Bring me to foggy London Town..

London

London was a field trip I was particularly happy to go on.  I couldn't wait to get out of the small community of Alnwick and move onto a larger more happening English town.  Immediately when we arrived in London I noticed a huge difference.  There was people everywhere and they were rushing to get around the city.  I felt like I was in New York City (except I don't even know how this is cause I've never been).

While in London we got to see several important things.  Such place we traveled to was the London Eye, Parliament, Tate Modern, Kensington Gardens, Tower of London and Hampton Court to name a few.  Of all these places my favorites out of this trip had to be the Tate Modern as well as Hampton Court.

The Tate Modern

The Tate Modern was an extra trip that a few students and I decided to go on while we had a break.  I was really excited to see what London had to offer in the art community.  We jumped on the tube and set out to find the museum.  As we started walking rain started to come down on us, which definitely was not a highlight of this trip.  We had a few problems finding where the museum actually was, but finally, we made it!
We walked into this very modern looking building and found ourselves overwhelmed with art.  I couldn't wait to get started, I just didn't know where to begin!  I started off looking at the Poetry and Dream--this section ended up being my favorite.  Mainly because one of my favorite artists had stuff in here--Francis Bacon.  I love how moody and mysterious his work appears.  The fragmentation and distortion of the figures creates such an eerie mood in his paintings.  Just by viewing his work i was able to get an idea of what his artistic process was.  I feel like his work is very personal and allows the viewer an inside view into what he was going through at the time the images were created. 

Salvador Dali



Munch



Juliao Sarmento "Mehr Licht"



Francis Bacon

I also got to see some artists that I had learned about in several of my art history classes.  These other artists that I saw and enjoyed were Pablo Picasso, Francis Picabia, Dorothea Tanning, and Joseph Beuys to name a few.  I was also introduced to a new favorite, Juliao Sarmento.  Juliao Sarmento is an artist that creates a new language and dialogue by incorporating many different mediums in his artwork.  I also liked him for his ability to speak about the fragility of the body and because his work was mixed media.  It helped give me ideas of what to do in my own studies in mixed media this semester.
Hampton Court Palace

My next favorite place while in London was Hampton Court.  I was kind of worried at first because I thought it was going to be very boring.  However, I was pleasantly surprised. The grounds were beautiful and I am very happy that Christine suggested it.  Another bonus was that we had a good day, it was so beautiful and sunny out!

Hampton Court Palace is on the River Thames and was originally built for Cardinal Wolsey.  Cardinal Wolsey was a favorite for quite some time of King Henry VIII.  However as he fell in power, the palace as passed to the King and became a rival to Versailles.

Ceiling Painting in Hampton Court Palace

When Henry VIII got a hold of the palace he wanted it to be a Renaissance Palace, so he switched it from the domestic Tudor building, which was perpendicular Gothic, into a Italian Renaissance Classical style which is known for its rectilinear symmetry.  The facade of the palace is extremely long and has many repetitive forms, which can be seen in the windows. 

The grounds of the palace are definitely something that had to mentioned as well.  Although there are no authentic remains of the gardens from Henry VIII many were redone to help capture their original essence.  It contains over 60 acres, several beautiful fountains, over 200,000 blooming flowers, and 750 acres of royal parkland.  

 Sir Christopher Wren helped inspire these gardens and the influence of Versailles is clearly evident.  The Privy Gardens on the South side consist of semi-circular gates. The symmetrical pattern in this garden also contains a geometrical system of paths.  This area was so beautiful.  It absolutely took my breath away.  I took so many pictures here and still could have taken more than I did!

Another highlight of these gardens was the Hampton Court Maze.  This maze was done in 1690 for the entertainment purposes of the King.  It is a third an acre and contains a half a mile of pathway.  I am sad to say I never got the chance to go into the maze due to lack of funds and time. 

I think the most interesting thing I learned about the Hampton Court Gardens was that the Great Vines that were planted in 1768 were done by Capability Brown.  Why is this important you may ask?  Well Capability Brown was the same person who designed the grounds around Alnwick Castle!