The British Museum Part One

This weekend's trip to a museum with Jenn was to the British Museum. It is ridiculous. Just when you think that you’ve seen enough really important, famous objects you find something else. We made no attempt to visit all of the galleries, yet I still have enough to talk about in multiple blog posts.

There were two things I had to see at the museum- the Rosetta Stone and the Elgin Marbles. The Rosetta Stone is not the most exciting object ever (it is a stone after all) but given that I've always been fascinated by Ancient Egyptian culture since I was a kid it was a *must* visit (more on that in my next post). I knew what it looked like from photos and the copy on display at the Royal Ontario Museum, but I always wondered what the back looks like. I have no photo (everyone and their brother was having their picture taken around it) but I can tell you the back looks, well, like a rough stone.

I wanted to see the Elgin Marbles not because of what they look like, but because as a group they are one of the most disputed museum artifacts on the planet.

Greece has built a gallery for them in an Athens museum that basically acts as a giant ‘we’re waiting’ picket sign to Britain. Their current gallery at the British Museum contains not only a display board explaining what the Marbles are, but also a pamphlet that explains the controversy, with web links to both the Greek Government’s and British Museum’s official views on the subject. Repeated over and over is how they can be viewed free of charge in their current home and all the research that the museum has published about them over the years. The pamphlet also provides a list of other museums that have sculptures from the Parthenon in their collection, which I felt was a bit cheeky. They are currently housed in an airy, purpose-built space that looks like this.

Did I mention there were a lot of people visiting the museum? Getting a photo without someone walking in front of you was quite difficult. The gallery contains a series of friezes that wrap around the space. I was particularly taken with this cow (what is with me and cows in museums? Very random).

But there are also many soldiers on horse-back.

At either end are sculptures from the Parthenon that had the most luscious drapery. It is very easy to forget that you are looking at stone and not fabric.

My take on the dispute? England acquired them legally and with the intention of preserving them, which no one in the Ottoman Empire (which Greece was a part of at the time) was prepared to do at that time. Yes, Greece was a conquered country but by the early 1800’s it had been ruled by the Ottomans for 350 years. The move by the Greek Government a few years ago to create a space for the Marbles in a Greek museum was one step too far and killed any hope for diplomatic negotiations to continue. I hope they remain in the British Museum permanently.

Week Three

I spent most of this week up a scaffold or crawling around on my knees, which can only mean this week and next will be spent participating in the palace's Annual State Bed Clean and Audit. I currently have no photos of this work, but will have some soon, so look forward to that in a blog post in the near future. For now, here is a photo from the King’s wing, which is where I was working this week.

Hampton Court is home to a number of throne canopies and beds, which are all very large and often attached to the wall. They have to be inspected to make sure that they aren't rapidly deteriorating, being eaten by pests, or other things that require attention. These inspections help the staff decide what artifacts need to be treated in the upcoming year or two. We also perform routine surface cleaning (also known as vacuuming) and document any changes that has occurred to the object. We also check and clean the furniture in the rooms of whatever wing we are working in (but they tend to be very boring- which is always a good sign for a conservator).

I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday working on the throne canopy in King William III's Presence Chamber, which is the second public room in his suite. The first day we need a full four-level scaffold so we could clean the top of the canopy (which was filthy) and the finials. Tuesday was spent on a three-level scaffold inside the canopy. The highlight of Wednesday was being part of a line on conservators sewing fine netting over the fringe at the bottom of the backcloth, essentially creating a bag to catch all of the bits of it that keep falling off (which featured the sound of textile conservators in a panic- quick, silent sewing). The Presence Chamber is extremely cold normally and the weather has been positively frigid this week. It was even (very briefly) snowing at Hampton Court this week.  

We moved to the Georgian Route Thursday to work on a bed, but I spent it examining all of the parts of the bed that had to be removed (mattress, quilt, etc) in a much larger (and much warmer) room. Friday was a bizarre day and I spent it mainly doing non-bed clean things, such as hold up a pair of King George V's trousers as we figured out what size of mannequin he requires for exhibition. When the real form shows up, I get to prep him for exhibit but that won't be for a few weeks. I can’t wait to start that work!

