Monday (may 11th) starts and Gerard takes the sunny day advantage by taking us to Gibberd Gardens in Old Harlow. Gibberd is sort-of a publicly accessible park of sculptures and landmarks.
Gibberd was the main guy behind alot of New Harlow’s construction. You see, after the war, an influx of housing was needed for people outside of London. New harlow was, and is, a larger “Concrete” modern epicenter to Old Harlow’s rural charm. This guy adored concrete, and it shows in the way the garden was constructed.
after a meet with a nice lady in the Tea room, the day was set. we simply met gerard at 4PM that afternoon to discuss the next day’s trip.
Speaking of which, we went to the Sir John Soane Museum on Lincoln Field's inn. Inside were many true particulars of a wide arrangement of art from different eras. From egyptian art to late-victorian pieces. Hallmarks of the visit for me were the sarcophagi and the little chinese demon dog named “george” by one of the attendants.
Off we then went to the Huntarian Museum, alongside the Royal College of Surgeons. Here the many artifacts are actually body parts, kept inside of jars with formaldehyde. The bodies ranged from small rodents and insects to larger mammals like rhinoceros and even human beings. we had much to sketch from, even with the smell of the Formaldehyde getting to my head after a while.
We then took a look at the British Museum. This was a very brief look, involving a look at an exhibit on egyptian artwork and sculpture, as well as some aegean vases and votive figures (had some total stokstad flashbacks then) while inside there. We also took gaze upon the Museum’s new roof, as designed by Norm Foster. Each piece of the roof’s glass dome is a different shape of the triangle, all a part of computer generated design and modeling.
after a break in Bloomsbury Gardens with some supper/wagamamas/various other eats, we headed to the Globe theatre, a replica shakespearean theaters that plays (Surprise) Shakespearian plays! Our show was the play “Romeo and Juliet”. The cast was very good at each of there respective roles, with everyone agreeing that Juliet was a little unconvincing. Gerard and Kris also mentioned that it wasn’t their most developed show and lacked a few stage interactions and effects that most productions have. We crossed Millennium bridge, all a-glow with foster’s engineering lighting up the sides of the pathways as you walked it.
and i was still dying from the sore throat. Wasn’t a pleasant way home, but it was back to residence for tomorrow.
alright, on to the next bundle of entries.
* This is a shot of Atlantis' art store, loacted in London's East End. It had a great variety of artistic materials that we could all benefit from. I didn't decide to pick up anything there, as most of my projects are digitally based and i was unsure just what i wanted to spend money on and put to good use. all in all, i'm very glad we went to this amazing place.
We went to london and approached a glass building (Very post-modern) called Queen Mary’s Research Building. The Building was designed by Will Aesop, with a very colorful interior, acoustic-ampifying designs in the auditoriums and (of course) a level made entirely of projected air streams (this seperates levels of open medical reseach and common usage areas and offices. The inspiration for the building’s design comes from the study of molecualr activity and the basic properties of the cells in our body. The Building manager was our tour guide, with him revealing the 44 Million dollar price tag on the building. I can only vaguely remember how much they have to spend on lighting, think it was roughly $11000 a month. And you think your light bill is too high...?
We then trotted to the east end of london, where we ventured into a narrow alleyway to see the anarchist book store. We were told that the store may not be open (Co’mon, it’s an anarchy place - you think they would abide by their own rules? pfft..no way). With our luck, though, it was open. Also, White Chapel Gallery was very close to it and open as well. We got to go in and see form their eclectic and current collection of artworks. THese works included works by Damien Hurst, Chris Offeili, Peter Doig and (my favortie) bridget riley and her optical mindfuck painting.
Friday consisted of a first trip walking through embankment gardens on the way to Trafalgar Square. We saw a statue of commemoration by Arthur Sullivan and it was also the place of the world’s largest water sewage system at one time. Trafalgar Square was wuite the center for London, riddled with horse stables and artillery. Military figures are adorning corners of the square, with one plinth being a rotating exhibition space. Marc Quinn’s “alison Lapper” sculpture sought there for some time.
We then were told we can enter the national gallery and national portrait gallery. After a brief visit, me, along with martenbenboo and Jill-Murf, decided to head out into the random endeavor of street skimming. We, by happenstance, were embracing soho.
We picked up some wine and i got a cider for myself and we started trotting the area. there were sections of streets just for books, street vendors with all sorts of clothes and accessories, lanes of chinese places, there was just alot to be seen. as well, many of the theatres were there and up in full swing. yep, it was just simply an evening of london trotting.
our next day was a day off, one in which we used to have a barbeque at the cabot house backyard. We will need to have much more of these as the summer goes along.
alright, i’m off to bed. cheerios.
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