Wolverhampton Art Gallery

Yesterday I popped along for a mooch around Wolverhampton Art Gallery. I always enjoy the exhibitions there, there are so many interesting things to see and they are always very varied. 

 Martin Parr - "Black Country Stories"

 David Bethell - "Dr Bird Conquering Clouds" 

 Yara El-Sherbini - "The End of Series" 
"The End of the World"
"The End of Empire"
"The End of Agreements"
"The End of the Adventures of TinTin in the land of Black Gold"

Yara El-Sherbini - "The Current Situation" 

Birmingham Art Gallery

Yesterday we popped along to Birmingham to meet a lovely friend for a day of art, tea, cake and good company! We spent most of the day in the Birmingham Art Gallery, greeted by the Antony Gormley statue "Iron Man", and the excitement at finding that the special exhibition was "Love is Enough - Andy Warhol and William Morris". 

 I wasn't sure about the combination of the two artists, but the links were surprising and varied, it was a really very thought-provoking and inspiring exhibition, and the William Morris drawings in particular left me feeling excited to get back into my sketchbook!

William Morris 'Tulip and Willow' 1873 (pencil and watercolour sketch for print design)

Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol, tapestry, 1968

Credit line: The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; Founding Collection, Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. The Collection of Marla and Larry Wasser, Toronto, Canada. © 2015 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London. Image: Maciek Linowski.

This installation in the skylight was amazing, really beautiful. I didn't manage to find out who made it, but it really took my breath away! 

Tate Liverpool...Part Two

I carried on my mooch around Tate Liverpool in the Leonora Carrington exhibition. It was my second visit, but this time I had a really good look around...

 Evening Conference, 1949.  © Estate of Leonora Carrington

"I, as the whole world, yearn for an individual identity. I would like to find it because on finding it, like the truth, it changes and shifts. We only need to sleep to convert ourselves into different personalities" Leonora Carrington 

And Then They Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur, 1954 

© Estate ofLeonora Carrington/Artists Rights Society (ARS)

I loved her work, mostly for the experimentation with materials and techniques, and the amazing colours. I picked up the novelisation of her life in the shop on my way out, it's called "Leonora" by Elena Poniatowska and I am excited to read it! 

Wandering through I found myself in the huge room of Cathy Wilkes installations. The change from bright colours and busy paintings full of immense detail to this stark collection of figures was quite startling! I must confess that I hadn't made the connection to the installation I had seen as part of the Turner Prize in 2008, this work is really very different, and I found this much more thought-provoking. 

Cathy Wilkes Untitled 2013 

Installation view ‘The Encyclopaedic Palace’, Venice Biennale, Venice, 2013

Courtesy of The Artist and The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow (borrowed from the Tate website) 

Cathy Wilkes Untitled 2013

"The Encyclopaedic Palace", Venice Biennale, Venice, 2013 

(borrowed from Trend Tablet)

There was so much happening in this room, so much to see and take in, I was pleased to have a closer look. These figures had something nomadic about them, their clothes somewhat tatty and dishevelled, they were soulful and so human, with their collections of broken ceramics and bits of lace and embroidery. I really found them so endearing, they seemed lost but at the same time, content. I don't really know, it was appealing but also unsettling. It's a hard feeling to describe, and the things I've read seem non-specific on the meaning of the work, so all I have to go on is my reaction to what I saw, I picked up the exhibition guide so maybe I'll find out more there. There are photographs from the exhibition on The Modern Institute website, they are beautiful. 

So that was my Tate Liverpool adventure - and what a lovely adventure it was!

My Week

This has been a jolly week of nice quiet little moments, and opportunities for adventures. I had an extended visit from a bee in my stall on Saturday, which made me smile and filled me with happiness when I noticed that he only stopped to smell the yellows, as I am myself partial to a little bit of yellow. I supposed that maybe the yellow was the most likely colour for nectary-goodness, and felt a little sorry that the flowers have a button at their centre rather than a sweet little treat. Sunday started with cake for breakfast, a tradition that I feel should be installed with haste, and finished with sock knitting in front of the fire. A perfect end to a chilly day. 

My adventure on Tuesday was a real-life Hobbitty adventure, as I visited Mordor, which is temporarily in the Wolverhampton Art Gallery. I also took myself along to the Tuesday Matinee at the Lighthouse Independent cinema to watch the delightful "What we Did on our Holiday". There is something really rather splendid about going to the movies alone in the afternoon. Thursday was the second of my big adventure days, after spending an afternoon in a cafe knitting with a friend, I found myself in Liverpool enjoying Moroccan food and good company on date night in Kasbah, before popping along to see the lovely Lucy Rose singing her pretty songs as part of the Oxjam shenanigans. It has been a jolly lovely little week.