Art and Stuff

It's all too easy to just not make the effort, isn't it? I felt quite ambivalent about a planned trip to London yesterday.... grey day, feeling lazy, the usual stuff. I knew my friend was really keen on this trip... An exhibition at the Barbican - Future Beauty, 30 Years of Japanese Fashion. Two important points (well important to me that is!), were involved here. 1, I HATE going anywhere near the Barbican. I  always get lost, I find the grey concrete depressing, and now of course there are so many empty grey concrete buildings, so I have to be very fond of any person who could possibly drag me anywhere near the place.. and 2, I wasnt too keen on looking at "Fashion". I had left that world behind many years ago, having enjoyed almost 20 years of textile and fashion designing. But wow! Was I wrong on all of the above... It was such a visual treat. Beautfully presented with  long silky shimmering panels of fabric dividing the exhibits. And as for the exhibits - perfectly shaped, draped, coloured, proportioned, textured pieces of  art. Sure they were old frocks, but hey,  what cool old frocks! Each one a feat of engineering and innovative design. Each one a blending of form and function, and really isnt that what design, any design, is all about? Proportion, form , texture, pattern, etc, it all works when its done well.... no matter what area of design we are talking about, it's all linked. This exhibition finishes on 7th Feb, I think, so if you have time, do make the effort this weekend, you won't be disappointed... Oh and I forgot to tell you, we nearly missed half of it! We were just about to leave when I overheard a conversation about "upstairs"! Well, dont miss that bit whatever you do - it shouts colour and shape and look-at me!

Interestingly, this was in sharp contrast to my trip, also yesterday, in the morning, to the RA's new show, 20th Century Sculpture. Now that was a completely opposite experience. I had been looking forward to  this one... I walked round in 15 minutes. I found it tired, unexiting... in fact the only piece I felt moved by was a perfect wood and string ball by Barbara Hepworth... But she shines anywhere, I think.

My motto for the day, (ha ha!) is to be open - surprising how often we arent and that makes me think how much we might be missing.

Anyway, back to the studio. Yes, I managed it,  I sarted a new piece on Monday. I did spend quite a lot of time pottering around my little studio, well, we hadnt spent any time together for quite a while so we had to get to know each other again...  Happy to say, we are still good mates, so...

Bye, for now!...