Drawing in the British Museum African Galleries

Last Tuesday   we were meeting up at the Petrie Museum  at 1pm  to sketch  but  I still  caught my usual 8.59  train  and headed  to the British Museum  beforehand . Fortified by a coffee and pastel del nata  in the  Members Room  , I spent an hour in the African   Galleries .

 I've drawn the knives before  but its always the pottery  than inspires me.

 A couple of quick drawings  then a wander around.

While I love seeing the shadows of the El Anatsui  work, it was good to remind myself of  his   wooden  ' Kente Cloth' ( below)

 I loved this drawing ' Tree'  by Ibraham Mohammed El Salahi  based on the 'jibba' worn by sufi brotherhood.  I missed this exhibition at the Tate, looks amazing 

  My lunch of soup in the members room was cut short   by  an evacuation of the building  ( fire sirens  went off , they initially said it was a false alarm but then we were all told to leave ) We were directed through a  side entrance  through   what looked like the boiler room.  We were out there about 20 mins , no point in returning to my soup so collected my bag and coat from the cloakroom  and headed off to the Petrie. There was strike   and demonstration going on outside UCL ( on  outsourced staff rights)  so  respecting  their wishes  not to cross the picket line, had to make  a detour. My geography of the area is getting much better!

El Anatsui at October Gallery and Drawing Tuesday at Petrie Museum

Nearly a month since my last blogpost , too busy doing things to record  here  so a lot of catching up to do!

 Last Saturday  I had my EDAM Term 2 tutorial with Ute Kreyman  and I made the most of my trip up to London to fit  in  a visit afterwards to the October Gallery to see the El Anatsui exhibition. 

I nearly didn't make it as there was trouble  with the trains as signalling cables had been stolen overnight  and spent nearly an hour  on a stationery train . Just as well I had my sewing with me!  So I only had time for a quick lunch  in the British Museum Members Room before my tutorial. 

The El Anatsui exhibition  was of relatively small pieces ( if you compare them to the covering of the front of the Royal Academy!)  as well as some interesting prints. It was lovely to get so close to the work and the shadows cast were wonderful, I was very aware of the 3D sculptural qualities.   

On Tuesday I was once again back in the British Museum Members Room for lunch before an afternoon's drawing session at the Petrie Museum. One of my favourite places,  it's so  crammed with stuff it can be overwhelming and difficult to choose where to start.I just love all the pot shards and fragments. I was distracted initially by this wonderful footstool and  thanks to Carol , spent some time opening some of the many   drawers and finding bizarre collections.  

But as on my last visit there, I settled in  a chair with table to spread out my materials (including  new calligraphy pens)   in front of a cabinet  and drew just what was in front of me 

Pen and coloured pencil over initial rough pencil sketch 

Trying those new pens in continuous line ( sort of) 

Looking at the negative shapes

Toned Khardi paper with white gel pen, Uni pen, graphite, coloured pencil and limestone  from Deal Castle 

Summer Exhibition at RA: Textiles and 3D

715 Eileen Hogan

 Working  with cloth and stitch myself, I'm always interested to see  what textile pieces are chosen  for the RA  Summer Exhibition. There's  always a lot of chattering on yahoo groups about how few there are  but in the end, regardless of what media , it has to work as art - if that means framing  or mounting on canvas  so be it.  I had to include  Eileen Hogan's wonderful oil painting 'self-portrait through wardrobe '  as it sparked all kind of ideas  related  to 'travellers blanket' I've just started. I think I'd have to do a painting of my earring collection ( which is not small....)

126 El Anatsiu

Another wonderful  varied piece by El Anatsui, it was great to get up really close  to examine the different materials used

466 Bridget Bernadette  Karn

Although not really  my taste, this felted picture fitted in well with the 'landscape' theme of the gallery and the texture of the wool  made it far more interesting and atmospheric than  if it had been a painting. Fascinating video here of how she does it. She also posted several pictures on Facebook asking which she should submit  and had a very good response ( I voted myself , but not for this piece)

855 Jacques Lawrence Calver

I really liked this piece by Jacques Lawrence Calver, you can really see the influence of 'Boro' in his work.

668 Miranda Argyle

It's good to see work by Miranda Argyle included again. Always thought -provoking , this piece 'inside out' is based on MRI scan of the brain with the underside showing ( read more about  it here)
I 'm a big fan of the 'unconscious side' of stitched  work

846 Susie Koren

 I wasn't a big fan of Susie Koren's prize winning quilt ' Gravitational Force' last year  at FoQ -  the stitching and mark-making was rather lost on such a  huge piece.  But the two framed  pieces  here worked  much better, stitching as a form of drawing, they looked like fragments of old maps or manuscripts.

1014 Susie Koren

1216 Joe Tilson

In Gallery X  devoted to photography , the large tapestry 'Look'   certainly drew your attention.

1078 Eva Rothschild

This year I found the mix of  sculptural work in the lecture Room overcrowded, overwhelming, I didn't spend very long  in there. 2 pieces close to each other were this  wool  embossed blanket set in resin ( the quilt police definitely wouldn't like that but I liked the enhancement of the texture and intensity of the blue/black colour)

1072 Brian Griffiths

I was intrigued by these dyed kitbags and  investigating further online, found they were part of  what seems a fascinating, poignant , site specific installation recording the history and stories of an old boxing club.

308 Lindsey Archer

I normally only give a cursory look at the gallery devoted to architecture  ( something about all those straight lines ....) but 2 pieces caught my eye. I loved the quirkiness of these little structures made of paper, card , aluminium by Lindsey Archer. It's interesting  to contrast the arrangement in  what I assume was the submission photo ( top) with the more organic layout in the gallery itself.

333 Julie Massie

This is the piece I would have wanted to take home with me -  I've never seen porcelain used in this way, the  qualities of  of the edges spoke to me, especially when I found Julie Massies website with  further work inspired by the fragility of coastlines.