Ah.  The Tate Modern.  Overlooking the river glooms the massive chimney and warehouse style building that seems so daunting.  The old power station really brings the doom and gloom feel to the area.  Then you walk in to see hundreds of people just walking around in an incredibly clean area with vast open space looking at art.  Its odd but satisfying.

Art! We came here for the art not the building! Thats right.  Anyways, while walking around with my group I had noticed something.  There was a one out of the three paintings that Monet had done of “Water Lilies.” Being from St. Louis I know that we had one of them as well and let me tell ya.  The one in St. Louis, at the St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM), made me feel feelings that I didn’t know I’d ever felt before.  When I first walked up to the massively landscape canvas to see the splashes of whites, greens, purples, and blues I was blown away.  No other piece of artwork has ever made me feel these things, but in that instant I had felt it.  Seeing the second one at the Tate Modern just made me feel a bit more complete.  Although its not as colorful or detailed as the one in St. Louis.  It still made me want to seek out the third final one thats evaded me so far, which from research seems as though its in Paris (where I just was the weekend before…. Unknowingly that its there…).  But I feel like my explanation of it isn’t enough so heres the actual description “Filling the canvas, the pond becomes a world in itself, inspiring a sense of immersion in nature. At times verging on abstraction, the water-lily pictures are the culmination of Monet’s fascination with light and its changing effects on the natural environment,” (Tate.org.uk).

After venturing out of that area I stumbled into some… Interesting pieces of art… to say the least.  I walked into a modern art exhibit to find some art that included a video of a person washing their hands for seemingly an infinite amount of time as well as a mans head spinning for an infinite amount of time.  Never ending and very confusing.

But there was more exhibits other than that, that interested me.  I’ve always been interested in the kind of paintings that pop out of the canvas due to what kind of paint material they were using.  As well as a tower of radios which was very interesting to walk around as hundreds of radios all play a different station while you walk around it.  And a painting that I wasn’t sure how it was created in its Jackson Pollock-esque style look that intrigued me with its wild array of colors.

The Tate really interested me but some of the random modern exhibits really confused me, but art is art I suppose!

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I was really excited for this one! Our professor had told us that we would be making a visit to the British Film Institute, and as a film major I was excited of course!  The building was quite interesting as well with its concrete walls and structure that was made to look as though it was put up with various sized pieces of wood.  Something I had seen before but not to this massive size.

I think originally I had a misconception about what was going to be inside of the institute?  Part of what I expected was there (British Films), but not as much as I had hoped for I guess?  I did end up watching a film that I had never seen before featuring Gary Oldman in one of his beginning roles as an actor (or at least I think it was).  He played a gang leader in London except they seemed to only vandalize other gangs in the area and not really the public.  Interesting film, but a little out there for me with its content.  I was really hoping that I’d get to see a film studio and film equipment so I can feel a bit more home like I do back at my campus in the states, but we didn’t get a chance to adventure that way.  Little bit my fault due to my not going out and adventuring on my own even though I saw a sign that said “studio” that I didn’t walk towards.

Leaving the Institute I did end up joining some friends at the British Museum and found probably one of my more favorite print-works hidden in the rear of the museum.  It just amazed me with all of the detail that went into each of them.

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PS: Saw a Banksy graffiti art

This was an interesting one for me.  We went to the Wellcome collection which houses a little bit of medical museum information.  Surprisingly less medical information than what I was hoping for but then again I’m not too interested in it unless it was the “Body Worlds” exhibit (which is wild lemme tell ya).  It would be much more interesting for my friend Alex back home who’s a nursing major.  He probably would’ve been going crazy over all the things in there.

The teeth section, which was their main exhibit, kinda weirded me out a bit? Like those things are in my mouth and I’m afraid my teeth will end up being how the 18th century peoples teeth did with George Washington’s dentures (which were there by the way).  So I kind of scooted along through that part fairly quickly.  There were some neato seemingly more art pieces than medical related pieces in the museum such as a hip for a head and head for hips thing that I stared at for quite some time.  As well as this looking incredibly happy to have some see-thru skin person that lit up when you pressed some buttons.

We ventured up to the top floor where there was a bit more history involved but randomly placed throughout this library looking room.  There was a contraption that looked like the one they used to make Steve Rogers the massive man he is in Captain America (OR IS IT REAL????) and a old fashioned wheelchair that actually looked really comfy.

Overall though I wish it had more stuff like these two things through the museum more than the teeth exhibit, but not every museum is the V&A or the Imperial War Museum am I right?

