So "Day #1" is technically a combination of Thursday and Friday of this past week, as I sort of spent a bit over 24 hours getting to London, and then once I arrived here I sort of didn't sleep right away. So the next 48 hours and begin:
First art encounter: Philadelphia airport.
My study of art history has led me to love and understand the need for public art. Usually the scenario consists of a building or public space being built, and the city having a requirement of art in front of or inside of that space. Airports of the world (well at least some of the ones I have seen) have been consistent in revealing incredible works of public art by local artists of the area. As I was taking the electronic walkway to my gate, I came across two very interesting pieces of public art (well there were more, but I only remember the names of two).
The first is a series of sculptural pieces by the art team of Ralph Helmick and Stuart Schechter entitled "Impulse." The piece spans several different spaces, and is made up of many individual sculptures of birds that are suspended in a way so that they create the shape of another bird. The other part of the piece consists of wall labels as you zoom by the work of art that identify each of the individual bird sculptures in the piece. There is an image from below here, and a semi-alright video here (that for some reason halfway through cuts off from looking at the sculpture and zooms in on some women crossing the video-er.
The second piece was really interesting. It was a clock, functional, that was made using the help of some green beer bottles. The clock is made by Rick Stanley and his son, or a team referred to as Stanley Clockworks. The piece is one of a kind and quite extraordinary. You can read about it on their website here. And below are a couple of photos I took.
Once I arrived in London, I was picked up by the family whose home I am staying in while I'm here. I am living in Wimbledon, so we drove a bit of a ways to get there from Heathrow. We had a very lovely lunch which consisted of me trying four kinds of English cheese, all of which I loved very much and am looking forward to eating them all again. (Names to come).Skip ahead a bit to dinner where I had the pleasure of dining with the artist Ian Southwood, who does incredible photo-realist paintings. His daughter, who I also met, is currently in art school, and apparently has just won a sculpture contest and her work will be displayed in front of the Wimbledon tube station!
So for a first day, it was all very artistic and interesting. Day #2 will consist of exploring more of Wimbledon, buying some groceries, and writing lots of postcards, so I don't have to worry about them for too much longer.
xoxo
