Many Faces

One of my favourite places in London is just round the corner from one of the city's most famous sites, Trafalgar Square. The entrance to the National Portrait Gallery is much more discreet than that of its big sister, the National Gallery that faces grandly onto the square, and it has a more personal feeling to it; although well frequented, it's seems far less touristy.

What I love most is wandering around the galleries, with the faces of people from throughout time gazing down, admiring them back but really absorbing their life stories and what they experience and went through. It's the same when I read magazines; I am fascinated by the stories of people's lives, whether famous or less well known, how they got to where they are today.

The NPG has the Faces of Britain exhibition spotted around the gallery, which is accompanied by a TV programme by Simon Schama. If you also love portraiture, it's a great insight into the stories behind the works of art, picking up on elements that you might not have seen at face value, and exploring the themes of Love, Fame, Power, People and Self-Portraits.

Since freeing myself from studies, I really want to get back into painting again. During art at school, the people around me were my subjects, my A level portrait of brother Dowle is testament to that and endless sketches of friends in the common room. But it's not only a portrayal of the human form but who the person is. The mixed media portrait of my Nanna didn't go down too well as the crinkled textures highlighted what I saw and what she didn't want to see: old age.

So it's time to get the easel out, me thinks, I've got an idea of my first victim... so watch this space!!

British Landscape

After not managing to visit for the last couple of years, yesterday Mum, Dad and I explored the vast array of artworks at the Summer Exhibition. With the price list in hand, we wandered through the galleries, gazing at the large canvases to the smallest of prints of old names to new emerging artists. I hadn't considered that we would buy a piece but year on year you start to realise your favourites and yesterday we were drawn again to the work of Norman Ackroyd. I am always somewhat mesmerised by the landscapes that he creates of the most extreme points on our British Isles: dramatic seascapes or the rolling hills of the northern counties. The programme 'What do artists do all day?' gives a fantastic insight to just that, and it is incredible to see Ackroyd's working process that leads to such beautiful etchings. The work in the programme is the bottom image, The Rumbleings Muckle Flugga, Shetland.  I'm now so excited to see Upper Wharfedale when it arrives, but in the meantime see exhibit 185 at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition before 17th August.

Images by Norman Ackroyd at Zillah Bell Gallery

1. Golam Head 2. Winter Morning, Wharfedale 3. The Rumbleings Muckle Flugga, Shetland

Cut Out

The aspect that got me the most from seeing the Matisse Cut-Outs exhibition at the Tate Modern was the manner in which he wielded his scissors; it's amazing to see old colour footage of such a renowned artist for starters and seeing the way he worked. The exhibition holds a wealth of his later art works, including a few paintings too and what I took away was the vibrancy of colours and the scale of some of his later pieces, carried out when Matisse's health was failing. This video from the Culture Show (part 1 and part 2) gives even more background to the story. Definitely go and see it - they say this is a one in a lifetime chance to see such a large collection of Matisse's cut outs in one exhibition...

Video source

Cut Paper

After brunch at Kim By The Sea, Hannah and I headed to the Manchester Art Gallery to visit the Paper at the Cutting Edge exhibition. Who knew the wonderful things that can be created by paper and a scalpel! We were particularly enamoured by Anderson M Studio's stop motion films, Sarah Bridgeland's 1950s inspired pieces and Rob Ryan's massive and beautiful paper cut. We've been very much inspired!

London v Manchester

Over the last few weeks I have been absorbing the art and culture of the two cities. In London I wasn't too sure about Herzog & de Meuron's Serpentine Pavilion - it just felt so dark "inside"or underneath but the flexible use of space and varied seating arrangements were clever. I also checked out the Heatherwick Studio: Designing the Extraordinary exhibition at the V&A. Seemingly crammed into a small room, there was so much to see from furniture to architecture to vehicle design. It really got me back in the mood for studying and thinking about the collaborative designer I want to be. Back in Manchester I love seeing the paintings of Lowry at the Manchester Art Gallery and we had fun in the kaleidoscope of the interactive exhibition space.

Art Gallery

On Tuesday afternoon I met Helen and Christina to have a wander around the Manchester Art Gallery. I loved seeing the Lowrys and above are a few more of my favourites.

En Pointe

I haven't danced for about 6 years but I've recently taken in up again. There is something about prancing about that makes you feel so good! On at the moment at the Royal Academy is an exhibition of Degas' fascination with movement of dancers.

Images: 1. Edweard Muybridge from RA 2. Dane Shitagi

Falling Slowly

A visit to indeed any exhibition has been long overdue. Even though I worked in London over the past year I "never had the time" to pop along to any. All that has changed!

On Sunday I went on an annual trip to the Royal Academy to see the Summer Exhibition with Lauren. It had a different layout this time around, but I've started to recognise my taste in art as I am always attracted to the same especially the etchings of Norman Ackroyd which show so much movement. Otherwise I gained inspiration from the architecture room where I really liked Dean Pike's The Labyrinth Plan and Marialena Tsolka's Bensalem's Hydra.

