Saturday, May 29, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Journal Entry 18: The V&A Courtyard
Victoria STILL loves Albert
The new John Madejski Garden opened on 5 July 2005. Kim Wilkie's new design has transformed the garden. The Italianate courtyard is now a stylish, elegant place to meet and provides a central point from which to explore the museum. The main feature is a stone-paved oval, with surrounding steps and water jets, which can be filled with water as a reflecting pool or drained for displays.
Grass lawns and York stone paving surround the central oval. Glass planters contain lemon trees in summer and will contain clipped hollies in winter. The courtyard walls have been softened by plantings of blue hydrangeas as well as Salvia 'Enigma' and Dahlia 'David Howard'. The salvias will be an intense blue and the dahlias have orange flowers with dark purple/bronze foliage. There will be seasonal displays of plants such as echium, foxtails, irises, lilies and spring bulbs.
The design allows the garden to be used both as a simple courtyard garden and as a stage set for display, theatre, parties and events. The terraces on the south side are designed to accommodate cafés and bars.
As opposed to the enclosed courtyard of the British Museum, the courtyard of the V&A brings nature closer to us. Pure sky, natural weather, knowing that precious art is only just inside.
The new John Madejski Garden opened on 5 July 2005. Kim Wilkie's new design has transformed the garden. The Italianate courtyard is now a stylish, elegant place to meet and provides a central point from which to explore the museum. The main feature is a stone-paved oval, with surrounding steps and water jets, which can be filled with water as a reflecting pool or drained for displays.
Grass lawns and York stone paving surround the central oval. Glass planters contain lemon trees in summer and will contain clipped hollies in winter. The courtyard walls have been softened by plantings of blue hydrangeas as well as Salvia 'Enigma' and Dahlia 'David Howard'. The salvias will be an intense blue and the dahlias have orange flowers with dark purple/bronze foliage. There will be seasonal displays of plants such as echium, foxtails, irises, lilies and spring bulbs.
The design allows the garden to be used both as a simple courtyard garden and as a stage set for display, theatre, parties and events. The terraces on the south side are designed to accommodate cafés and bars.
As opposed to the enclosed courtyard of the British Museum, the courtyard of the V&A brings nature closer to us. Pure sky, natural weather, knowing that precious art is only just inside.
Journal Entry 17: Royal Albert Hall
Albert's Area.
Victoria Loves Albert. The End.
To live in Victorian england would be to see progression and an increase in the arts, thus shown by the Concert Hall.
Personal Evaluation and Reflection: to be honest, all I could think of was the Spice Girls in Spice World. That makes me happy. So I suppose the concert hall made me really happy. Because
if you wanna be my lover, you have got to give, taking is too easy, but that's the way it is.
Victoria Loves Albert. The End.
The Royal Albert Hall was built to fulfil the vision of Prince Albert (Queen Victoria's consort) of a 'Central Hall' that would be used to promote understanding and appreciation of the Arts and Sciences and would stand at the heart of the South Kensington estate, surrounded by museums and places of learning.
The Hall is a Grade I Listed building; and has been in continuous use since it was opened in March 1871. It was always conceived as a multipurpose building to host not only concerts of music but exhibitions, public meetings, scientific conversations and award ceremonies. It is a registered charity held in trust for the nation but is financially self sufficient: it receives no funding from central or local government.
Around the outside of the hall is a great mosaic frieze, depicting "The Triumph of Arts and Sciences", in reference to the Hall's dedication. Proceeding anti-clockwise from the north side the sixteen subjects of the frieze are: (1) Various Countries of the World bringing in their Offerings to the Exhibition of 1851; (2) Music; (3) Sculpture; (4) Painting; (5) Princes, Art Patrons and Artists; (6) Workers in Stone; (7) Workers in Wood and Brick; (8) Architecture; (9) The Infancy of the Arts and Sciences; (10) Agriculture; (11) Horticulture and Land Surveying; (12) Astronomy and Navigation; (13) A Group of Philosophers, Sages and Students; (14) Engineering; (15) The Mechanical Powers; and (16) Pottery and Glassmaking.
