Tag: Art Galleries

#1312 theoldmortuary ponders.

On By theoldmortuary.designIn The Box1 Comment
Mountain Lake by Salvadore Dali @ The Box

A Surreal day yesterday, taking a 2.5 year old to Forbidden Territories at a local art gallery.

She was the perfect companion because all 2.5 year olds live a surreal life most of the time.

She is very well used to being asked what is going on in the pictures in her books. So chatting about Surrealist Landscapes was entirely within her skill range.

My surreal moment was needing to describe the normal use of a telephone to her.

@ Tate Modern

Her only experience of a land line phone is an old Fisher Price toy, not without its own surreal elements in my opinion. I can’t say it was ever my favourite thing my children played with.

She loved the colours of the gallery walls and liked to lean against them so she could ‘ be art’.

Sometime later this week we will take an adult trip to the exhibition, fabulous I am sure but maybe it will not be so much fun.

#430 theoldmortuary ponders

On By theoldmortuary.designIn Advent+2022, art1 Comment

Coffee this morning in a local coffee shop and gallery. There were some amazing prints on the walls by local Primary School children. I’m not someone who loves the naivete of children’s’ art, much of it is unremarkable and some could only be appreciated by parents and grandparents but this stuff was gorgeous. Each little creation printed on a square of paper about 14 cms square.

There is magic in the air when teachers can conjure such interesting images from the hands of small people, simply by teaching them a new technique.

Wouldn’t it be fabulous if in the world of work instead of team building with physical or mental challenges. Colleagues could be set loose in a print room, given some instructions and then allowed to let their imaginations run wild with colour and shape.

So sad that the end of Primary School is the beginning of the end of most peoples regular engagement with creative processes. Art and music slip from the grasp of most people by the time they are 14.

That is a sombre old thought for Advent+ 2022 but if children under 11 can produce such lovely work what would happen if everyone remained creative in some way throughout life. The world might be a better place .

Pandemic Pondering #485

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Friday follows Thursday. In Pandemic terms yesterday was my first working day at The Box ( Plymouths Museum, gallery and general cultural space) since the government announced Freedom Day when all legal restrictions were lifted on the English public and organisations and individuals are free to decide the level of restriction they wish to self impose.

©The Box

Suddenly a huddle of strangers is considered to be a safe option. The Box as an organisation decided not to go into full on super spreader event and restrictions remained much as they have been for many months, so the only obvious crowd were these Mayflower passengers. The museum visitors were still booked in and limited in numbers but they were, I felt more willing to engage and interact with the gallery guides and yesterday felt like the museum had a much more normal buzz about it. It helps, of course that the museum has wonderful air conditioning and we are in the midst of a heatwave.

Heatwaves are a summer thing and this morning a heatwave picture popped up on my Facebook Memories page. I wish I had remembered this image earlier in the pandemic because it is a pretty good image to demonstrate looking after yourself in a pandemic.

Better late than never.