London By Night- Part One

London is very pretty at night. When the older buildings are lit up they take on a totally different look. I'm sure I will have a few posts like this in the future.

Oxford St. a few days after I arrived here. The Christmas lights were still up at that point.

St. Paul's Cathedral, which I didn't go in but spent quite awhile looking at the exterior of it.

This building is somewhere between Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus tube stations (we went for a bit of a wander, I'm not sure which road we were on).

And the pub on Peterborough Road, near my apartment.

Tate Modern

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of spending the day with my friend Jenn (B), who I went to school with at Fleming College (which means she is also a museum person). We went to visit the Tate Modern, although for the first hour or so we sat on a bench in a gallery and talked... a lot. Eventually, we got up and started looking at the art.

I would like to explain that while there are plenty of ‘no photo’ signs at the museum, no one seems to care that they are there. Tourists take photos. The staff in the galleries that are there to make sure that you don’t touch anything do not seem interested in you when you take photos. So I took minimal photos. Of particular interest was this installation by Michelangelo Pistoletto, entitled ‘Venus of the Rags’.

The title seems fairly self-explanatory.

We were particularly drawn to the Andy Warhol room, mainly because of the wallpaper.

When faced with a choice of two rooms, one with plain walls and another with pink and yellow cow walls, the choice is fairly obvious.

My guidebook says that Tate Modern gets five times as many visitors as MOMA in New York, but I don’t think it’s a better museum. It doesn’t do a fantastic job of making modern art engaging. We also had some serious issues with their labels, which were placed all over the place. Some were to the left of the object, others to the right, some were above it, and others were below. Particularly for large installations, it was impossible to read the label while standing in front of the object. This isn’t an issue in an empty gallery, but when there are a lot of people in between the object and the label the problem is quite obvious.

My favourite piece was something that I couldn’t photo well, so I will tell you about it instead. In 1955, Robert Frank took an epic road trip across the States and took photos of... well, everything and everyone including cowboys, waitresses, diners, and some hot cars. He published some of the photos in a book called ‘The Americans’. The museum has the contact sheets of those photos on display and the array of photos made an interesting collage of images. The small size of each makes you really peer at them and see the image. I could have spent a long time looking at each one.

One of the best parts of the Tate Modern is outside of the museum. The view of the Millennium Bridge from the river entrance is a must-see.

What Guy Ritchie and Lamb Had To Do With My Day

For the last two days, Hampton Court Palace has been used to film scenes from 'Sherlock Holmes 2'. We were asked not to take photos while they were filming, but I managed to get this shot last week of the set in the gardens.

Preventive Conservation is responsible for monitoring all film sets at the palace, to make sure that nothing could potentially cause harm to the collection or the building itself. Since I was with them last week, I got to help supervise one of the sets being installed. And since I got to see the work that goes into prepping a film set, I was also allowed to watch the last bit of filming today.

The scene that I saw involved men shooting a gun and running away. I don't know anything about the plot and didn't even hear any dialogue, so I have no exciting secrets to tell anyone. But, I did get to see Jude Law briefly. I also got to stand about a meter away from Guy Ritchie during filming. He seems like a 'normal' person but very assertive- he knows what he wants from a scene (which one would assume is a good quality to have as a director). He also has good taste in clothes.

I did not get to see Robert Downey Jr., although various members of the conservation staff found ways to spy on him through out the day because they love him so much (yeah- I don't get it but each to their own).

As part of the set, a lamb spent the better part of the day roasting over the fire in the kitchens. Once the scene had wrapped, it was cut up and I got to take some home with me (it is delicious). It was a good way to end the afternoon. And yes, it was also a good learning experience, since historical sites are becoming more open to filming in their premises as a way to increase their profile and bring revenue in.