Above the frieze is an inscription in one-foot high terracotta letters. This combines historical fact and Biblical quotations: "This hall was erected for the advancement of the arts and sciences and works of industry of all nations in fulfilment of the intention of Albert Prince Consort. The site was purchased with the proceeds of the Great Exhibition of the year MDCCCLI. The first stone of the Hall was laid by Her Majesty Queen Victoria on the twentieth day of May MDCCCLXVII and it was opened by Her Majesty the Twenty Ninth of March in the year MDCCCLXXI. Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. The wise and their works are in the hand of God. Glory be to God on high and on earth peace."
To live in Victorian england would be to see progression and an increase in the arts, thus shown by the Concert Hall.
Personal Evaluation and Reflection: to be honest, all I could think of was the Spice Girls in Spice World. That makes me happy. So I suppose the concert hall made me really happy. Because
if you wanna be my lover, you have got to give, taking is too easy, but that's the way it is.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Journal Entry 16: The Tunnel
Journal entry of Choice. Graffiti
In what ways do people express themselves? Through oil and canvas, watercolour, acrylics... spray paint?! yes. Spray paint.
Located by the Southbank behind Waterloo Station, THE TUNNEL is home to graffiti madness!
Ideas suggested to me by this: freedom of expression and acknowledgement of youth and progression.
I always wanted to spray paint a wall, thanks to the guys who tried to help me out by letting me try to use the left overs of their paints, I tried to place my mark on there. No one nows it was me, no one can see it, but I know its there. And that's what matters. Graffiti isn't always about signing your name, but making your mark and letting others enjoy your work.
LOOK BELOW: Center tile, orange dot among white. See it? Look close.
See that orange dot? That's ME! I did that! It made me really happy!
In what ways do people express themselves? Through oil and canvas, watercolour, acrylics... spray paint?! yes. Spray paint.
Located by the Southbank behind Waterloo Station, THE TUNNEL is home to graffiti madness!
Ideas suggested to me by this: freedom of expression and acknowledgement of youth and progression.
I always wanted to spray paint a wall, thanks to the guys who tried to help me out by letting me try to use the left overs of their paints, I tried to place my mark on there. No one nows it was me, no one can see it, but I know its there. And that's what matters. Graffiti isn't always about signing your name, but making your mark and letting others enjoy your work.
LOOK BELOW: Center tile, orange dot among white. See it? Look close.
See that orange dot? That's ME! I did that! It made me really happy!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Journal Entry 15: Stonehenge
It's so smallStonehenge. Mystical circle of ginormous old rocks.
2500 BC! It's incredible, these stones are HUGE. Consipracy theories begin. Space monkey tribute to their banana God?
I'm in awe. Apparently, they stand and aren't knocked down because, like an iceberg, there's more on the bottom (and granted they weigh a ton... or more)
The audio tour said that one could tell the months by the sun shining on the stones.
What would it have been like to be there during that period? It had to have been great to be a worshiper, I imagine pagan rituals of dancing naked around the fires and virgin sacrifices, though this is just in my head. As long as I was not a labourer or was crushed by a giant stone, I'm pretty sure I would have enjoyed living in the Bronze Age.
About Stonehenge
Did you know...
Stonehenge was constructed in three phases.
It has been estimated that the three phases of the construction required more than thirty million hours of labour.
Speculation on the reason it was built range from human sacrifice to astronomy.
Quick guide
Age estimated at 3100 BC
Location Wiltshire, UK
Type of stone Bluestone, Sarson, Welsh Sandstone
Worship Lunar, Solar
Extra notes Except on special or arranged occasions, visitors are unable to walk amongst the stones
(Special occasions include private tours or Solstices)
Journal Entry 14: Giro the Nazi Dog
9 Carlton House Terrace. When walking down Carton Terrace, a street parallel to Pall Mall, one feels a sense of richness. The houses are brilliantly huge, nothing too special about them, other than they scream: "I'm rich, I'm in London, look at me."
What's really cool about this brief Journal entry is Giro the Nazi Dog. You'd walk right past it if you didn't know it was there. Under a tree and barely noticeable, we find London's only Nazi memorial.
