - this never happens in real life!  So I thought it only fair to share with you the blog and the post about it so that you can see what is on display and, like me, begin to really really want to go and see it for yourself!

http://www.whatkatiedoes.net/2013/02/lichtenstein-a-retrospective-at-the-tate-modern.html

Its on my list of things to do this week for when I am pottering about on my days off, well needed after last week's half term!

H

Live it: RA Summer Exhibition 2012

Photo courtesy of http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/summer-exhibition-2012/

For me, Summer in London is all about the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy and so as I will soon be moving away from the city, I thought it only fair that I went to the show again. This is my 5th year going and every year brings something different and this time I went with my mum, which was fun as I usually go on my own.

This year however disappointed me a little and impressed me at the same time - so that's probably what they were going for. Unfortunately you are not able to take photos and so I cannot show you some of my favourite parts, but I can talk about them and link you to my No. 1 item to look at in the show.

My favourite parts of the show are usually the architecture models and the photography gallery - which this year they have split the photos up into the gallery spaces along with the paintings.  I prefer my photography all together and the most impressive photography part was on the back wall, you know the one, just where you exit for the shop, there is a wall dividing the gallery from the shop doors, some of the best photographs were on the back of that!  Well placed for people to ignore them, and I must say 3 Quentin Blake sketches were here too!  One of the best illustrators we have to offer and that's where they put him!  I seem to remember he got that place last year too, so maybe he likes it there!  

The architecture models did not did not disappoint, the detail and precision from carving a building from the pages of a book through to etched metal fully scaled detail!  Amazing.  I think this is usually one of the places that most of the purist RA visitors find the least interesting as I am usually one of the only ones in the room.  The sketches on the wall would have put my lecturers at Design college and University to shame and I can only say that if I had given my tutors sketches like them, they would have failed me.  Just goes to show how subjective design is and what really counts as talent in the real world.

I also liked the fact that they had moved the artwork that usually resides in one of the the tiny rooms to room III (the largest room) which means you can actually see all the artwork on the walls, instead of trying to look at work which is 8ft high on the wall and which is so small that you can just about see the colour it is, let alone what it is and the number, to at least help you discover what it is.

For the amount of years I have been going, I think this has to be one of my least favourite shows and maybe that's just because it does not indulge in my particular passions!  But I did, as always like David Mach's work and they had plenty of John Hoyland work for me to look at - which after a trip to the Tate St Ives in 2006, he has been a particular favourite of mine.

My top thing to check out when you go though is no.1132, the Hawkins/Brown model called 'Ferias Diversorio' in room VI, just look at the picture!  Its amazing, made out of sewing bits and pieces, from bobbins and spools, with little people added on for that extra cute factor!

Picture courtesy of: http://www.hawkinsbrown.com/studio/the-royal-academy-summer-exhibition-2012

So all in all, something for everything and despite my outlook its definitely worth a look, as it will show you what people think of art and for all your artists out there, show you that you really should apply next year as you really could be the next artist in the Summer Exhibition.

Live it!

H

Love it: More Exhibition Adventures

H has been a culture vulture this week!  I managed to fit in two museum visits which is always a bonus as far as I am concerned!

So first up was the Tate Modern!  I wanted to go see the Yayoi Kusama exhibition which I have heard so much about.  The leaflet says 'she is perhaps Japan's best-known living artist.  Since the 1940s she has worked obsessively, developing an extensive body of work that encompasses painting, sculpture, drawing and collage as well as the immersive large-scale installations for which she is best known.'

As usual there are no photographs allowed in the exhibition, so you will have to go and see it yourselves to know what I am truly talking about.  There were a large amount of painting, some of my favourites were with thousands of dots all over the canvas/paper.  Due to the constraints of money and availability, some of her work used acrylic paints and sand as well as thousands of the airmail stickers that had come on her families letters from Japan to her then residence in New York.

Yayoi became well known for her performative experimentation, encouraging people to paint polka dots on each others naked bodies.  This after all was the sixties and seventies and free-love and hippie culture was thriving.  Film-makers picked up on her work and it was known for body paintings and orgys to happen in the her installation environment.

