DramA – WomAn in bLACK

The Woman In Black Review

On the 17 of November 2008 we went to the Fortune Theatre in Russell Street to watch The Woman In Black.

The thing i didn’t like about it, was at the beginning when the man was telling his story but kept repeating it more than five times. Then it started to get annoying and boring.

I also hated the scary parts which some people say I was screaming to loudly. But at the end it was all funny.

I loved the part where they used shilottes instead of paying
alot of money and using there imagination.

Overall the play was about two men and a woman. A man
was retelling a story that happened to him ( I THINK!!) And as they where retelling it they was acting it out . Plus when they where acting it out a woman in black appeared so it made the drama even more dramatic.

The rating i would give the play out of TEN IS …… SIX

by Ashlie Ryan

ArChITECTure

As a group we decided to visit two places to get the feel of architectural models and the variety of concepts architects base their work on.
Our first visit was to RIBA, where we went to an exhibition based on Anish Kapoor’s work. This was my first time visiting the RIBA and I must say I really liked the interior of the building. When I first arrived at the exhibition I didn’t really know what to expect because I had never heard about Anish Kapoor so this was a whole new experience for me. There were approximately 37 models, of which were concept and sketch models. Some the models were more interesting than others and some were much more simpler than others. After looking at Anish Kapoor’s work, I noticed that not the models could be transformed into realism, they were purely based on imagination.
What I loved about Anish’s work was that it was highly unusual; I have never actually seen models, which are so interesting at his. Some of his models made me quite curious, I actually spent time analyzing them and tried figuring out what Anish’s motive could be behind designing what he had designed. I think this was a really good exhibition to visit because it illustrates the relationship between architecture and art & design. After visiting the exhibition, I learnt a number of things. I learnt that there are two types of models (concept and sketch), what kind of materials used, methods of fixing the models and the scales used for the construction of the models.
I would recommend this exhibition to everyone especially students studying architecture or thinking of studying architecture in the near future because this exhibition will show them that all architect’s work starts off a model (it’s the initial stage).

Our second trip was to New London Architecture (NLA), which is a display centre and is open to everyone. I really enjoyed going to NLA because it has models, which we could relate to because they had displayed models of London and Croydon where I’m from.
I loved the model of London, it was fascinating to see London on such a small scale, and the model shows a better picture of the whole of London. Also it shows the orientation of the River Thames and all the world famous buildings of London.
There was also a model of Croydon in 2020; I really enjoyed analyzing the model because I know the place so well as I have been living there for a very long time.
NLA also had loads of other future projects within and around London, I was glad to see that some the new projects would give the skyline of London a new meaning.
I really enjoyed my time at NLA and would love to go back in the future and I would recommend it to everyone, it would be a change to see where you live on a smaller scale.

By Nana Ewusi

dIGITAL iTERIORs

An English Interior, a review.

 

I was quite looking forward to the trip to the Foundling Museum as I’d never been there before. I found out that it stands next to the site of a building that became a home for abandoned children and was known as the Foundling Hospital. The guy who set it up was a sea captain called Thomas Coram.

 

The museum contains some of the furniture from the Foundling Hospital and also a hole load of coins, hazelnut shells and buttons that were left by mum’s of the children. 

 

The exhibition we saw called An English Interior, was by the artist John Kindness, he had designed wallpaper. His designs were inspired by the work of William Hogarth and the Desperate Dan cartoons and consisted of large pictures edged with a border. You could see the resemblance with the Desperate Dan cartoons in his pictures, though there wasn’t so much detail, particularly the faces. The borders to the pictures were designs inspired by lace patterns and photographs of rubbish taken out of the river Lee in Hackney. I felt a bit irritated when I found out this because when ever you hear about Hackney in the news, it’s always something negative and I think it’s a great place to live!. Surely he could have found something more positive in Hackney to be inspired by.

 

Anyway, the exhibition was okay but I wouldn’t want his pictures on my bedroom wall.