So yes, I had to climb a fence to get a good picture. And yes, after I got out, an old couple came to look at what was so special about me hopping the fence. I find it fascinating that, like the Sunday Times reported, there's a subtle nazi memorial among british heroes.
This makes me feel funny, not sure if it's good or bad, just funny.
What's really cool about this brief Journal entry is Giro the Nazi Dog. You'd walk right past it if you didn't know it was there. Under a tree and barely noticeable, we find London's only Nazi memorial.
It sounds like a scenario in a Robert Harris novel, but it isn't — Hitler's Nazi party really did have a foothold in London, in this building near the Foreign Office. It was used by the Nazis as their embassy from 1936 to the outbreak of war in 1939. In 1936 it was revamped by Hitler's representative, the ambassador Joachim von Ribbentrop, who modernised it with characteristic Teutonic efficiency. After the makeover, No 7 was used as a base to house German military attachés. Hitler's architect, Albert Speer, was then sent from Berlin with a brief from the Führer to design a grandiose embassy that would convey some of the portentous glamour of the Third Reich. Speer was also responsible for a staircase, made from Italian marble, donated by Mussolini. The Sunday Times
Dr Leopold von Hoesch, was the German ambassador from 1932 to 1936. Giro died in 1934 when he made a fatal connection with an exposed electricity wire. He was given a full Nazi burial and his grave lies in what was once the front garden to No 9, now a small space between the Duke of York steps and a garage ramp. His tombstone features the German epitaph "Giro: Ein treuer Begleiter" ("Giro: A true companion"). This is London's sole Nazi memorial, situated somewhat inappropriately in an area filled with monuments to heroes of the British empire.
So yes, I had to climb a fence to get a good picture. And yes, after I got out, an old couple came to look at what was so special about me hopping the fence. I find it fascinating that, like the Sunday Times reported, there's a subtle nazi memorial among british heroes.
This makes me feel funny, not sure if it's good or bad, just funny.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Journal Entry 13: Peter Pan Statue in Kensington Gardens
ABOUT (Source: The Royal Parks)
The bronze of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens is one of the most popular statues in London. He stands in a leafy glade about half way along the west bank of the Long Water. This site has a special importance for Peter Pan and was chosen for the statue by J M Barrie, the author who created him.
Barrie published his first story about Peter Pan in 1902 in The Little White Bird. It was inspired by his relationship with the Llewelyn Davies family that began in Kensington Gardens. In the story, Peter Pan flies out of his nursery and lands beside the Long Water - on the spot where the statue stands. Two years later, Barrie wrote another Peter Pan adventure, which included the Tinkerbell and Captain Hook characters. This became a hugely successful play and later a novel.
Barrie began thinking about a Peter Pan statue in 1906. He took a series of photographs of the six-year-old Michael Llewelyn Davies wearing a special Peter Pan costume. This was Barrie 's ideal vision of Peter Pan that he planned to give to a prospective sculptor. Six years later, in 1912, Barrie paid Sir George Frampton to create the statue and on May 1 st that year it appeared, as if by magic.
Peter Pan is standing on a tree trunk watched by animals of the English countryside and delicate winged fairies.
There was no pre-publicity or formal unveiling. The statue was erected secretly during the night and Barrie simply placed this announcement in The Times:
"There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning. Down by the little bay on the south-western side of the tail of the Serpentine they will find a May-day gift by Mr J.M. Barrie, a figure of Peter Pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree, with fairies and mice and squirrels all around. It is the work of Sir George Frampton, and the bronze figure of the boy who would never grow up is delightfully conceived."
y
It was built in secret. That, to me, makes the statue more amazing than it already is.
I never want to grow up. This is what the statue made me feel. Yes little kids ages 5-9 were jumping all over the statue then I, a ripe old age of 22, wanted to join in. So I climbed. Because Peter Pan represents childhood and an innocence and worry free environment. Which is why I love this statue.
The bronze of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens is one of the most popular statues in London. He stands in a leafy glade about half way along the west bank of the Long Water. This site has a special importance for Peter Pan and was chosen for the statue by J M Barrie, the author who created him.