She was influential in the 1960s and 1970s with the New York avant-garde, yet when she returned to Japan she found it tough to readjust and admitted herself to a hospital that has remained her home to the present day.  She has continued to work and now works in a studio opposite the hospital she lives in, mainly working on drawings and paintings.

I loved her polka dot work, well I would, I am a little obsessed with dots at the moment, they are everywhere, Fashion, Interiors, Jewellery, so why not love them.  I particularly loved the entrance way to the exhibition with polka dot balloons as seen above.

So what to do with a day at Waterloo!

I took myself off to the Hayward Gallery on the Southbank to have a look at the David Shrigley exhibition.  You may have seen the posters of a stuffed dog holding a 'I'm Dead' sign.  To get to this exhibition however I first had to walk through an exhibition by Jeremy Deller who is a Turner-Prize winner.  He classes himself as a conceptual artist and mainly uses his interest in people and their relationships to each other.  There were banners and newspapers, along with Valerie's Cafe which was giving away free Tea!  always good.  There was a whole area devoted to the coal miners strikes of the 80's, which was really interesting, using a timeline and newspaper articles to show what was happening at that time was great to see, especially as I was very young at that time and so did not really know fully what was going on.  Plenty of films to watch also, one even in 3D!  Then I saw some embossing machines and so had to have a go, see below, what do you think?

So then I got to walk up the stairs and open the 'Don't Linger at the Gate' Gate into the David Shrigley exhibition.  Most people will know his work from the greeting cards he has done in many a good card shop, but it was great to see more of his work, from animations to posters and a big old cup to tea, with actual tea!  And of course the stuffed dog!  I think its definitely worth a visit as it brings the fun back into art, sometimes that's just what we need!

Live it
H

Love it: My V&A Obsession

So to make a change, H decided to take herself down to the V&A this week, I think it is becoming an obsession more than I thought actually!

I took myself for a serious walk around the Jewellery gallery, which unfortunately you cannot take photos of and so you will just have to take my word for it that it is AMAZING!  Some of the detail that has been used through the years is brilliant, I am particularly in love with the Berlin Iron Jewellery from the early 19th Century. But then there were all the very sparkly jewellery from Russia and a man called Leopold Pfisterer, so pretty.

So I went for a wander around the Silver collection, when I saw some people taking some fashion photographs in the gallery, always fun to watch!  I saw a lovely set of three Silver Lions which are copies of the 17th Century original ones which were made to guard the royal throne at Rosenborg Castle in Denmark.

Then through the Silver Objects galleries, where I found these Beauties:

A modern Silver cast vase.

An ornate Silver Cup

I then went to see the Golden Spider Silk Cape, which I have seen before, But its so amazing that these tiny spiders can make something so big and so beautiful.  I know there are many people out there who hate spiders, but there is something about how beautiful the spiders themselves are and what they can do to make you appreciate them that little bit more.

The Golden Spider Silk Cape

A close up of the cape

The Original Drawing for the Cape

So, that's it for another visit to the V&A, although I am sure I will be back soon and tell you all about it.  I am looking forward to the British Design Exhibition which opens at the end of this month, the Ballgowns Exhibition which opens in mid May, the Thomas Heatherwick Exhibition (it does help his name has my name in it!) which opens at the end of May and last but definitely not least, I am looking forward to the Hollywood Costume Exhibition which opens in October!  Phew, lots of do!

Love it
H

Live it: A day at the V&A

Last week I found myself taking a wander down to my favourite Museum for the day, the V&A in London where I saw they have a new sculpture in the entrance.  Although I did not get who it was by, and so if anyone knows, please do let me know!

Along with checking out the Annie Lennox exhibition, with a brilliant soundtrack to keep you humming the tunes for the rest of the day; I took a look around some of the galleries I haven't seen in a while, including the jewellery collection and architecture gallery, where I saw this model of the South Kensington redevelopment, so I thought an arty shot of inside the model was in order!

