Sunday, February 18, 2007

Half Term

Well, as you will have seen from my previous Blog entry, it has been quite a creative week. Its been the Half Term holiday which has feed me to get on with all kinds of things - mostly textile-related.
I've been lucky in getting to two exhibitions this week. The first was in Manchester at the Whitworth Art Gallery. This is always worth a visit since it has Alice Kettle's "Three Caryatids" as a permanent exhibit. There is also a comprehensive textile gallery. But this time, I went to see "Indigo". This was quite interesting, especially the Shibori. Sadly, I took no photographs. I didn't like to since Indigo is notoriously fugitive in bright light.

http://www.whitworth.manchester.ac.uk/

The exhibition will be moving on to Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery from the 19th May until 1st September.

www.plymouthmuseum.gov.uk

Then it will mo0ve to Brighton Museum and Art Gallery from the 29th Spetember until 6th January 2008.

www.virtualmuseum.info

The Whitworth Gallery site is wonderful in that you can visit the site and search the collections! One of my favourite pieces can be seen under "Textiles - weaving". Its a small woven panel from Peru. Part of a garment.

The gallery is part of the University of Manchester and as such is a wonderful resource for the students there.

Manchester is one of my favourite cities, with some wonderful buildings. Here are just some of them.

This strange tree greeted me as I arrived on the tram in Piccadilly Gardens, right in the centre of the city.



It has names all round the base, but I couldn't see a notice to explain the significance of it all. The sculpture is very striking. Please let me know if you can shed any light on it for me.


This amazing building is Afflecks Palace. Its a collection of small shops inside, like a market. Its clientele seem mostly to be students. A fascinating place full of clothing both old and new.


This interesting frontage was seen as I walked down towards the University on my way to the Whitworth Art Gallery.


This is one of the main University buildings as seen from Oxford Road. I loved the towers and the roof shapes. The older buildings here are surrounded by some very modern architecture. A wonderful mix of textures.


Finally, my favourite. The red brick building in the centre used to be known as the Refuge Building. It had been built by the Refuge Assurance Company. Today it is a prestigious hotel known as the Palace. The detail on it is wonderful. I only wish my photos could do it justice.

Yesterday, I went to Voirrey for threads.

www.voirrey.com

I got to see an enchanting exhibition of Jenny Dunlop's work.
http://www.artinliverpool.com

Do add the following to see Jenny's wonderful work:

/blog/blogarch/2007/02/artwork_of_the_day_jenny_dunlo.php
Its gorgeous. So bright and gently humorous. Thanks Jenny. I really wish I could have met you.

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