Week Two

I spent this week with the Preventive Conservation team who are responsible for the care of all of the items on display at Hampton Court. This means that they are responsible for everything from housekeeping to pest inspection to making sure that the barriers are in the right place so you can't touch any of the tapestries.

This week was very 'chatty' in that I spend a lot of time having things explained to me, sat in on meetings, or watching someone as they did something (while explaining to me what they are doing). On Friday one of the conservators was quite apologetic that we were doing some straight forward cleaning, but honestly it was nice to actually be doing something (it is also much warmer to be working in a cold palace than standing around talking).

The most exciting part of the week was when one of the senior conservators took me around the palace and explained some of the specific challenges they faced in those rooms. In Queen Mary's Closet, she went to adjust one of the blinds and the entire set of double roller blinds came crashing down! Fortunately it didn't hit us; unfortunately it put some significant gouges in the wood shutters.... so now I've seen how to fill out an incident report at the palace.

Whimsy

I went to the Museum of London on Sunday, mainly on the recommendation of one of the senior conservators at Hampton Court. Specifically, she told me I will love their mannequins Yes I know, that has to be one of the signs that you are a textile nerd.... but you are reading my blog so what do you expect? But before we get to that, I will talk about the rest of the museum.

I highly recommend the Museum of London because it uses inventive methods to make the experience exciting and interesting. And it has to, because it competes with some blockbuster museums in London, like the V&A and the British Museum. For example, the printing press has screens set up around it to make it look like it’s spitting out printed pages. They have replicas right next to the real garment so you can try it on and see it yourself (sorry- I promised this was the bit with no textiles, apparently I lie). Overall it does a good job of showing how the city has evolved through the ages and how material culture has changed with time. And it has some unique objects. As you wander around the roman gallery, you look out a window and find yourself looking at parts of the original London wall.

Okay, if you want to skip me gushing like a textile nerd, you should stop reading this post now. Otherwise...

The museum has a *SPECTACULAR* exhibit called the ‘Pleasure Garden’. It is in a secluded area and uses a video (projected on the walls) to compliment the display of costumes to show how urban parks flourished in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. The mannequins are whimsical and interesting and pretty and... well, just at look at this.

I covet that brown Spencer jacket on the mannequin on the right.

Most of the hats and masks (*masks*, sigh) were made by Philip Treacy, who makes some of the most high-fashion millinery on the planet. One hat was made by the late Alexander McQueen. This enhances the fantastic pieces from their collection that are on display. Such as this.

That ship hat is original, which makes it all the more breathtaking. There were also figures that had reproduction costumes on, so you could look at them up close and touch them if you wanted to. Or in this part, means that mannequins on either side of the display case could interact with each other.

I can’t express enough how much I love this exhibit...I went and looked at it twice.

Huh?

Humour tends to (in part) be a cultural thing. There is some Canadian humour that I would never expect anyone outside of Canada to find funny. The Trailer Park Boys would be a good example of that. I knew that there would be some aspects of British humour that wouldn't appeal to me. But this?

Even the crazy knitting lady in me doesn't get this at all. Anyone?

Week One

Let's start out by pointing out the obvious; I work at a palace and that is awesome. Hampton Court Palace looks something like this.

Although, if you’re being specific I’m located to the left of the main entrance way, right in here.

The conservation department is located in one of the old Grace and Favour apartments. Until the fire in 1986, individuals who the Royal Family felt were very important were provided free living quarters at the palace. After the fire, which started in a fireplace in one of the apartments, Grace and Favour was no more at Hampton Court.

I spent this week with the furnishings team, who are responsible for the conservation of any upholstered furniture. Their current project is stabilizing all the textile components of an elaborate velvet-upholstered bed, which is going to take about four years to complete.

My goal for this week was to make a few stitching samples. I was sewing with hair silk, which is basically like sewing with cobwebs. The thread is so fine that it took some time before I could actually see what I’m doing. I was stitching into difficult fabrics such as satin (which shows every imperfection), velvet (which forces the thread to the top of the pile if it isn’t stitched in exactly the right place), and damask (which is very hard to identify the direction of the fabric).