I also, had a look around the Performance Gallery in which I saw they had some of the amazing masks from the Lion King show, which if you haven't been yet, is well worth a visit!

I had a lovely day wandering around the halls and getting a bit of inspiration, which it is all about isn't it! Where is your favourite place to go and be inspired? 

Live it

H

Live it: Post and Power exhibition at the V & A

Photo Courtesy of the V&A

A day off from work presented H with an opportunity to go to her favourite museum, the V&A.  It was an opportunity to see two exhibitions that I have been looking forward to seeing, Postmodernism and the Power of Making.

Firstly to the temporary exhibition spaces, for the Postmodernism Exhibition.  The entrance way had a huge neon sign which was a sign of what was to come.  With neon backlit text panels, the normal exhibition text had been re-invented for this show.  Walking through the spaces, you moved from architecture to objects which "explored the radical ideas that challenged modernism" (in the V&A's words).   It took me back to my student days of reading the book 'Learning from Las Vegas' and watching Blade Runner in my lectures to help us see how Postmodernism was a way of life for the time and effected everyone's attitude to popular culture.

There were items that we can all relate to, from teapots and side tables to Annie Lennox's clothes.  There was even the references to the start of hip hop DJing with Grandmaster Flash and the graphic design of posters from the Hacienda in Manchester and magazine design.  For me it was a time that brought together many different design disciplines, some for the first time.  It is a notion that is still explored today, with architects designing products for their buildings and how popular culture influences fashion and graphic design especially.

I am now looking forward to the Postmodern weekend at the end of October for my next fix and Halloween avoiding weekend.  You can check it all out here: www.vam.ac.uk/postmodernism

Next on my list was the Power of Making, an exhibition which is very close to this blog's heart.  It is run in conjunction with the Crafts Council to "celebrate the role of making in our lives".  The objects varied from clothes and shoes, through to car manufacturing and sculpture.  David Mach's Coat Hanger Gorilla was an impressive site at the entrance way to the exhibition.  Made from wire coathangers to form the shape, it cuts an impressive figure in front of you.  You can also find another of his works, an Astronaut at the Royal Jordanian Airlines Headquarters in Hammersmith,, London.

Image Courtesy of www.designlondonblog.co.uk

Walking around the exhibition you could explore how robots help to make and that the skilled craftsperson is in decline, but that is starting to revive itself now as people want handmade and unique more than mass production and mundane items.

The Widow Dressmaker Pin Dress by Susie MacMurray also caught my eye as it is made of thousands of dressmaking pins to hold the shape of a beautiful dress.  I am not entirely sure who could or would want to wear it, but it makes a beautiful piece to look at, through the glimmer of exhibition lighting!  It did get me thinking though that does the dress stay as a fashion piece or is it then sculpture?

You can also see a great article about it here: http://www.harpersbazaar.co.uk/fashion/blog/the-editors/art-fashion-identity-bazaar

After all that culture I was a little hungry, so took the opportunity to meet up with a friend of mine who works at the Gallery and eat in the lovely cafe there!  So much choice, so little time.  The garden in the centre of the Museum, makes a lovely spot when its a nice day and in the barmy weather of late September too!

Live it

H

Love it: The Summer Exhibition at The Royal Academy of Arts 2011

One thing that I love to do is go to the Summer Exhibition at The Royal Academy of Arts every year and today with my recovery day after Glastonbury I thought it would the perfect time to go for a little wander.


Every year people from across the country apply for their work to be in the show and some get the chance to be selected to hang their work alongside some famous artists.  My favourties are always the Photography and Architectural model rooms which show the different sides of art as just a painting form.  The architectural models did not disspoint this year, although I felt that they had been squashed into a small room.  There was not as much photography that has been previously, but I guess that as each year is curated by different Royal Academians, then they each have their own idea of art.


I also saw that some of the work that doesn't get selected, gets a second chance at a gallery over near Waterloo, so that might well be my next port of call!

Live it!
Heather