Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition

 For the past few years my husband and I have travelled to London every year to see the Royal Academy of Art Summer Exhibition.  It is an amazing exhibition that runs every summer.  Anyone can submit a piece to be considered, from a grandmother in wales, a student in Birmingham, a celebrity musician through to a member of the RA-anyone (BBC iplayer usually has a great programme where they follow some of the people through the submission process.  If you ever get a chance to watch them I recommend it).

 There are SO many different mediums from fabric, sculpture, glass, paint, digital etc with styles from classical to modern.  The picture above is a fabric and stitched piece.

  

This one of skaters was one of our favourite in the exhibition.

This Amy Winehouse figure was made from beads and findings.

 

 Some of the artists are instantly recognisable such as this Gilbert and George piece

 Whilst other pieces took you by surprise

 I particularly liked this piece

 This large piece of lace was a great piece to see hanging on the wall

 There was SO many different styles.

 These pieces had money stuffed into their mouths!

 In the architectural section this digital 'blueprint' was stitched onto fabric

 Whilst in another gallery this chair was made from spent ammunition cases

Once again my eyes were drawn to pieces such as this on old book pages.

Inspiration at every turn-a great day out

Kyla

 

London via body snatchers through street art and on to Tibet!

 Last week hubby and I went to London for a few days.  We both love London and usually manage to see some different parts of the city to others (and the fact that my brother, sister-in-law and new baby niece live there is a bonus!).

We stayed close to the Thames as its central to a lot of areas we like and easy to get buses to most places and some lovely walks along the Thames.

This blog post if quite photo heavy-you have been warned!

After walking along the Thames path we cut up towards St Pauls towards the Salvation Army HQ and spotted this church tucked away.  If you are in the area the Sally Army has a fantastic cafe. SO cheap and a great selection, sadly we were quite late in the day so all the veggie food had sold out, but we will definitely be making a return visit.  We lunched at Mangio (in the very cool sounding Knightrider Street) a great italian, really cheap fast italian food of a box of handmade stuffed pasta, made in front of you, sauce, salad and bread for £7.50)

 The view of St Pauls always takes my breath away.  I have photographed it from SO many different viewpoints over the years.

Our next visit was to http://www.stbrides.com/ otherwise known as the Wedding Cake Church (as its spire resembles one)

 

In the Medieval Chapel this plaque commemorates the family and the staff of Associated Newspapers who lost their lives in the World Wars.

 There is also a Roman mosaic pavement and an exhibition about body snatchers

 You can see why it is called the Wedding Cake Church to many!

 On one of our walks we stumbled across this, love the old tiles on the outside of the building

 At the Museum of Film we spotted these  (we didn't go in but this was in the lobby)

We also popped into the British Library, as we often do and this time there was an exhibition of Alice in Wonderland, there was a no photography sign up so no photos of that, instead here is an advertising sign I spotted on our walk to the library (starting off in fleet street) and  this bank all painted was opposite St Pancras station

 In Westminster (New Burlington Mews) I spotted this alleyway with fabulous gates and wall paintings

 and as we cut through from Carnaby street to Soho this mosaic caught my eye

Not sure where I spotted these two (I think one was in Islington on a trip to Cass Art)

 These pigeons are by Patrick Murphy and are a response to homelessness in London (the notice about them explains they are often seen as unwanted guests-banished from centres and branded a nuisance) and helps raise money for St Barnabus on Greek Street.

 

 We also visited the British Museum.  There is SO much to see there we usually only do one exhibition on each visit, this time it was the Egyptian rooms.

 

 

 

 I couldn't resist a quick look round one of the textile exhibition there as well though!

 

 This is the body mask of the serpent demon Kaliya and was made in a monastery where Krishna's heroic life is re-enacted each year

 

 These masks also form part of a dance where the crane demon Bakasura is 

killed in the forest by Krishna.

 This is a weaving technique (Lampas) which is now extinct throughout the whole of east Asia. During 1500-1800 they produced textiles with a ground woven with one set of warp and weft threads, and a pattern woven with another set of warp and weft.

Another day I took hubby to the UCL Institute of  Neurology and Neurosurgery (I know how to treat my man!!).  This was for an exhibition in their library of Embroidered Minds a collaboration about the epilepsy of the family of William Morris.

 

 It was a thought provoking exhibition and something very different to do on holiday.

 I love the old buildings in London, there is always a photo opportunity, even if it is an old fire escape!

 Or even one of the old signs

 As we wandered around the area we stumbled across this blue plaque

Without a doubt, the Thames at night is a beautiful  sight

 They even lit up this building especially for Valentines weekend!

We also popped into Somerset House for the bigbangdata exhibition (not the best I have seen) and the Wellcome Institute for Tibet's Secret Temple exhibition (which was awe inspiring).  

So there you have it, another trip around London and some quality time spent with the family.

Always a shame when it comes to an end, especially since the buses in London are so frequent and seem to work really well-unlike Bristol!

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition

So, you may have noticed that I have not blogged for a few weeks.  Mainly due to a combination of my RA flaring and leaving me exhausted and the 'pay the bills' job being in overdrive and taking up much more than the 40 hrs a week it is meant to!  Not a great combination.

In an effort to break the cycle, hubby and I decided to book a very last minute break in London for a long weekend.  We did lots of 'arty' stuff but the main reason was the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition.  We have been going for the last few years and this year was a fabulous mix of different styles and mediums.  

The Summer Exhibition has been running for 247 years, which in itself is amazing in its own right.   It is sometimes accused of  being stuck in the past however this year, the exhibition is co-ordinated by Michael Craig-Martin RA – a leading artist of his generation and the teacher who nurtured the talents of Gary Hume, Sarah Lucas and Damien Hirst.  It really showed, some of the room were painted bright colours and complemented the art.

I took lots of photos and these are just a few, I make no apologies for the photo heavy content of this post, if you'd like to see some of the art then please feel free to scroll down and enjoy.

 This sculpture was made from plastic sheets, similar to the sort you make conservatory roofs from, painstakingly cut and layered to create the figure.

 The art varies in size from large to small and intricate

 This one was created from various layers (like a tunnel book).

 When you looked through the apertures you caught a glimpse of the picture behind

 It gave me a feeling of snooping as you caught glimpses of life behind the curtains

 This piece was within a large glass block and the way it was cut meant you saw different views depending on where you stood

This giant head was made from coat-hangers!

 Some of the pieces were slightly disturbing

 Others blew me away

 The detail in this piece was breathtaking

 I love the fact that famous, infamous and the public can all submit pieces for consideration.  This was a large tapestry by Grayson Perry (we have been lucky enough to see a couple of his exhibitions over the years)

 The serenity of this painting was a joy

 Jim Lambie’s kaleidoscopic stairs lead up to the Main Galleries. It was really weird being able to walk over a piece of art!

 Outside you are greeted by the towering formation of steel 'clouds' by Conrad Shawcross

A fabulous trip and if you are in London over the summer and love art then I recommend a trip to the RA.  I will blog about the other exhibition we went to over the coming week or so.

Kyla