Barrie published his first story about Peter Pan in 1902 in The Little White Bird. It was inspired by his relationship with the Llewelyn Davies family that began in Kensington Gardens. In the story, Peter Pan flies out of his nursery and lands beside the Long Water - on the spot where the statue stands. Two years later, Barrie wrote another Peter Pan adventure, which included the Tinkerbell and Captain Hook characters. This became a hugely successful play and later a novel.
Barrie began thinking about a Peter Pan statue in 1906. He took a series of photographs of the six-year-old Michael Llewelyn Davies wearing a special Peter Pan costume. This was Barrie 's ideal vision of Peter Pan that he planned to give to a prospective sculptor. Six years later, in 1912, Barrie paid Sir George Frampton to create the statue and on May 1 st that year it appeared, as if by magic.
Peter Pan is standing on a tree trunk watched by animals of the English countryside and delicate winged fairies.
There was no pre-publicity or formal unveiling. The statue was erected secretly during the night and Barrie simply placed this announcement in The Times:
"There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning. Down by the little bay on the south-western side of the tail of the Serpentine they will find a May-day gift by Mr J.M. Barrie, a figure of Peter Pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree, with fairies and mice and squirrels all around. It is the work of Sir George Frampton, and the bronze figure of the boy who would never grow up is delightfully conceived."
yIt was built in secret. That, to me, makes the statue more amazing than it already is.
I never want to grow up. This is what the statue made me feel. Yes little kids ages 5-9 were jumping all over the statue then I, a ripe old age of 22, wanted to join in. So I climbed. Because Peter Pan represents childhood and an innocence and worry free environment. Which is why I love this statue.
Journal Entry 12: Francis Bacon
On a visit to the Tate Britain, I was sure to see old paintings that would not interest me. I was pleasantly surprised to see Bacon art.
"English painter of Irish birth. Francis Bacon came to London in 1925 and although he received no formal art training, he created a sensation in 1945 when he exhibited his Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (London, Tate Gallery) at the Lefevre Gallery in London. His work was Expressionist in style, and his distorted human forms were unsettling. He developed his personal style and gloomy subject matter during the 1950s, when he achieved an international reputation. Aside from his unpleasant images of corrupt and disgusting humanity, Bacon deliberately subverted artistic conventions by using the triptych format of Renaissance altarpieces to show the evils of man, rather than the virtues of Christ."
- The Bullfinch Guide to Art History
"Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion is a 1944 triptych painted by Francis Bacon. The work is based on the Eumenides—or Furies—of Aeschylus' The Oresteia, and depicts three writhing anthropomorphic creatures set against a flat burnt orange background. Three Studies was executed in oil paint and pastel on Sundeala fibre board and completed within the space of two weeks."
John Russell has observed that the immediate post-war period in British history was marked by an atmosphere of nostalgia and optimism—a sense that "everything was going to be alright..."
Russell describes being shocked by "images so unrelievedly awful that the mind shut with a snap at the sight of them. Their anatomy was half-human, half-animal, and they were confined in a low-ceilinged, windowless and oddly proportioned space. They could bite, probe, and suck, and they had very long eel-like necks, but their functioning in other respects was mysterious. Ears and mouths they had, but two at least of them were sightless."":)
Bacon painted these post-war. It lent to the nostalgia of the times and the progressiveness of art. Surrealism was what really attracted me to staring at the room of Bacon. I love surrealism and Bacon bits (pun intended) made me quite happy.
Touching Bacon
I just thought that Oil on three wooden panels was pretty cool.
"English painter of Irish birth. Francis Bacon came to London in 1925 and although he received no formal art training, he created a sensation in 1945 when he exhibited his Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (London, Tate Gallery) at the Lefevre Gallery in London. His work was Expressionist in style, and his distorted human forms were unsettling. He developed his personal style and gloomy subject matter during the 1950s, when he achieved an international reputation. Aside from his unpleasant images of corrupt and disgusting humanity, Bacon deliberately subverted artistic conventions by using the triptych format of Renaissance altarpieces to show the evils of man, rather than the virtues of Christ."