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This one I was quite excited for!  The Imperial War Museum houses equipment and stories from WWI till some present day equipment.  Our professor took us on a short trip around, but mostly wanted us to adventure on our own into the newer Holocaust exhibit on our own.  I just don’t know what to say after visiting it.  Even learning about it in history class almost every year back in the states for school, I just don’t understand it.  I mean, I knew about it the basics and random facts about it all but going through that exhibit brought everything I’d learned up to a new level making me open my eyes more.  I’m not even sure how to describe it other than that when you walk in, theres no conversations between people.  Its just silence and listening to the facts and history written on the walls as you make your way through the Holocaust.  Anyone who is anyone should visit this exhibit just to learn more about the dangers that were experienced and brought up.

The rest of the museum was interesting too! As you can probably tell from this picture… They have planes… Hanging from the ceiling.  Yeah.  Actual planes.

I traveled around the open exhibits checking out the small facts about the items randomly spaced out within the museum.  I decided to go check out the WWI exhibit on the bottom floor and found a VERY interesting piece that displayed what it was like to be in the trenches.  There was a makeshift trench that was approximately 12 foot high and they had a tank partially rolling over it.  There was also the sounds and temperatures that you’d hear daily in the trenches as they tried to make it seem as lifelike as they could.  And it certainly did that.

Something that really interested me was the lack of history and information from before WWI.  It was actually something I had wanted to learn about since they always teach us about the American side of the war.  I would’ve loved to have seen what their perspective was on Imperialism and seeing how some countries gained their freedoms from the United Kingdom, but it was definitely lacking in that area.  In fact there wasn’t any information at all!  But! It was still interesting and knowledgable to learn about the British side of WWI and WWII instead of the standard American side that I had learned about consistently through my school years.

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Next on deck was the British Library.  It was quite the haul to get up to the library, but once again it was another area of London I hadn’t explored yet and was ready for what adventure was going to bring me!  The library, interesting with its history and historical contexts that lie within it, was difficult for me to get into (other than the story we were told about the beginnings of the library and its old texts).  The architecture was incredible with its ship like design that our professor had helped us notice, but still I struggled a bit to get into it.

The gift shop did help me get a gift for my sister though! She had been wanting to make some new more interesting drinks at home lately and lucky for me they had just the book for that! I might try it out myself before giving it to her though.

After our visit I went exploring as per usual Ethan does.  I walked a couple miles north to an area some friends had told me about called Camden Market.  The old fashioned buildings and crazy market atmosphere with murals and art around made me feel like I was right there at home.  Plus the history I found out about it while I was there was a bit more interesting too since, ” Camden goes far beyond retail. An interesting fact about Camden Market that you might not be aware of is that back in the 19th century the whole area, from Camden Lock all the way to the Roundhouse, was an industrial site of distilleries and warehouses all dedicated to producing world renowned gin,” (Camdenmarket.com).  Although now its mostly clothes, art, and darn good food.  There still is a distillery left in the area, but now its mostly retail.  But hey!  Nothing wrong with that am I right?

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Today was one of the more interesting trips I’ve been at so far.  I can officially say I’ve been at a museum walking around from when they open till they close.  I mean, technically I wasn’t there from open, but technically I was.  I got there just before 10am by accident, instead of 11am when class started, and they didn’t open till 10am so I went and grabbed a bite to eat till I came back for class.  But I was there till close!

We met up for class and our professor took us to the Middle Eastern section to show us the art and history from that era.  Interesting stuff, but not necessarily the history I’m particularly interested in.  My sisters would have loved it though because of all the rugs (they love rugs).

Next she brought us to a section that I had no idea I’d be so interested in.  The fashion through the ages section.  It had samples on models from 18th century up to present day (one dress had Natalie Portman printed on it? Weird).  However, this coming fall I’ll be directing a short film that is set in the 60s/70s, so this section of the museum actually helped me tremendously more than I had thought it would.  A dress that I saw in the museum actually triggered something in my head, as to what kind of wardrobe I would want my characters to wear. I had been having a very difficult time trying to figure out what I wanted them to wear.  I do wish however that they had more male options for us to look at, but even just the women’s wardrobe helped me more than I thought it would!

Later on we discovered that there was a park in the middle of the museum? A random spot of grass and fountain featuring a small cafe on the other side of the museum offered for a nice spot in the sun mid-museum run.  After the tour around some sections of the museum I decided to stay in that little park area until making my way to the cast room.  These sculptures are certainly molds of the real thing, but they are HUGE and life-size regardless.  Later I stayed at the museum searching around until I met up with some friends and went through some more of the museum.  We went through even more of the museum till we had to leave due to it closing.  Unfortunately I didn’t make it through all of it! But I know I’ll be coming back again to finish it off!