When I left Tuesday night I was feeling like I couldn’t do anything right. But slowly I got use to the materials and by the end of the week I was ready for my final test. I got to secure a little fragment of the velvet bed textile that the team is currently working on to a piece of backing fabric. The fragment is about ½” square (although the edges are very uneven) and is almost 300 years old. My sample was deemed a good job and I was ecstatic. Of course, I do my best work on the only sample that I can’t take with me. But that’s just my luck, isn’t it?

So in summary, this week was a learning experience. It almost painfully showed the difference between my North American education and the two or three year textile specialist courses that exist in Britain. That being said the two main training facilities in the UK, the Textile Conservation Centre and the conservation program at the Royal College of Art, have both ended their programs in the last year. What a waste of good programs.

Style and Cupcakes

As most of you know, there are times when I can be described as 'not a people person'. Sure, for the most part I like meeting new people and talking to them (there are times, in fact, when I start talking and can’t shut up). There are other times, however, when people get the better of me. It’s partially from working in retail and being paid to talk to too many stupid customers. It’s also because I am an Anderson (we are not known for our people skills).

What I am rambling about is that big crowds of people, who are aimlessly wandering around, do not work well with me....which is why I should have thought more carefully before leaving the house today. My mission was to walk around, visit some of the big department stores. I also wanted to go to two cosmetic stores (The Body Shop and Lush). So I looked up their store locations and noticed that they each had stores located near each other on Portobello Road. Great, I think.

What I totally forgot is the Saturday Market at Portobello Road is a sea of humanity. And they are all milling about, looking this way and that way. It was so busy when I first got there this afternoon I couldn’t take any photos or I would have been run over by people. Once it died down a bit, I managed to take this.

I did stop freaking out and visited a few of the stores. I highly recommend Stumper and Fielding to any men visiting London who are looking for some lovely tailored clothing. They sell beautiful wool jackets, stylish hats, and classy leather shoes. I was really tempted by their scarves, which are all woven in Scotland. It belongs on the Sartorialist Blog.

http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

Another fantastic store was AllSaints Spitalfields. Not only does it sell some serious fashion, but their shop windows look like this.

Hundreds of sewing machines!

The highlight of the day was my visit to The Hummingbird Bakery. I have made a number of treats from their cook book (baking book?), so it was special to go to the bakery. On Saturdays it is so busy that they only sell treats take out (they even hide the tables and chairs so you can’t use them). You can also buy select cupcakes from a lady outside the bakery, but I chose to wait in the long line and selected these pretty ones for myself.

On the left, carrot with cream cheese frosting. On the right, red velvet with cream cheese frosting. There were some fabulous looking chocolate cupcakes covered with chocolate sprinkles, but medically I’m not supposed to have caffeine for awhile so I had to pass on those. I ate the carrot cupcake while I wrote this post and will somehow manage to save the other for tomorrow.    

Flu and Pandemonium

One of the top headlines in Britain has been the high number of deaths from flu this winter. For the most part, people have become ill from H1N1. The last numbers released by the government were 50 deaths so far, but that number is expected to be revised in the next day or two.

I am so happy I am from Canada and got my flu shot for free already because there isn’t a hope that I could get one over here, now, even if I found a pot of magical money.

Part of the problem is that not everyone is eligible for a flu shot under the national health plan. As of now, the shot is available to you if you are over 65, pregnant, or have underlying health problems (such as asthma) which would make you prone to getting sick. Anyone outside of this group has to pay to get their shot.

This policy has created mass shortages, because now that people are dying everyone wants to get vaccinated. Also, those eligible for a free shot have to wait to get one because supplies are so low. Last year’s H1N1 vaccine is being used because this year’s supplies are essentially gone. And the papers are also helping to blow this story up to epic heights, especially because only very ill children can be vaccinated and otherwise ‘healthy’ kids have started dying.