- The Bullfinch Guide to Art History
"Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion is a 1944 triptych painted by Francis Bacon. The work is based on the Eumenides—or Furies—of Aeschylus' The Oresteia, and depicts three writhing anthropomorphic creatures set against a flat burnt orange background. Three Studies was executed in oil paint and pastel on Sundeala fibre board and completed within the space of two weeks."
John Russell has observed that the immediate post-war period in British history was marked by an atmosphere of nostalgia and optimism—a sense that "everything was going to be alright..."
Russell describes being shocked by "images so unrelievedly awful that the mind shut with a snap at the sight of them. Their anatomy was half-human, half-animal, and they were confined in a low-ceilinged, windowless and oddly proportioned space. They could bite, probe, and suck, and they had very long eel-like necks, but their functioning in other respects was mysterious. Ears and mouths they had, but two at least of them were sightless."":)
Bacon painted these post-war. It lent to the nostalgia of the times and the progressiveness of art. Surrealism was what really attracted me to staring at the room of Bacon. I love surrealism and Bacon bits (pun intended) made me quite happy.
Touching Bacon
I just thought that Oil on three wooden panels was pretty cool.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Journal Entry 11: Electricity Showroom
Fringe Theatre. Perhaps the best play I have seen while in london was located in the basement of the Electricity Showroom.
I was really excited walking in and seeing not a conventional theatre, but a pub. As I walked downstairs to meet the class at what we were told was a play called Round 2, I saw a dance floor.
"WTH? was my initial thought. Is this for real? How is this going to work? They're pulling my leg." Were some of the thoughts in my head. But yes, it was real. As I saw the chalkboard column that said "Round 2"
Thus it started, the plays. Dictated by the audience, in the dancefloor turned stage.
There's nothing architecturally interesting I found about this, but more of the social aspect that really intrigued me. Another alternative to the conventional theatre, patrons sat on the floor, actors interacted with the audience and the mini-plays started at and ended with the sound of a bell.
If I were to reflect on ideas suggested by an artifact (i'm calling my artifact the dance floor), my reflection would be 'awesomness' and genuine joy of seeing something unique to me that I would have never discovered myself.
Round 2 put on by The Factory company every Tuesday at the Electricity Showroom in Hoxton. Be there!
I was really excited walking in and seeing not a conventional theatre, but a pub. As I walked downstairs to meet the class at what we were told was a play called Round 2, I saw a dance floor.
"WTH? was my initial thought. Is this for real? How is this going to work? They're pulling my leg." Were some of the thoughts in my head. But yes, it was real. As I saw the chalkboard column that said "Round 2"
Thus it started, the plays. Dictated by the audience, in the dancefloor turned stage.
There's nothing architecturally interesting I found about this, but more of the social aspect that really intrigued me. Another alternative to the conventional theatre, patrons sat on the floor, actors interacted with the audience and the mini-plays started at and ended with the sound of a bell.
If I were to reflect on ideas suggested by an artifact (i'm calling my artifact the dance floor), my reflection would be 'awesomness' and genuine joy of seeing something unique to me that I would have never discovered myself.
Round 2 put on by The Factory company every Tuesday at the Electricity Showroom in Hoxton. Be there!
Friday, May 7, 2010
Journal Entry 10: National Theatre
Located on the Southbank of the Thames, the Royal National Theatre has three auditoriums: the Olivier, Lyttleton, and Cottesloe Theatres.
The Olivier, named for the first artistic director Sir Laurence Olivier has a capacity of 1160 seats. It was modelled on a greek theatre, where if the actor stood in the centre, they can see every person in the fan-shaped seating area.
What I found really fascinating about the theatre was that there was a "drum revolve". The tour leader had told us that it's a five-story revolving stage section that can be used for complex set changing.
The production of Women Beware Women made use of the revolving stage as shown in the picture below. The set would rotate, creating many possibilities of locations and artistic use. I thought it was really cool that the theatre was not only huge, but space was used efficiently.
It's really amazing to fathom that these are older buildings and the technology is still, granted some updates, valid.