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Today before going to our scheduled National Portrait Gallery trip, we went to the actual bookstore that was the actual setting for yesterdays “84 Charing Cross Road”.  Our professor taught us some of the history of how old London used to look like because it was in a more downtown location.  Eventually we got to it and good ol’ capitalism had taken its toll.  Sitting in place of 84 Charing Cross Road was a plaque that said it was the place of the book and play.  Next to it where to actual book store was… McDonalds…. The irony.

We made our way into the National Portrait Gallery and saw the newer section of it which our professor told us to pick our favorite and reflect on it.  The one I really felt like I connected with was this one.  Im not sure why but her emotions just seemed to convey through the painting and the artist did a tremendous job.

Afterwards we went deeper into the gallery to see some older portraits.  This was actually my first introduction to the MASSIVE paintings that some people have done.  There was a humongous portrait of The Royal Family at Buckingham Palace, that was probably 20 foot high painting.  It just blew my mind that people would paint something this.

But if I was painting something for the royal family I’d try to make it as huge as I could too.  After our group split I had noticed an area of the gallery that we hadn’t explore into that was a majority photography.  I walked in and noticed just a small picture of Charlie Chaplin on a wall.

The picture just seems eerie to me?  I feel as though its overly detailed for B&W film and the way that Charlie is looking into the frame seems just the slightest bit off.  His dark attire and black background clashing with his pale face just brings out his emotions, and makes it feel like he’s staring from his overly detailed world and into your very under-detailed life.  This picture just sent me into a frenzy of wanting to take pictures like this when I’m out and about taking pictures on my own.  Something that can convey a message with such little going on, which is something I’m not used to doing.

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Our second class we took a trip to Richmond, London, UK to the Richmond Theatre and see the play “84 Charing Cross Road” featuring Stephanie Powers and Clive Francis as the main characters, Helene Hanff and Frank Doel.  I haven’t had the chance to adventure west away from London yet, so this was a new trip for me.  The town of Richmond is incredibly beautiful, and unlike any town that I’ve seen around London yet.  Full of little restaurants and small businesses, it really felt like I was in a local London town.  The architecture showed that it had been there for a long time, and the alleyways with shops littered in them helped prove that.

The theatre looked like it had been there as long as the town had been with its incredibly detailed walls and ancient structure.

It was probably my fourth time in a theatre seeing a production.  I had seen “Young Frankenstein” and a couple of other random productions at my community college I had gone to.  I personally am not a fan of plays?  I think its because I’m in film production and I prefer to see the different angles and dynamics of the scene, but instead I’m stuck in my seat seeing everything from one angle.  Anyways… I fell asleep… fairly early on in the play… but I did wake up during intermission to see a very strange curtain come down and lift that wasn’t a curtain and more of a concrete or plaster looking wall that I’ve never seen before.  I did stay awake for the second half of the play though!  It was interesting what was going on between the main characters as they built a relationship between each other over mail.  The town was probably the most interesting part of the day for me though, because I ended up walking around the town for about an hour or two after class had ended and explored around.

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My first trip to a museum in this massive city was to the Tate Britain.  Our professor, Irene Wise, had us meet at the station and we walked our way to the museum.  The first thing that struck me was the stunning floor and how much detail went into it.  Tiny pieces of tile coming together to create a pattern that I couldn’t even think about being able to create, but that was just the floor!  Walking into the main lobby where you travel between galleries had a stunning window ceiling that just lit up the whole room as well as the unique spiral staircase.

Our professor mostly brought us to the gallery to look at Pre-Raphaelite era paintings such as John William Waterhouse’s “Saint Eulalia,” which depicted a 12 year old girl slain by Roman soldiers for not worshiping the Pagan Gods.

To help define the main subjects of the Pre-Raphaelites, they “were inspired by the “pre-Raphaelite” period, that is, the centuries preceding the Italian High Renaissance. They believed painters before the Renaissance provided a model for depicting nature and the human body realistically, rather than idealistically, and that collective guilds of medieval craftspeople offered an alternative vision of artistic community to mid-19^th-century industrialized arts,” (thearthistory.org).

However, being a film person I tended to drift towards the more landscape and scenery rather than ones with subjects in them as the focus.  Such as this painting by Atkinson Grimshaw “Liverpool Quay by Moonlight”

The painting depicted a picture that I’ve always wanted to be able to take in life, but instead he painted every little bit of it with exact detail.  I wish I could’ve been there in 1887 when he painted this and film something right at that time.  The light coming from the stores with the foggy air just created this perfect feeling of calm for me as well as an eeriness that seemed to seep out of the frame.

After seeing these with our group and professor I finally ended up having a real meal for the first time in probably around four days.  It was a place near the Tate Britain called “Marquis of Granby” and was my first time in a pub and my goodness was it a pleasant one!  Seeing all the locals just hanging out on the corner drinking and chatting it up was something I’d do with my family but there were way more people there than that.

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