Half-Term Holidays.

I finally managed to walk past Dalston Oxfam when it was open and it was just as wondrous and experience as I might have imagines. It's a rather large branch and the windows are always full of books which I have always found exciting, however I rarely wander down/up Kingsland Road enough to go in. Today was definitely the day. All the books are 99p! They also had an amazing selection which would have probably been even better if I had got there a few moments earlier as the couple queueing ahead were buying around fifty books! In order to renew my attempt at reading all the Booker Prize winners I picked up a copy of Anne Enright's 'The Gathering', 'White Tiger' by Aravind Adiga and 'Possession' by AS Byatt, as well as a nominee from 2003, 'Astonishing Splashes of Colour' by Clare Morrall. Burrowed deep within the shelves was also a copy of Maxine Hong Kingston's 'The Woman Warrior' which I have been meaning to read for a while. I also snapped up a copy of 'The Mitford Girls' (hence the photo) by Mary S Lovell  for a bit of lighter reading.

With some 'free' time on my hands I went for a trawl through BBC Iplayer and found 'South Riding'.  relying only on only streaming I miss programme adverts and tend to miss the beginning of some great Dramas, on other channels this doesn't matter, but as the BBC only keeps things up for 7 days I normally miss the first episode and thus fail to understand what is going on. Luckily, 'South Riding' has only just been shown, yesterday evening I believe, so I managed to actually get episode one. Totally loved it, for a totally idealistic trainee English Teacher, who up until now never really fancied a career as a Headmistress, it's made me actually consider the role of management within my future...

Due to a brief few years where I worked in fashion and spent two weeks of the year sitting on uncomfortable floors backstage waiting for girls who were waiting for hair/make-up fittings and so forth, whenever LFW comes around I always have slight mixed feelings about leaving my potential fashion career, mainly because LFW was my favourite thing, even if I did get a numb bum and no sleep for two weeks. Since then I always avidly check the reports on Style.com and Vogue.com and this year I'm amazed how quickly they are being uploaded. It used to be my job to sift through the shows looking for images of the models I looked after, not that easy when they are made over, wearing a hat and you've only seen them once! So, of the show reports I've glanced over so far from London, I have to see these are my two favourite images. The above, was the closing dress from Holly Fulton, I love it, there is just something about those clouds... and below, well, you can't beat Vivienne Westwood at the best of times and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact she had pink hair opening the show. 

An image a day - 1

Susan Hiller

Monument (Image 1) Witness (Image 2) and Dedicated to the Unknown Artists were probably my favourite pieces from Susan Hiller's exhibition at the Tate Britain.

Having purchased Tate Membership back in the Autumn I have been a frequent visitor to Tate Modern, but terrible at visiting Tate Britain, thus missing amongst others the Edward Muybridge exhibit which I am still kicking myself about! Now that Pimlico is technically on my way home if I go via the Victoria Line, it means Tate Britain is easy access to in the need to calm my brain I decided to drop by after work and see what was going on (aka ensure I get my moneys worth from my Membership and just go and see everything) Tate Etc is still sat in its packaging under a pile of books on Educational Pedagogy and even so, the chance of me ever choosing to go and see the work of 'Susan Hiller' was slim to none, I've never heard of her or heard anything about her or seen the exhibit advertised.

Turns out, I should definitely experiment more so because it was one of the best exhibitions I have seen in the Uk for a LONG time. I had no idea what to expect and just found all of her work both interesting and beautiful.  According to the guide that accompanies the exhibition, Hiller was born in the USA in 1940 but has lived and worked in Britain since the seventies, her work is based on 'overlooked and ignored aspects of our culture' and presented in a combined media/installation method.  The exhibition, which is the largest yet and rather packed with work, is essentially a discussion of memory, language and imagination.

Again, apologising for my atrocious ability to comment on art, I am just going to make a brief reference to my favourite pieces.

Monument - A collection of memorial plaques inspired by the discovery of a neglected monument in a park in the City of London.

Witness - This INCREDIBLE sound based piece which transmits stories in a variety of languages. The atmospheres is just amazing. I love it and it just seems so relevant considering all of the recent work I have been involved in about Spoken Language study.

Dedicated to the Unknown Artists- A collection of seaside postcards

The brevity of my comments if simply a shallow explanation of what the pieces are, they are about alot more than what I say due to Hiller's involvement within them.

The exhibition is at Tate Britain until 15th May her website is www.susanhiller.org

Attempted Art Review: Whitechapel Gallery

Last Weekend I wandered down the road with the vague idea of walking from the East End to the Tate Modern, however deciding I was really not in the mood I ended up in Whitechapel Gallery, a space I have been meaning to go to for YEARS but never actually made it! Visiting on a Sunday early afternoon meant the place was somewhat busy, almost too busy in places, I find visiting Galleries great for relaxation and rejuvenation however if they are busy I find them the worst places on earth. Luckily London has a mass of galleries and those visiting tend to be 'millers' as opposed to 'queuers', queueing to look at a painting is something I DETEST.

