Riverside in the rain

On our way to Tate Modern,  just about to cross Millenium Bridge

St Paul's Cathedral behind us

on our left the Glass Shard by Renzo Piano, still under construction: it is going to be 310m high, the tallest building in Europe

in front of us to the left, Shapespeare's Globe theatre

it is raining and the Thames looks grey and muddy

in front, our destination -  Tate Modern

inside the Tate now, standing on the balcony and looking at Millenium Bridge

another view of the bridge from one of the windows on the fourth floor

the birch trees outside the Tate

it is raining much harder now

and it is grey and misty

a sand sculpture that someone has constructed on the banks of the Thames

we pass the ruins of Winchester Palace, built in the early 13th century, London residence of the Bishops of Winchester - they did alright those bishops, did they not?

and we come to the magnificent City Hall by Norman Foster



,

the Tower on the other side of the river

and we have reached Tower Bridge

we can see Swiss Re, or the Gherkin, as it is colloquially known, also by Norman Foster, 180m high,

on the other side of the river 

and we reach our destination, the Design Museum

but before we go in a look at the sculpture by Paolo Paolozzi

and this is what it looks like from the back.

it is dark when we leave the Design Museum and London looks wonderful

everything is bright and twikling.

Still there...

Still camped outside St Paul's after all these months, following the Occupy London Stock Exchange demonstrations

representing the 99%

fighting for all of us

and lately ignored by the media.

I wish them all a very happy and productive 2012.









Night....

Moon

Coombe

We went for a walk around Coombe Country Park this afternoon.

A dull, grey day - the water is the colour of lead.

This statue in the water is in front of the hotel

the sun is struggling to come out and the statue looks quite different with the sun's rays on it

we leave the house/hotel behind and head for the woods

and come upon this weir

it is nice getting away from the 'day after Boxing Day' crowds

it is so quiet in the woods

and the sun is out - it makes such a difference!

We say goodbye to the geese and head home....



Lost in Lace

Lost in Lace at the Gas Hall,  Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

The entrance to the exhibition room

and then as you come inside, a curtain of lace

followed on your right, with lace wall and door by Francois Beroalde de Verville

Lace the final frontier,  Michael Brennand-Wood  (cutting, painting, aluminium, acrylic wood)

"My intention is to construct a military lace emblematic of conflict and the annexing of resources and territory.

Imagery for the roundels is drawn from three sources: lace, weaponry and Rorschach test".

After the dream, Chiharu Shiota, (wool, cotton, paint)

"My installations with clothes always refer to the clothes as a second skin, which carry the memories of the people who wore these clothes.

I am more interested in the lines, which are often represented in my work through black string. These strings are woven into each other, which can make it look a bit like lace, which is also intricately woven. The difference is that my strings are in a random pattern, whilst lace follows set designs and patterns".

The latticed eye of memory, Liz, Nilsson, (screen-printing, laser-printing, stitching, laser-cutting, embellishing, Viscose satin, thread)

"The principal concept for my work concerns memory traces. Lace has for a long time inspired me because it has an ethereal nature not unlike that of memory itself. For the Gas Hall at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the shadows, cast by one fabric onto another or to the surrounding area, are reminders of the transcience of memory and experience!"

Lacing Space, Piper Shepard (Muslin, gesso, graphite, aluminium)

Inverted Chrystal Cathedral, Atelier Manferdini (designed using engineering platform ROBOT, assemblage 40,000 crystals, 1,000 strands of steel cable)

A thin line between Space and Matter, Tamar Frank

A very dark room, fibres of thread illuminated to form the most amazing construction. Frank Tamar specialises in site-sensitive installations which use light. "Like lace making I am in fact repeating the same action over and over. And, as with lace making, I am creating a work from a single thread, the pattern defined by the space between the threads: the emptiness".