On Monday Ma and I saw the BP Portrait Awards at the National Portrait Gallery. I think it's my favourite gallery in town and this exhibition always shows some incredible pieces. It is staggering to see how realistic the portraits are painted. My picks are above:

1. Thread of Light (Portrait of Glen Hansard) by Colin Davidson (plus I have been listening to Hansard's music with The Swell Season on repeat for months!)

2. R.H. by Isobel Peachey

3. Abi by Nathan Ford

Images from: 1. Colin Davidson 2. BP Portrait Awards 3. Nathan Ford

Work Space

From the patchwork of frames to the patterned rug and the wooden desk to the dog basket, I really like this studio space belonging to New York designers Shipley and Halmos. Founders & Followers sell at and fashion but also do little tours of the designers' workspaces.

Image from founders & followers vis Miss Moss (great site!)

Funky Field

My book [on farming] arrived last week and since I have been reading up on poplar farms in Oregon, food matrixes, landgrab cities and art farms. I'm not sure if it's the food cultivation, sustainability or land preservation which evokes the most in me but I feel like I'm starting some good research before I head back to uni in September.

Images from Ruche

Many Hands

Whether it's seeing where people live, or where they work, I like having a gander at these blogs which give a sneak peek into the lives of others:
The Makers; House of Commons; Freunde von Freunden; The Selby

Images from The Makers

Affordable Art

On Thursday after work we went to the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park, where there was such a variety of exhibits from paintings to photography to sculpture. Above are my favourites there, by Dionne Sievewright. They have a naivety to them, with the subject of the cottages in elevation but the foreground fields or beach in plan (as an architectural student, it's something I spotted!)

Others that caught my eye included:
John Kenny - African tribal portraits
James Sparshatt - Latin American photography
Cyril Croucher - exaggerated buildings
Odette Farrell - human landscapes

Image from Terry Kirkwood

Sunflower Seeds

On Sunday the architecture girls from Kent met up, especially because Lucy was back from Germany for a little while. We wandered around the Tate Modern - seeing Ai Weiwei's Sunflower Seeds was incredible... they shere number, all handmade, is a sight to behold - but we were more interested in chatting so we made our way to some eateries and drinkeries and had a long over due catchup!

Favela Fun

These favelas have had a stripey make-over in Rio! Check out the artists here. I wonder what the people living there think of it - it's so quirky!

Found via Oh Joy!

Summer Art

Today Ma and I went to the Royal Academy Summer exhibition, an annual outing to see such a variety of painting, prints, sculpture, photography and architecture. It's so interesting to see such a plethora from both amateurs and professionals. The question 'is that art?' pops up on many occasions, as well as 'how can that be worth £125,000?!', but we always love to have a wander around.

I had some particular favourites. The architecture room was great - and seeing as it's my chosen profession made me excited to see the sort of work that can be produced - and occupied a bigger space than previous years. Individually I liked:

Oran O'reillly's Rizla (After Hokusai)

Thomas Hillier's Migration of Mel and Judith

Ian Whittlesea's The Sun is but a Morning Star

Images from: 1-2. Amelia's magazine 3.Oran O'reilly 4. Thomas Hillier 5. Peter Foolen

Shad Thames

I Never Knew That About London by Christopher Winn explains what 'shad' means. When I knew the Design Museum was in Shad Thames, I thought "What on earth is that?! A 'shad'?! Like a street or a road?". I would look it up again, but the book has gone AWOL (I'll blame the brother!) It's something to do with fish and the docks that were once there, but it's a really interesting little street, apparently Dickens set some of Oliver Twist there!

Yesterday we had a really good look around the Design Museum, there was just so much to see! First the Design Awards had such a range of furniture, architecture, graphics and above are some favourites. The David Adjaye photography exhibition had eye-opening snaps of all across the African continent.

The Sustainable Futures exhibition also included ways, on many scales, in which designers are becoming more sustainable; this is from whole cities in Brazil with incentives such as football tickets for recycling, to portable plants which clarify the air for astronaunts. Even the Design Awards had a wide range of sustainable prducts- which I find so great to see. I think I've become pretty hippie! ,

Check out: Edible Estates by Fritz Haeg, bamboo furniture by Grassworks, pallet furniture by Studiomama, folding plug by Min-Kyu Choi (Mum's favourite), repaired street benches by Linda Brothwell

The Secession

Possibly my favourite part about Vienna was seeing the art. At the end of the 19th C a group called the Seccessionist came about headed by the artist Gustav Klimt. Throughout Vienna are examples of his work and having studied them in art at school, you get that feeling when you see a famous piece of art in the flesh! The use of realism in the face, yet with flat pattern and gold makes a beautiful piece. The posters were in the Leopold whilst a great collection of Klimt's were in the Belvedere. I bought a few postcards, but nothing can replace seeing them in person!