Pre-Raphaelites Exhibit

For a limited time, the Tate is featuring the first British art Avant-Garde movement; the Pre-Raphaelite exhibition.

The Pre-Raphaelites formed in the late 1800 as a rebellion art movement against the present day boring art and stiff postures. The Pre-Raph's wanted to restore art to the old conventions used before Raphael redefined how people looked at art. The Pre-Raph's combined vivid colors, odd postures, and complex scenery to create artwork like the world had never seen.

At the Tate, I was fortunate enough to see almost all the most famous paintings by all the big names in the movement. The collection included works by Hunt, Millais, and Rossetti.

A computer screen cannot to justice to the vivid colors and amazing scenery in all the paintings.

My favorite piece was this one entitled "The Scapegoat" by William Hunt. The plaque by the painting said that Hunt actually used a dying goat as his model for this painting. It symbolizes Jesus's forty days of fasting in the wilderness. In person, the goat looked real, and the pain in it's eyes was so real I couldn't stop looking at it.

These are some more of my favorite paintings also featured in the exhibit. Since I obviously wasn't allowed to take pictures in the actual exhibit, here's a picture of me holding the information booklet I received.

And here's a dramatic video on the Pre-Raphaelites!

Tori Sheets



The Natural History Museum: A Whale of a Time!

I recently visited the Natural History Museum of London. It has over 70 million specimens from all over the natural world, from dinosaurs and mammals, to human anatomy, even a history of the geological earth! Occupying the central hall is a 26 meter long Diplodocus model, affectionately called Dippy by the museum staff:

 There are five zones to visit, each with a different focus of specimen. The Orange Zone has The Wildlife Garden and the Darwin Centre, which allows you to see science in action. The Blue Zone is the home of the dinosaur exhibit, for which you have to queue (it's that popular!), as well as human anatomy, mammals, and marine life. This zone houses a life size model of the Blue Whale, one of the largest animals in the world. There are also models of other whales, as well as elephants, rhinos, and even a bison. This section of the Blue Zone was one of my favorites to see and explore, as it had many hands on activities, letting you see and hear what a dolphin sees and hears. All the skeletons and models were pretty exciting too:

This is me in the Blue Zone, with the rhino and whale skeleton models behind me. They were huge!

The Central Hall is the next zone, which houses a spectacular painted ceiling, as well as a coelacanth, or living fossil fish, Dippy, and other large fossils. The Green Zone Has a cross section of a giant sequoia, the world's largest tree. There's also a large wall filled with the fossils of Ichtheosaurs and Plesiosaurs, ancient marine reptiles, much like marine dinosaurs, found by Mary Anning. Here's a few pictures of those fossils- the first is an Ichthiosaur, the second is a Plesiosaur:

Pretty cool, huh? They were oceanic giants! The next zone is the Red Zone, which holds the history of the earth, and various other geological artifacts.

Being interested in the sciences, especially animal science, I loved being able to visit this museum! The Blue Zone was by far my favorite, and the one I spent the most time in. I just loved looking at all the animals the earth holds, or has held in the past, especially the marine invertebrates and mammals. There were a lot of funny looking fish models, like this guy:

He's a trench fish, basically blind from living in the dark depths of the ocean. His shape is so interesting, I just had to get a picture of it!

If you're visiting London, I definitely recommend taking some time out to visit the Natural History Museum. It has something interesting for everyone, and it's also free! With so many cool exhibits to explore, and at no cost, how could anyone pass up a chance to look around one of London's best museums?

Here’s a video with some information about the museum and some of the things you can find there:

Rachel Talaber

Victoria & Albert

The V&A is one among many wonderful museums in London, full of interesting artifacts. This particular museum houses a lot of sculpture. Inside, there are several rooms dedicated to ancient artifacts from very specific regions, such as Iran or Renaissance Europe. There is a two-room that holds only jewelry, from ancient Egypt to the Victorian Era to modern creations. However, my favorite part of the museum was of course the fashion exhibit. This room held dresses, coats, shoes, suits, and accessories from the 1600's all the way up to runway silhouettes from the current year, two-thousand-and-twelve. 

