Chihuly at Kew

The 'Henriad' at the Globe didn't finish until late, so I made arrangements to stay over, and on Saturday morning  headed to Kew Gardens, which is currently hosting an exhibition of works by Dale Chihuly. 

I've loved his work since i first saw his glorious chandelier in the entrance to the V and A, but this is the first time I've had the chance to see an exhibition of his work.

Summer Sun

There are a dozen pieces scattered around the gardens, plus several in the Temperate House .

'Paintbrushes'

The exhibition is titled 'Reflections of Nature' and most of the sculptures do seem to be inspired by plants, and they do look at home at Kew. 

Neodymium Reeds and Turquoise Marlins

I loved the contrast of the vivid colours against the more muted flower beds.

Ethereal White Persian Pond 

And the way that the glass sculptures and the plants complemented one another - particularly in the Lily Pond!

Cattails and Copper Birch Reeds

The 'Cattails and Copper Birch Reeds' were installed along both sides of a path up to another of the houses, beneath fruit trees, and mirroring the colour of the tulips  there. 

I'd love a few in my garden!

Opal and Amber Towers

The 'Opal and Amber Towers' outside the Temperate House are less reminiscent of plants, but I do love the tentacles, and inside, we are back to plants again  ...

As well as the sculptures in the gardens, there was also a small exhibition in one of the buildings, with lots of smaller pieces, and drawings and commentary.

 Then I went back out into the sunshine for the last of the sculptures.

Niijama Floats

'Niijama Floats', a set of giant marbles, or miniature planets, in the Japanese garden, and finally, and,  I think,   my favourite - 'Sapphire Star', which is like a giant Allium flower.

Sapphire Star

 It looked particularly beautiful when the sun came out and shone through the clear tips of the spikes.

Sapphire Star, in front of the temple

As well as the Chihuly, my other reason for visiting the gardens was to see another sculpture, one which has been there longer,  artist Wolfgang Buttress's The Hive, which I have wanted to see ever since I first heard about it. 

It is a big (17m tall) walk-in sculpture, made up of a honeycomb aluminium structure, and incorporating led lights which light up in response to activity inside one of Kew's beehives. 

Looking up, inside the Hive

I went there first so had it to myself, although there weren't many lights, it was perhaps too cold for the bees to be very active, back in their hive! 

I enjoyed my visit, and I recommend it to anyone who is in London and has the time to go out to Kew. 

The Chihuly exhibition is on until 27th October. And of course, even without the sculptures, the gardens are rather nice!

Public Art, and Architecture (Or, What I did on my holidays, Part 7)

One of the things I liked about Toronto was how much public art there was, and (no doubt because the city is relatively young) how much of it was modern, and playful.

I was very much taken with this sculpture, 'Rising', by Zhang Huan, which is covered with birds (or hands, or birds made of hands) 

There are more birds inside the building, and on the roof, although you don't notice them at first!

This one was outside the courts.

 This butterfly was at Crawford Lake.

These fish were set into the pavement, along with many others, among patterns of maple leaves, laid out as part of the brickwork.

This couple (called - 'Immigrant Family' ) is by Tom Otterness. 

 

This medallion, not far from the St Lawrence market, commemorates on of the ships used in the 1812 war.

The mural was next to a fire station near the Distillery district.

Both these sculptures were in the distillery district.

Then there were some urban cattle, in the financial district.

A couple of whales (also in the financial district)

The giant model soldiers I only saw from the tram. They weren't far from Fort York, but I don't know whether there were intentionally related to it!

I couldn't find who the artist was, of these playful, slightly Gromit-like dogs, but I liked them!

Then there was the architecture.I liked the shape of this mall, and the old Stock Exchange of Toronto, engulfed in a much bigger, newer building.

Then there was the car in the wall of the CTV building, which should probably count as art rather than architecture...

And of course there was the Art Gallery, and the RMO, both of which you've seen on previous posts.

Fishes and Things (What I did on my Holidays, Part 6)

By Friday, we'd covered most of our 'must see' things, so were doing more free range wandering.But since my feet had started to protect all the walking we'd been doing, we did it by tram/street car. (several of the routes have loops at the end, so we did a couple of round trips, which allowed us to see some of the bits of Toronto we hadn't yet walked to.

We started by going to St Lawrence Market, which is a food market but also has some  craft stalls. It would be a great place to shop if you lived locally, or were self catering, but other than the craft stalls, less relevant to us!

We did however then walk up towards Union Station, passing the flat iron building, which is quite nice looking.

On the end, it has a rather nice mural.

Just behind it, is an extremely strange, but entertaining, fountain. It wasn't yet running, so we didn't get to see it in it's full glory. It has a couple of dozen dogs (mostly, but not all, pugs), surmounted by a golden bone.

There's also a single cat, on the fountain, although we later spotted a second,  some distance away, as well as a pair of birds on a nearby lamp-post.

Then, a little later, we visited the aquarium, which (unsurprisingly) has lots of fish....

This includes some goofy-faced fishies, smiley rays, and sharks.

There were also lots of jellyfish, with extra-dramatic mood lighting to make them look even weirder than they naturally do

It was fun, but it was also very crowded.

We had a very nice meal that evening at Luma, then on the final morning, we did more walking - down to the lake side, where we found a menhir. And lots more boats.

We also visited the Distillery district, where old warehouses and (duh) distillery buildings have been re-purposed as shops and restaurants.

There is also a fair amount of public art. I was particularly taken by this Tripod! 

In Which There is More Culture

Afer the HyperComics exhibition I had planned to go the the Natural history Museum, where I'd heard tell of a Giant Kntted Squid (or possibly a knitted Giant Squid) but when I got there I found that the relevent exhibition cost £8 and had a huge queue.

I could've coped with one or the other, but not both, so the Giant Knitted Squid will have to remain a mystery.

Instead, I did go in for a short time, and admired some of the carvings and so on - I love that the building was designed to include representations of science and natural history, so that although it is a little like a cathedral, it is a cathedral adorned with wolves and rats and monkeys and octopi, instead of saints and demons.

However, the place was too overcrowded to be able to take much in, so after a very short time I headed next door to the V&A, where I spent a very soothing hour or so, mainly in the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries.

I found some lovely sculptures - this one of Alexander & Bucephalus, from 1515

There were also some lovely tapestries (although I missed the Raphael cartoons, as that exhibition doesn't open untilWednesday)

This one shows the Trojan War, and dates back to 1475.

And then I turned a corner an foun a little case, containing a note-book of Leonardo da Vinci...

There were, of course, also many statues, which I am sure at least one of you will enjoy...