For example, the parents of three year old Lana Ameen, an otherwise healthy child who died from swine flu on Boxing Day, are trying to shame the government to allow all children to be vaccinated for free. They released a very grim picture of their daughter hours before she died to all the papers today, in the hopes that something will happen.

I know that vaccination numbers worldwide (including Canada) are down this winter compared to last, but isn’t the danger of swine flu that it impacts perfectly healthy people (compared to regular flu)? What is the point of vaccinating select members of the population when everyone is at risk? Everyone is a critic, I guess. It shall be interesting to see how this plays out.

All Electrical Engineers Have Perfect Hair

Or don’t care about the condition of their hair.

You may be wondering where this post is going..... don’t worry. I have a point.

When you take electrical appliances to a foreign country, such as England, the voltage in the sockets are completely different. The plugs are also different shapes. In order to make anything work without blowing up, you require either an adapter or converter. In order for these to work, they need to fall into a certain voltage range. Whoever came up with this system deserves a swift kick up the arse because it makes life extremely difficult for those of us who want to bring their hair dryer or hair straightener along for the trip.

Hair dryers and straighteners are way beyond these ranges and most adapter/ converter products tell you that they simply do not work with them. You can try, but really it’s a crapshoot. It may work, it may not. According to some of the travelling websites I looked at during the *entire* evening I spent trying to figure this out, sometimes it will work for a while and then just decide to blow up. Or it will start to melt as soon as it heats up. Lovely.

So I decided to try my flat iron with an adapter. The light goes on indicating it is heating up and then it just does.... nothing. No heat, just a light to mock you that while there is power going into it, no straightening will be happening. Since the apartment I’m renting provided a hair dryer, I decided to not even attempt to plug mine in. So they both sit, with the adapter, in my suitcase and will remain there until I ship them back to Canada.

Moral of the story?

Leave your hair straightener at home and buy a cheap, animal-print one from the grocery store, as I plan to do this weekend.

Not So Top Gear

It’s amazing that anyone buys cars that can drive at high speeds in England. The capital is full of Mercedes, Porsches, and Ferraris yet the authorities find every way imaginable to get everyone to drive slowly.

There is the congestion fee, which charges you for the privilege of sitting in busy traffic in the downtown core. The Green Party has just unveiled their new London Mayoral candidate (there isn’t an election on but they felt the need to appoint someone all the same). Part of her platform is increasing the congestion fee to £50 (around $77 CAN).

There are also a number of bollards, railings, and other things that are put in the road to make it more difficult to drive. These are just a few that are near my apartment on a residential road that is not very busy.

This divides the road into three lanes- the middle is a bus lane. The boxes are lit up at night so you can see them, although as you may notice that they do get hit from time to time.

This narrows the road, so only one car at a time can pass through.

And my personal favourite, the impromptu roundabout. It’s just tall enough to be a nuisance.

All of these things are maybe a two minute drive apart from each other and make driving more chaotic. When my landlady drove me to the grocery store my first day here I felt like we were doing constant emergency stops and u-turns (okay, my jet lag may have had something to do with it as well). I can only imagine the amount of swearing that I would do if I had to drive here. Never mind that, my Dad would be positively insane (he’s already said he would never drive here). I can only imagine what chaos ensues when it snows in London. Snow plows would demolish these additions easily.

Now I understand why Top Gear does insane stunts like this when given the chance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NZ9X9A2efA

Epic Museum of Stuff

Today’s adventure was a trip to the V&A museum, which will be the first of many.

My landlady, Alex, is a member of the museum, so she was kind enough to take me as her guest into the ‘Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballet Russes’ exhibit for free. The show closes on Sunday so I needed to go see it asap, since Alex recommended it for its costumes. It was really busy, even though we arrived in the morning, which made it hard to navigate (particularly near any of the video screens, which acted like people magnets). And while it was an interesting show, I did feel there were some issues with it.

