Ruthin Adventure

Our first Summer Holiday adventure was a little trip up into the lovely Welsh Hills, visiting Ruthin Craft Centre. I always leave with a head full of inspiration, they really do show amazing objects. 

The main exhibition is "Not Too Precious", and there are some wonderful pieces of contemporary jewellery. 

Top Row - Zoe Robertson and Felike van der Leest
Middle Row - Christel van der Laan, Mirei Takeuchi and Mariko Sumioka
Bottom Row - Michiriro Sato, Lina Peterson and Catherine Truman

So often beautiful work seems to be overlooked because of the inherent worth of the material. This exhibition was so refreshing, seeing how makers interact with materials and how they are so inventive, being freed from the restraint of rules and obligations of materials and processes associated with "precious" materials. The colours and textures were amazing and I felt a renewed enthusiasm for my own design process. 

The other exhibition was "Welsh Collection II" and was mostly ceramics, as well as a little bit of metal and wood. I love beautiful ceramics, but I was never very good at it myself, so I appreciate the work that goes into it. 

Top Row - Julia Griffiths Jones and Lowri Davies
Bottom Row - Anne Gibbs and Jin Eui Kim

Such beautiful work. 

Treasures of the British Museum...

The British Museum is one of my most favourite places. Ever since my very first visit I have been amazed by it's collections, the scale of the wonders of the ancient world and the ability to travel through every continent by simply moving from one room to another. As time goes on, I find myself looking less at the monumental sculptures and statues, and taking more time to look at the little things. Each room is full of tiny treasures, beautiful objects that have been made with such skill. 

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours pottering around, as always I stopped for a look at the Chinese Ceramics and the Japanese rooms, they are full of some of my favourite things, and I spent some time looking around the European art, the painted ceramic tiles and jewellery in particular caught my attention. 

During my degree I spent such a lot of time looking at how things were constructed, in particular how different brooches worked, different ways to fasten. I suppose I had a geeky moment in the Iron Age European room, looking at the beautiful brooches, admiring their elegant shapes. 

I really could quite happily spend days looking around the museum, I always feel like my creative batteries have been re-charged. 

Today was a day for adventure...

The adventure was a trip to visit the Emma Bridgewater Factory in Stoke-On-Trent, and a jolly delightful adventure it was. Everything there is so very pretty, and it is so wonderful to know that all of these beautiful things are made here in the UK. 

 I wonder if I could squeeze a spotty Aga into our little kitchen? Or pretty shelves full of teapots and loveliness? I think we need a bigger house...

Our visit to the cafe was perfect, with delicious tea and hot tasty soup, followed by a trip outside to the lovely garden to meet the resident chickens. It was so very nice to meet them.

I treated myself to two little mementoes of our day, sweet little vases that I will fill with the pretty flowers that are growing in my garden. 

It has been a lovely day.

My Weekend in the Big City

This weekend I packed my little red suitcase and I took myself off on a little jaunt to the big city. With my notebook and knitting in hand I set off on my way, dashing through the rain and hopping over puddles to the British Museum, where my adventures began...

In just one day, I travelled the world and explored treasures from every continent. I started in Ancient Greece, at the "Defining Beauty" exhibition, and then moved on to Korea, and then China and onwards to Japan. 

The cabinets full of tiny things are my favourites, so many precious little objects, ancient hand crafted loveliness. 

After a tea break, I carried on to Europe, taking a little wander around the pretty jewellery and ceramics. 

By the end of the day, I think I had been in every room of the Museum, and felt utterly worn out, and my poor little feet were aching, but I had a head full of absolutely amazing things. 

After a good nights sleep, my adventures continued with a trip down to Tate Britain. I had a jolly lovely time looking around the exhibitions, and the permanent collection. 

I am home from my adventures now, my suitcase is unpacked and my notebook is full of big ideas. It's nice to go away, but it's lovely to come home again.

A Visit to Ruthin

I love to visit quaint little towns, and one of my favourites is Ruthin in North Wales. It's an old town, with a castle and a gaol, and lots of lovely shops, but my first stop is always the Craft Centre. It's an Applied Arts gallery, full of beautiful objects and exhibitions from a variety of disciplines, and is always very inspiring.

The special exhibition was "As William Morris Said..." inspired by the quote -

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." William Morris

I particularly liked the ceramics by Derek Wilson, in tones of grey and white, with some lovely yellows. I think personally I am drawn more to colours and patterns than the more utilitarian, minimalistic work in this exhibition, but it was interesting nonetheless. 

As well as the main exhibition, there is a Willow installation that fills the entire of Gallery 2, called "Inundation". It really is amazing, such a massive expanse and filling so much space, but still so open and airy.

The town itself is lovely too, and I always enjoy pottering around the charity shops, antique centre and the yarn shop, where I gave into temptation and bought three skeins of beautiful sock yarn. And of course there was cake, because it seemed rude not to...