Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Trip to Henry Moore Studios

We also headed for Henry Moore’s Studios and large yards (complete with Inspirational flocks of sheep - see my “Talking to Sheep” segment). It featured alot of his prominent works (Several over 1000 in his lifetime) scattered about the yards. The Yard also featured many sheep, Something henry found delightful to look at and found solace in having them around the studios). 

It was interesting to learn that Moore simply made his work, often referencing body parts of animals like rhino heads, and then displayed it within the studios to prospective buyers. He rarely did anything on basis of commission, which kind of gave his work an originality-aspect. 

We were told to do some drawings and sketches of the sculptures in the area.  I simply chose a few pieces and then some sheep to sketch, though you can imagine the sheep being not-so still. 

I also picked up more post cards. Maybe you’ll be the recipient of one? just check those mailboxes for em. 

After some tea at the little shop they had, we then decided to head back to the harlow homestead. Tomorrow would be an extensive day of travel for the group that consists of a 5 day stay in Bath, UK. Should be an interesting time. 

Wednesday, May 27th, 2009

Trip to Saffron Walden

• Took the Alleycat van (Named tittles and Randell) to Saffron Walden. We meet at the cenrtal Square of the town and then went top the largest parish church in Essex. We also seen various houses and establishments ranging from the 1600s to the 1800s. The weather was poor, entailing bits of drizzle and cold winds. Hilarious was the Parish preist meeting with our tour guide and our tour guide admitting that she didn’t attend the church’s sermons.

• we then went out on our own. Me, martine and Jill all went to the Hospices and thrift stores. we bought gerard a stamp that said “I don’t have time to read this Crap”. I bought one that says “Complete and Utter Bullshit”. It will be used frequently. 

After Saffron, we checked out “Auddly end”, or the Oddly End as i kept spelling it as, haha. This was a jacobean mansion that was filled with interesting artifacts and stuff animal collections. Both the mansion and landscape gardens around it made for a few hours of good exploration.

 Above all, my favorite spot had to be the Temple of Conchord, a small section of a regular temple it seemed, but it stood after a vast green clearing. to get to it, you could take the stairs, or get lucky in jumping the ha-ha (or an abrupt ditch put in front of the structure). 

After a pot of tea and slice of cake at the tea room, we were back in the vans for a trip back to harlow mill. 

Monday, May 25th, 2009 - V&A Museum

Monday, May 25th, 2009
Today we visited the V&A Museum and explored the new Baroque Exhibition. The exhibit featured many articles of clothing, pieces of furniture and age-old relics and bits from the baroque era, as well as artwork from the time. I found the show to actually quite boring, and was somewhat left disgusted by how much decoration adorned the pieces of the time. alot of the show had to present the highly esteemed wealth of royal figures and the almighty, but didn’t address the oppression of larger minorities of poor folks and the oppression of minorities in diversity. Baroque kinda sucks like that.

one video piece near the end astounded me, though. it involves....no wait....i’ll leave it for my Fourth year. you’ll see what i mean.

Also, Jill Murph and Gabbytan posed as sculptures within the entrance of the museum. they did a very wicked job of posing aS classical statues. with us watching crowd reactions, it was a pretty funny sight to see.

We found Kyle's Double that day. I'd swear, everyone has a twin in this world!


after the V&A, we all crossed the millennium bridge and were told by gerard of a public art performance by Paola Pivi entailing having one thousand people scream at the Tate modern. me and jill murph headed for the Tate’s cafe for a bite to eat, then went to witness the scream (You can watch this, it’s just down below and linked to Youtube). 

more to come! i'll be posting on a travel-day format from now on so that you readers aren't blasted with info about my trip in the "sunday news paper" way. you know, how like i know you guys won't want to read 1000+ words in the one go. i don't blame you, as i would just pick up another book. cheers!