O
The Olivier, named for the first artistic director Sir Laurence Olivier has a capacity of 1160 seats. It was modelled on a greek theatre, where if the actor stood in the centre, they can see every person in the fan-shaped seating area.
What I found really fascinating about the theatre was that there was a "drum revolve". The tour leader had told us that it's a five-story revolving stage section that can be used for complex set changing.
The drum has two rim revolves and two platforms, each of which can carry ten tonnes, facilitating dramatic and fluid scenery changes. Its design ensures that the audience's view is not blocked from any seat, and that the audience is fully visible to actors from the stage's centre. Designed in the 1970s and a prototype of current technology, the drum revolve and a multiple 'sky hook' flying system were initially very controversial and required ten years to commission, but seem to have fulfilled the objective of functionality with high productivity.
-Wikipedia/ National Theatre
The production of Women Beware Women made use of the revolving stage as shown in the picture below. The set would rotate, creating many possibilities of locations and artistic use. I thought it was really cool that the theatre was not only huge, but space was used efficiently.
It's really amazing to fathom that these are older buildings and the technology is still, granted some updates, valid.
O
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Journal Entry 9: Regent's Canal
An Alternative View of London. This was more than true when we, as a class, went on a Canal walk that stretched from Kings Cross Station to Little Venice near Warwick Avenue Underground station.
Man-made waterways, we visited Regent's Canal.
According to the Canal Museum, John Nash was one of the directors of the canal company. Commissioned to be built in 1812, construction started in 1816. There were problems building the canal, as there were money shortages and design failures.
The notion of a man-made canal interests me when it comes to travel competition. There were railways and an apparent attempt to turn the canal into a railway. To me, this seems like a notion to try and please the masses instead of practically using what is there for commercial gain.
Today, the canal is a perfect walk by many sites of interest. From the magnificent homes with perfect gardens, a view of the Regent Zoo, a lane of houseboats, and a trail for cyclists and runners makes the Canal a really enjoyable walk to see another view of London that takes you away from the underground and the hustle of city living.
This photo is only here for my viewing purposes ands I love Banksy
Man-made waterways, we visited Regent's Canal.
According to the Canal Museum, John Nash was one of the directors of the canal company. Commissioned to be built in 1812, construction started in 1816. There were problems building the canal, as there were money shortages and design failures.
Thomas Homer, once the canal's promoter, embezzled its funds in 1815 causing further financial problems. To build the canal cost £772,000, twice the original estimate of expenditure. The Canal was short of water supplies and it was necessary to dam the river Brent to create a reservoir to provide them, in 1835, extended in 1837 and 1854. A number of basins were built such as Battlebridge basin where the London Canal Museum now stands, which was opened in 1822.
In the late 1920's talks took place between the Regent's Canal, the Grand Junction Canal, and the Warwick Canals, resulting, in 1929, in a merger between them. The Regent's Canal Company bought the canal assets of the other two parties and the new enlarged undertaking was renamed as the Grand Union Canal Company.
In the latter part of the second world war (1939-45) traffic increased on the canal system as an alternative to the hard pressed railways. Stop gates were installed near King's Cross to limit flooding of the railway tunnel below, in the event that the canal was breached by German bombs. Along with other transport systems the canal was nationalised in 1948, coming under the Docks and Inland Waterways Executive, a part of the British Transport Commission, which traded under the name "British Waterways". The British Transport Commission was split up in 1963 and the British Waterways Board , who still own and operate the canals, took over. They now also use the name British Waterways. -Canal Museum
The notion of a man-made canal interests me when it comes to travel competition. There were railways and an apparent attempt to turn the canal into a railway. To me, this seems like a notion to try and please the masses instead of practically using what is there for commercial gain.
Today, the canal is a perfect walk by many sites of interest. From the magnificent homes with perfect gardens, a view of the Regent Zoo, a lane of houseboats, and a trail for cyclists and runners makes the Canal a really enjoyable walk to see another view of London that takes you away from the underground and the hustle of city living.
This photo is only here for my viewing purposes ands I love Banksy
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