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Katie The trail was gorgeous, and the weather was lovely. The sun shone down on us (so much so that just about everyone got a little sunburned) and we walked along the cliffs above the Atlantic Ocean. The water was the most lovely, refreshing shade of turquoise, or aqua if you will. Some of the people on the hike took advantage of the water and swam in the ocean from one of the many beaches that we walked along. There were rock formations that looked like abstract sculptures, which I mean in a good way. They had softly curving lines, and a kind of quiet beauty that washed over me. It was easy to see the influence of the Cornish coast on those artists that we studied who worked nearby. Barbara Hepworth's sculptures are reminiscent of the rock formations that I saw. Arthur Wallis painted what he saw, and a number of other artists whose names I cannot remember captured the beauty of the coastline in their works as well. Our hike ended for most of us at Land's End, the farthest west point in England. It was kind of touristy, but the ice cream was good, as were the other Cornish delicacies that we found. Do you know the other great thing about this day? It was the first day of classes at Whitworth. Liverpool proved to be a time of relaxation and a time of firsts. As we arrived in Liverpool I remember sweating from the train ride, the crowd and the sun. Even though it was hot I was delighted to see and feel the power of the sun. I never realized that the weather affects my temperament. The sun refreshed my spirit. I spent one afternoon in Liverpool sleeping in the sun in a park (St. George). I remember waking up after the nap and feeling completely revived, simply because I was outside. Prior to Liverpool we were in Glasgow where it rained almost every day, so the sun was very welcome. The Walker Museum also proved to be relaxing because by this time in our (the class) art history timeline we began making some connections, and being able to recognize art in the museum was encouraging. Liverpool housed the first Tate Museum I would visit. The Tate Liverpool was kind of everything I expected. Big, blinding, and brilliant. The Tate Museums themselves hold a good amount of art and expose different movements and genres from the art world. The Tate Liverpool was blinding because it was bright orange and blue. I was semi-expecting something flashing from the Tate because I know that they are commercial and draw upon a large audience. I was little shocked by the bright orange and was happy to see that in St. Ives the building itself was not orange. The Liverpool museum had a very impressive exhibit. Even though I did not enjoy the art of from the Psychedelic Exhibit, I really appreciated the historic information they provided and seeing all the raw materials from the period. I also liked the rest of the museum, seeing some of my first Picassos, Vorticisms, and the Chapman Brothers piece. Comparing the Tate Liverpool to the other Tates, Liverpool really has nothing, but I think it works well for the people of Liverpool. I am assuming the people at Tate Britain would never show an exhibit on the 60s, and likewise, a Chris Ofili exhibit would be a little lost in Liverpool. But throughout my time studying art I was always very happy and pleased with visiting the Tates. Therefore, Liverpool was great. It was sunny, interesting, provided a funny music festival, had warm and talkative people, and a great pub, Baltic Fleet. The one bad thing was that it smelled. I think it was the first night, some friends and I were walking after having a couple of drinks at this ridiculous club and as we were walking we discovered that a public toilet, a port-a-potty, had been flipped over and was pouring out onto the streets. The smell was so grostque. And thus the remaining time in Liverpool my nose keep on picking up bad smells. But I loved it. Back to Off-Campus Studies >> British Isles Study Program >> |
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