Time Travel! Back to the Hepworth Museum in St Ives

One year ago Alex, my mum, and I went on a long weekend to explore Cornwall. We posted lots of pictures from that trip, but I’ve just stumbled on a few that we took at the Barbara Hepworth museum in St Ives (the cutest town on the face of the planet).  I thought I’d do one of my infamous “I’m calling in Time Travel! but really it’s just because I’m more than 1 year behind on my blog posts” posts….

Barbara Hepworth was a British sculptor, who lived from 1903-1975.  She worked in St Ives in a small studio that has now been converted into a museum of her work. I found it quite inspiring to walk in the spaces where she conceived of her art, but at the same time I found it a bit sad that these wonderful pieces didn’t have better, bigger, more exciting homes to find!

 

So many of her pieces are large, I think they need a lot of space to live in.  When they are all packed on top of each other, the effect is a bit like having 12 unruly children all sharing one bedroom – chaos!

 

I particularly like the above piece – the tenuous connectivity has a very romantic feel about it, in my opinion.  Some of the works would have benefited from a clear space around it – clear air space, I mean – but I think this piece works really well, almost hidden amidst the plants of the garden.

 

 

Speaking of the gardens, I think my mom enjoyed the plantlife more than the sculpture … there were wonderful plants and flowers in the lush and verdant garden. Apparently St Ives is well-known in Cornwall for having a very temperate environment. One of the reasons that so many artists loved St Ives is because of the great weather and the sparkling quality of the light!

 

The Royal Arcade in Norwich

Squeeeee!!  Art Nouveau!!  If you remember my post about Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s House for an Art Lover, or the Glasgow School or Art from our trip to Scotland last summer, then I’m sure you’ll remember my enthusiasm for this architectural and design style.  I was pretty excited when we reached the main area of Norwich and stumbled upon this little arcade, which is quite a gem. These arcades were really popular in Victorian times (there are ton of them in Leeds) and were basically a pre-cursor to the modern shopping mall.

Norwich’s arcade was designed by local architect George Skipper in 1899. It’s quite small (only 274 feet long), but packs a punch with all the intricate tile work and bright colors. Each of the 24 shops has a bow window in front, which is similar to a bay window but the corners are rounded in a rather sleek style. For the first 50 years of the Arcade’s existence there were no internal lights — only the natural sunlight (and since Norwich has lots of rainy days, I’m sure there were times when it was quite glum inside). The lovely lights that are currently in the arcade were only added in the 1980s, but they did a great job of matching the style and decor of the original fixtures.

Speaking of cool fixtures, I was totally in love with the tilework, which was designed by W.J. Neatby and made by Doulton. The designs are of flowers, fruit, and peacocks! The floor even has the very familiar rose of C.R. Mackintosh, although apparently it’s not an original feature and was added later.

This sign for the Conservative Club was once the entrance  to a gentleman’s club (but not the dirty kind!), and while the ceiling can still be seen from inside Waterstones, we didn’t get a chance to peek inside.

A bit of a random picture tour of Norwich

We had a lovely time exploring Norwich this past weekend, despite the rain showers and limited hours (about 22 of each, if you must know).  Rather than try to do a whole bunch of posts telling the story of each of these photographs, I’d rather almost let the pictures tell their own tales. Imagine this as your own pictorial tour of some random sights around Norwich. They aren’t necessarily images of the famous sights, or of the most beautiful buildings, but hopefully a few of them will make you smile.

A handsome stranger by the river. This bridge was actually a drawbridge, although we later found out that the last time it was lifted was more than 30 years ago!

A crazy cool house covered in ivy. I love the blue door, but I didn't get a chance to get a close-up picture of it.

This place was recommended to me by a colleague who grew up in Norwich. We debated about how obnoxious it is, going to an American-themed restaurant as Americans, but ultimately the smell of the french fries make the decision for us. And I have to admit, it was a pretty darned good burger, for England anyway.

Whilst walking along the river we spotted this guy. He's got a puppy on the back of his kayak! The poor thing looked terrified and excited all at the same time.

The old gateway at Pull's Ferry. The river is only 25-30 feet wide, but I guess they still used a ferry rather than make more bridges! You can see the umbrellas (below) floating in the distance

Norwich-based artist Sorrel Muggridge created this installation piece, called a Curious Meander, for the Festival that was going on. The umbrellas have stories written on them that she has collected from visitors to the exhibit; each week she adds new umbrellas to float in the river. They were getting a little bit full of rainwater, and I was secretly hoping they would tip over. No such luck.

A post box from Victoria's time! I always thought they had to change all of these boxes whenever the monarch changed, but I recently found out that's not true. Once its got someones initials stamped on it, it stays that way forever. ER II definitely has the most!

Most of the canal or river boats we see are charming and adorable. But this poor boat looks abandoned; it needs some serious love!

When I first read this, I thought it meant an adult roast, as in a service provided to adults! (You know, like book 4 haircuts and get the 5th free). That made me wonder what adult would want to get roasted! And then I figured it out!

Just a great example of lovely typography; yes, I know I'm a dork.

An adorable square (really more of a triangle, if you're being literal.

Look! A thatched roof!

I LOVE the tag line for this store, although I couldn't help but think that maybe the clothes designers were all male? Who else has boobs in mind all the time?

The best pub advertising I've ever seen. HA HA HA!