Anyhow, totally unaware of what was showing I ended up having a gander at pretty much everything. From what I gather the key exhibition at the moment is John Stezaker (Gallery 1 until 18th March) who had only just imaged. I have never heard of him, in retrospect reading the leaflet I discovered he's british and that it's his first major exhibition. In simple terms he is all about collage and 'the lure of images', he cuts and pastes found images together to create meaning... in many ways he is the epitome of modern art because 'Anyone can cut some pictures together and make a collage', however there is something about his choice in images and the meaning created by the way he mashes them together that makes you actually think, well no, I couldn't do that. Well, I couldn't do it and create that meaning anyhow.

The second exhibition I poked my head around was Bethan Huwys. In all fairness a pretentious foreign lady in her fifties summed it up by asking the attendant  'Where is the art', the attendant looked bemused and confused and the lady repeated the question. I like it when people play with space but for me, and the lady Bethan Huwys does it far too subtly... for those that are interested, the lady was standing in the middle of the 'installation' when she asked the question, hence the attendants response. Of blankness.

My favourite work was definitely the moving image work in the Zilkha Auditorium, now I am terrible at reviewing still art let alone art that involves moving image, all I can say is that up until today, it was the best moving image I've seen in a looooong time, I believe the last was somewhere in Seoul....

Three pieces are featured by Giorgio Andreotta Calo, Jalal Toufic and Huang Xiaopeng. They are all awesome, I would advise you to just go and see them because anything I will say will not do them justice!

Flamingo Art

I came across this amazing picture earlier today, the result of being bored and googling flamingo art, totally love it and want it but it's unobtainable on so many levels that all I can do is post about it. The link where I found it is below....


http://www.hifructose.com/the-blog/1138-the-art-of-kevin-sloan.html

Resolutions update.

Okay, so I made two lists of Resolutions - the original list and a secondary list inspired by Alice Du Parcq in the Times Style and enforced by my friend Ali. I would love to turn around and tell you that despite it being barely february that I am a super thin, rich and bendy and spend my days driving around London but that would be a lie.

I am however going to try and keep it positive. This month, being January I cooked two new versions of my 'classic recipes' in preparation for the cooking of two new recipes this month! The first was a Lemony, chickeny, spinachy risotto for a dinner with some friends and the second was a new take on a Chili Con Carne, where I essentially learnt that Hot Pepper Sauce is not a brilliant idea and its the lager/beer and sweet chili sauce that really makes it (and a worcestershire if there's some to hand). Oh well. Onwards and upwards. February's recipes shall both be taken from 'Miss Dahl's Voluptuous Delights' cookbook which was a much desired Christmas gift, however despite reading it about 5 times cover to cover (I love her) I have failed to cook any of the recipes! That is now going to change as I attempt 'My dad's chicken curry' p112 and 'Buttermilk chicken with smashed sweet potatoes' p119, both are taken from the Winter suppers section and I shall let you know my progress and try and remember to take photos and possibly even some quotes from tasters!

Yoga. Was going really well, until I screwed my shoulder and now it's on the back burner. My pain threshold is not that great! Also, I'm back teaching this week so i'm not entirely sure a 9am Saturday class is going to workout as the most suitable option.

Reading More. My course is prominently based on Practical Teaching, Lesson Planning, Observations and such forth. We also have two rather hefty written projects to complete, of which I am currently smack bang in the middle of the first one... thus I have been reading an awful lot but subject matter has been predominantly related to Teaching, Teaching English, Teaching Poetry, Teaching Media, Teaching Reading, Teaching English Heritage Literature, Teaching Theories and Assessment. I did however get through a copy of Cherries in the Snow by Emma Forrest. I have few comments to say about that as still find it totally borders on heinous trash and wit. Some of it I love, some made me want to rip the book in half and throw it in a bin, harsh words from someone that cares more about some of her books than they do members of her family!

Anyhow, hopefully I shall do better at the resolutions this month, although let's be honest, don't expect miracles unless my trip to Amsterdam gives me some weird kind of stomach bug, or I get salmonella from the chicken cooking.

Black Swan

I really need to see this film. I am the worlds worst cinema goer, I have already missed 'Somewhere', mainly due to the poor distribution I CAN NOT miss this. I was supposed to go o Wednesday but the stupid shoulder hurt too much.

Hurwendeki Penguin

I went to Hurwendeki cafe for a Birthday Breakfast with my friend Sarah a few weeks ago, on the shelf they had this awesome taxidermy penguin and it was for sale! Sarah thought it was vile but I fell in love.

Unfortunately I couldn't afford it, so I just took a picture instead.

hurwendeki.com

Why exercise is bad

This is Rocky bought via Gumtree for £35 from a Kiwi guy around the corner. I rode him for the first time by myself the other day (I'm a bike wimp) and as I was coming over London Bridge (northbound) I turned to check for traffic and wrenched my neck and shoulder so badly that I've been in pain for the past 5 days. I spent 3 hours at The Royal London who gave me painkillers which make me feel slightly cuckoo. The main conclusion I have made out of this is that I am not designed to cycle. Would anybody like to buy a bike?

And to the PAST

Here are some other exhibits that captured my eye from my recent trip to the Museum of London...

Look to the FUTURE...

So as part of my course we had to make a little film of a place of educational value, although in retrospect I wish we had gone to the viewtube, we went to the refurbed since i last visited, Museum of London. They are currently exhibiting, amongst other things the INCREDIBLE and BEAUTIFUL London Futures exhibition. I was overcome and forced to take photos of all the images, however the size does not do them justice. I have only posted my favourites...