Without getting too museum nerdy, I felt the layout didn’t allow traffic to flow, which was really obvious given the amount of people at the show. I also felt that while the objects chosen were interesting, there were too many of them. The exhibit was broadly laid out chronologically but within each of the six themes the timeline jumped back and forth. That being said, there were lots of really interesting objects in the show and, with some tweaking, this exhibit could travel quite easily.

The look of the Ballet Russes was bold and visually rich, which on its own creates interesting pieces (no pictures allowed in that gallery, so you’re going to have to take my word for it). The group collaborated with a number of important artists of the time. I just about had a nervous breakdown when I realized a sheet of Plexi was all that separated me from three original Paul Poiret dresses (one of the most important fashion designers from the pre-WWI era). Yet for all the colour, shine, and texture in the exhibit the piece that I fell in love with is a simple, fairy dress from an early productions of ‘Les Sylphides’. Its full skirt is made up of delicate layers of net and is paired with a simple, short-sleeved net bodice with a small set of double wings attached to the back. So romantic. The two huge painted cloth backdrops were also impressive to see. Some of the objects I am talking about can be found here: http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/galleries/TMG8019063/Serge-Diaghilev-and-the-Ballets-Russes-Exhibition-to-open-at-the-VandA.html

I spent the afternoon wandering the galleries- literally, since I didn’t grab a map on my way in. I knew that the textile gallery was somewhere on the third floor. In the course of looking for it I stumbled upon a temporary exhibit featuring the original drawings for Peter Rabbit. I also found myself in front of this at one point.

That would be a plaster cast of Trajan’s column.

Once I finally found the textiles area I have to say I was a tiny bit disappointed. It’s off in the far corner and really out of the way. The cases are old-fashioned, the labels haven’t been updated in a long time, and it doesn’t look like it’s rotated much. And the rug section was closed, for reasons that weren’t particularly clear.

However, many of the galleries have some kind of textile featured in them, so I still have plenty of fibre-based exploration for my next visit (but the fashion gallery is closed until next year- boo!).

I highly recommend the cafe in the museum. The food is really good and the tea is excellent- never mind a cup of tea, they give you your own pot of tea that’s good for three cups.

I know it doesn’t look like it from that photo, but that saucer is the size of my hand.

All in all, a good time was had by me. I can’t wait to go back and see the Chinese robes exhibit.

The First Post

Well, I'm finally here. Four months of planning have led to me sitting with dani (my laptop) in a tiny apartment in London. And yet I could hardly believe how quickly my flight to Britain crept up on me. It didn’t even begin to feel real until my last day of work at Home Depot, five days before I left Canada. Next thing I knew, I was frantically trying to stuff everything into three bags and trying to get them to balance out. Gah! But my ordeal was nothing compared to one family on my flight- they must have been moving countries since they had dozens of bags which were piled up by the ticket desk. The man stood in line while his four children played on the mountain of bags and his wife tried to keep everything under control (can you say stress?).

I have no complaints about the flight since British Airways were kind enough to upgrade my ticket to ‘Club World’. That includes perks like a ton of leg room, excellent food and drink (including free champagne), and a pass to the fast track line at customs. How civilized.

The weather was beautiful once I emerged from the airport yesterday. The sun was shining and I stupidly thought ‘so much for rain’. Silly me, it started raining that night and continued to pour for most of today (it was raining horizontally at one point).

I ventured out in the afternoon to go set up my Oyster card for the tube and railway system. The man at the ticket booth was exceptionally patent with all my questions, which was really helpful. I’ve only taken a few rides on the tube so far but based on that experience I have to disagree with my guidebook and say how well organized it is... particularly if you compare it to the TTC subway system in Toronto. The signage is clear and there is enough of it to make sure that you know where you are going (the subway in Toronto had a significant amount of route maps stolen from the subway cars and it took months to replace it). The announcements are frequent and very audible (my Dad’s impression of TTC announcements involve covering his mouth with his hand and quietly talking). And some of them are quite pretty, like this one, for example.

And so it begins...