I am such a girl. I love clothes! This exhibit happened to be exactly what I wanted to see on the particular day I ventured into the V&A, whether I knew it before hand or not. The dresses were so beautiful, and some of them so elaborate. The exhibit included an 18th century wedding dress and a veil that I just swooned over. Another highlight was a navy, sequined pants suit with a ruffled white collar, designed by who other than the famous Coco Chanel! These more modern cases also held retro swimsuits and 1950's Hollywood ballgowns.
I learned that to keep up their huge sleeves as women's fashion grew more elaborate, the girls wore these sort-of bags, full of fluff, tied around their upper arms- sort of like a shoulder pad but for a puffy sleeve.

^^  This is the Chanel suit! ^^

After visiting the British museum, with its' rooms upon rooms full of cuneiform tablets, sarcophagi, and sculpted goddesses nearly every day for my Bible class, this exhibit was a fresh concept, and it presented itself not a moment too late! 

The Victoria and Albert Museum has a long history of involvement with the fashion industry in London.

The British Library

As an English major, I was pretty excited about going to one of the world's largest and most historical libraries. So, on a nice sunny day we set out for the British Library.

Sadly, taking pictures of the most interesting documents in the library wasn't allowed.

Some of the documents we were able to view included:

The Magna Carta

Two Gutenberg Bibles

The only surviving manuscript copy of Beowulf

Leonardo da Vinci's notebook

Original copies of Beatles lyrics

and many first edition copies of some of my favorite authors

I was able to take one very blurred photo of myself looking at a first edition copy of Oscar Wilde's The Portrait of Dorian Gray

Thankfully we were able to take the illegal picture and escape the British Library unnoticed.

 

Tori Sheets

London: The Imperial War Museum

Atrocity, bravery, camaraderie, these have been the ABCs of British history since before the Romans first carved out Britannia.  Shaping its people and their culture into who and what they are today, war has only made them stronger, ultimately to bring them together.  Eventually, this wee Roman province owned much of the known world!  During World Wars I and II, her people rallied the defense against the Axis onslaught while the rest of Europe either crumbled or cowered in fear.  Now that's a scrappy little island.  If your interest is piqued, don't just pin it to your Pinterest.  Visit...

The Imperial War Museum

For a pittance of £0 (that's right; it's free!) lose yourself in the grandeur of Britain's military might.  As you walk in the front door, see tanks, bombs, airplanes, rockets, covert tech, and everything in between from every major modern war.  If you have little kids, just wandering through the various impressive and informative displays will be well worth a good hour or so of fun and learning.  For teens and older, there is a huge display on Hitler's holocaust of World War II.  This is heavy stuff, and I'd recommend allowing at least an hour for this exhibit alone.  Rushing through it will definitely detract from its potential to really drive home the experience of the Jews under the barbed wire fist of the Nazis.

The Ashcroft Gallery

Supermarine Spitfire: the RAF's staple during WWII

Here's a bit from the wreckage at ground zero of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Check out the website for the latest exhibits.  While I was there, they had a paid exhibit on the photography of Don McCullin, a famous war photographer during World War II.  Also, if you're a history buff and want to locate a particular item, have a go at the collection catalogue as a part of your research.

To find this place, you can plug in the address...

Lambeth Road, City of London SE1 6HZ, United Kingdom

...into google maps, or you can take the tube to North Lambeth on the Bakerloo Line and just follow the signs.  Whether you're game for a grand day out, a quick pop-in, or a reflective paradigm shift, the Imperial War Museum London is sure to deliver.

~Kaleb

Stonehenge, Avebury, & Everything In Between

 We do a lot as a group.

This week we went to Stonehenge, Avebury, Salisbury, 

and then spent a day at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Even though we are constantly running around...

another thing we are constantly doing is having a blast.

Where ever we go, 

HUE 2010 seems to be keen to make it an adventure.

Stonehenge

Avebury 

the birthday girl, Caroline

group dinner at Wagamama