Unknown Craftsmen

Last week I had a lovely saturday in London with my mum. We had planned to attend Renegade Art Fair, but the underground was up the creek so we ended up at the V&A museum and then the British Museum. At the V&A we saw The Power of Making, an exhibition curated by the Craft Council. It displays 100 strange, thoughtful, clever and beautiful objects, all handcrafted. Check out my sketchbook images below for my drawing of a funky 'lion coffin', crafted in Ghana.

We had a wander around the bookshop then some of the permanent collection. I took some sneaky photos of some book illustrations in the Asia collection- I'm always interested by images that tell a whole story in one image- see image above left. We then head over to the British Museum where they had gone Grayson Perry mad! People dressed as teddies (inspired by Perry's teddy, Alan Measles) and huge tables of children doodled on cut-out pots to form a giant image for The Big Draw (see image above right).
I went into The Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman exhibition, items from the British Museum curated by Grayson Perry, alongside his own pieces. The exhibition space was cramped and full of displays, thoughtfully planned out placing interesting pieces together. It was fantastic seeing historical objects curated by an artist. He has a great eye for well crafted objects and ones that tell a story. I could have drawn in my sketchbook all afternoon but a rushed hour was about enough to take it all in and doodle the items of specific interest to me. I came away with my head spinning and bursting with inspiration and ideas.

Sculpture Stuff

another late catch-up, a continuation from this post.
I was lucky enough to visit Goodwood Sculpture Park way back in July, on a school trip with some students. The sculptures are set in beautiful peaceful woodland. Visitors are welcome to follow beaten paths to view the artwork, which is set both in brush and on open grassland.
This post contains a few more nice photos of the work we saw.

Tony Cragg:

Vong Phaophanit:
Sophie Smallhorn:
Julian Wild:
Gerry Judah:


And here's a little sketchbook page of this surreal metal sculpture- sadly cant find the sculptor's name :(

i'm so rubbish at updating blogger......
here's some old and new photos
above: antique antlers, ikea stuff and lovely painting on my wall by jonny hannah

really old sketchbook stuff from april/june 2010? studying european/russian folk ware/art
g+t +making felty xmas decorations

Pollock's Toy Museum

Pollock's Toy Museum at Scala Street in London is a new gem discovered recently. Non-English speakers, children and the disabled must hate this museum because it's everything a museum shouldn't be..... the staircases are tiny, winding, funny tagged on stairs everywhere with packed rooms, and a smattering of old, faded information cards in stuffy English. It really is a dreadful museum, it will never make any money (charging £5 for adults to walk around 6 tiny, confused rooms is surprising) and in the centre of London I was lucky enough to have the whole place to myself. Anyway, I did some drawings and scared myself silly in a room full of china-faced dollies.

Horniman's Museum

Horniman's Museum is probably my favorite museum ever. I have super fond memories of going there as a child and I still remember all the popular exhibits. It's such a good place with it's own little quirks (still has a lot of the Victorian cabinets, and typewriter signage from the 60's/70's), but it's had a nice makeover in a few of the spaces with an ace new aquarium in the basement and cool interactive musical instrument archive. the "natural history gallery" (which features the victorian cabinets and typewriter signage) is exactly as i remember it from my childhood and i fear has been sidelined in funds due to perhaps its controversial content (basically, loads of stuffed/pickled victorian animals). I've always had a huge soft spot for this collection and I hope it doesn't fall into further disrepair... it's an important part of history and it would be nice to retain it's old-fashioned feel and perhaps add some more knowledge about the history of the collection. anyway i've rambled now about stuff that probably doesn't interest you. here's a mixture of drawings from my visit this month.

turns out the Egyptian hand (above) is the oldest known musical instrument (it comes as a pair and is a little clapper! eeh)

i like to feed my eyes

~my sketchbook doodly collages