Happy Birthday to me and hello from Antwerp and welcome to Wednesday Wishes. Mr CW and I are exploring Antwerp, courtesy of Visit Flanders, that the trip coincides with further incursions into my 60s is a happy coincidence. We visited Westminster Abbey as part of our pilgrimage to visit all the English Cathedrals (I know, that it is a Royal Peculiar but is on the official list), what an incredible, history soaked building.
My London based Wednesday Wishes feature a two reshuffles. The V&A has created a beautiful suite of rooms to display its photography collection and Tate Britain has had a major rehang of its collection. Over the road at the Natural History Museum the opening up a Polar Silk Road as a side effect of global warming is looked at. Head down the far South Eastern edge of London for Elsewhere at the Bethlem Gallery . Book of the week continues the theme of elsewhere Amur river by Colin Thuberon seeing the vintage explorer travelling through deeply remote countryside to follow the river from source to sea.
Diaries at the ready. I have news of things happening later that need booking now as tickets are bound to go fast. Luke Jerram’s Gaia is coming to the Landmark Arts Centre as part of the Richard Art and Ideas Festival from June 16 to July 2.
Celebrations for the Tercentenary of Sir Chirstopher Wren continue. From June 13 - 24 the Wren churches of the city will be alive to the sound of music. Everything from pop,gospel, baroque, classical and sea shanties will be sung, culminating in a Wrenathon featuring a mammoth peripatetic concert moving from one church to the other on June 24. Take a look at the Square Mile Churches website to make plans.
One of my all time favourite galleries is the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich. Fifty years ago the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury donated their art collection and a brand new Norman Foster building to house it to the University of East Anglia. To celebrate the half century the Sainsbury Centre has had a bit of a rejig. You can now hug a Henry Moore sculpture, lie down next to a Giacometti portrait for a chat or step into a perspex box to experience life as an exhibit. Ever since it opened its doors the Sainsbury Collection has felt different and inclusive. I can’t wait to hug a Henry Moore.
Are you planning some early summer cultural jaunts? Some excellent exhibitions have opened recently. Down in the Chichester Pallant House has an exhibition devoted to Gwen John. In the Winchester the Arc has Constable: The Dark Side a step away from the chocolate box Haywain side of Constable and into swirling contrasts between light and shade. Another of my favourite galleries is the Laing in Newcastle which has the Essence of Nature: Pre-Raphaelites to British Impressionists. All three cities have excellent Cathedrals to visit whilst you are there and are easy to reach by train from London.
Happy Culturing
Catherine
Thank you! Will excise comma ASAP
Happy Birthday!!
Your website link to the Gaia exhibition at the Landmark in Teddington is incorrect - a pesky comma has crept in!