Blog Archives
Highlights from NYC trip
A view of the NYC skyline from our taxi
Earlier this month, we took a weekend trip to NYC to celebrate my husband’s birthday. We took the red eye on Jet Blue Friday night and flew back home Monday evening. It was a fine time to visit – the weather was unseasonably warm (high 60’s) and bright and sunny.
Some of the highlights:
1. Staying at Courtyard Marriott Manhattan/Soho (on hotel points alone!) Great hotel and location for exploring the area. Very clean with a really friendly and helpful staff. Added bonus of having a Starbucks inside for an early morning caffeine fix.
A London sign
Looking for a way to add a little London to your home? Check out Pottery Barn’s London sign, now on sale for $509. It’s a framed giclée print that can be special ordered.
Art Everywhere
Art Everywhere, the U.K.’s biggest art exhibition runs through the end of this month. Where? Well, everywhere. Art Everywhere is showing up on more than 30,000 billboards across the country. Genius, right? Here are just a few examples.
Dinner doodles
I love the idea of this book by the U.K.’s Marion Deuchars. “Let’s Make Some Great Placemat Art” is the perfect antidote for any child who’s bored sitting in a restaurant waiting for dinner to arrive (and a godsend to parents)!
A cock(erel) in Trafalgar Square
London mayor Boris Johnson and artist Katharina Fritsch with one big cock(erel). Credit: Ray Tang, Rex Features
What’s 14 feet high, ultramarine blue and standing on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square?
A giant cockerel, designed by German artist Katharina Fritsch!
The cock’s creator Katharina Fritsch told The Guardian newspaper: “I think the English have a great sense of humour. I know they like to play games with language. They like their double meanings. So I wanted to play around.”
I kind of like how blue and bright it is! What do you think?
Lovely London print
I love this silk screen print by Nicola Meiring (£60), which is the first of a series of European prints. So retro and sweet!
Traffic cones a go go
S3i Group and Heatherwick studios have installed this hanging traffic cone sculpture at V&A Museum. Photo credit: Lise Colyer
Have you seen this amazing art installation at the entrance of the Victoria & Albert Museum, made of traffic cones?
It’s by S3i Group and Heatherwick Studios and is advertising the British Design exhibition, which runs through August 12.
Thanks to my London friend Lise Colyer for snapping this gorgeous photo!
Field for the British Isles
I’m overwhelmed by Antony Gormley’s clay figures. Three rooms of Barrington Court will house this awe-inspiring work now through Aug. 27.
“I wanted to work with people and to make a work about our collective future and our responsibility for it. I wanted the art to look back at us, its makers (and later viewers), as if we were responsible – responsible for the world that it [FIELD] and we were in,” said Gormley.
Stunning.
Thanks to Layla for sending!
Gum as art
Artist Ben Wilson works in an unusual medium: chewing gum.
Check out some of his art on the Millennium Bridge in London, made of discarded gum (bleeech!) and a little vision! So whimsical!
‘English Lit’
Have you heard of 20×200?
It’s a site which supports artists and provides affordable art in limited editions. I’ve already made one purchase and it won’t be my last!
Check out artist Jane Mount’s “English Lit,” which is the artist’s rendition of a bookshelf consisting of classic English literature including works by Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte.
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