 

  Io Swift Wolf

 

ArCiTeCtUrE

Anish Kapoor in Architecture…

   This was the exhibition we (Architecture with The Building Exploratory group) decided to visit over the weekend. The exhibition was held at RIBA, which stands for Royal Institute Of British Architects, it’s an institute that collaborates with the government to improve the design quality of public buildings, new homes and new communities. The exhibition was based on the famous artist Anish Kapoor who has worked with architects and engineers on a number of major projects.

   It was my first time visiting RIBA and I must say that I was impressed; I absolutely loved the entrance and especially the grand staircase, which lead to the Anish Kapoor exhibition. In the past I had visited another architectural exhibition, which was held at Bartletts (UCL), so I had a rough idea of what to expect at the exhibition held at RIBA.

My first impression of Anish Kapoor’s work was that it was unusual and extremely simple, it was very different to the work I had seen at Bartletts. Some the concepts were really interesting and I love to see them in reality. My favourite concept model has to be the massive mirror in of the seashore. Altogether there were 37 models present in the exhibition, some were concept models and some were sketch models.

Each model was unique and the construction showed immense perfection and the materials used did absolute justice to the models. Anish Kapoor has used a variety of materials; wood and plastic was very frequent in his models. He has used different coloured plastic, which add colour to the model and make them quite pleasing to look at.

I never actually knew the difference between concept and sketch models, after visiting the exhibition; I realized how different they are to each other. Concept models are more detailed and sketch models do not focus on detail that much.

After analyzing Anish Kapoor’s models, I realized that art and architecture link together very well. I also realized that imagination; visualization and artistic thinking can produce exceedingly remarkable pieces of work. If you look at some of the models they aren’t exactly viable but make you curious. That’s the beauty of imagination, which helps you visualize things, which aren’t really possible. I personally think that all the models were amazing and all different from one another.

   On the whole I enjoyed the exhibition and would recommend it to students hoping to study architecture in the future. It’s quite beneficial because it shows you quality of models and the different ways in which they are constructed.

   After visiting the exhibition, it’s inspired me to make my model as perfectly as Anish Kapoor’s models (hopefully!). Also it got me interested in finding out more about Anish Kapoor and all the other projects he has been a part of. Overall it was great experience and would love to go in the future for more interesting exhibitions.

-Rating- * * * *

 

New London Architecture (NLA)…

Our second visit was to NLA, again it was my first time going there. I had heard about it in the past but never had a chance to go, so I was glad that I finally got a chance to go.

The NLA is a display centre and a centre for debate and for networking, it’s especially aimed at London visitors and school children that can come and learn about their environment. NLA has a permanent exhibition of a 1:1500 scale model of Central London, surrounded by a display showing a cross section of current building projects, is enhanced by a programme of temporary exhibitions addressing London issues.

I loved the model of the whole of London; it was quite interesting to see London on 1:1500 scales. As a group we were all spotting the iconic places in London on the model, it was fascinating to see their miniature version!

NLA also had digitally constructed photos of future buildings, which are going to be built in London. The building that caught my eye was the skyscraper that is going to be built in London and will be the tallest building in Europe. I can’t wait for it be built, I’m sure it will add to the list of iconic buildings in UK.

As I’m from Croydon, it was interesting to see the 1:1500 scale model of Croydon in 2020. I’m glad that the Croydon model is displayed at NLA because most of the people in our group have not visited Croydon so this way they got to see what Croydon looks like. I really enjoyed my time at NLA, I learnt about so many new projects and most importantly I was delighted to see what my hometown would look like in 2020.

I would recommend NLA to everyone; it would be ideal for people of all ages.

-Rating- * * * * *

By Maheen Chaudhry

 

aRCHITECTURE

Visiting architecture exhibitions was a fist for me and an essential experience if I wanted to get a taste of how the building of architectural models is used practically in the industry. We attended one exhibition at the RIBA (Royal institute of British architects) and another at NLA (New London Architects). The Anish Kapoor exhibition at RIBA was particularly interesting as I had briefly studied him as a sculptor in school before.

          Anish Kapoor (Born in India 1954) is a turner prize winning sculptor who moved to England in 1972. His art is inspired by both eastern and western cultures and he has slowly gained international recognition for his work. I noticed that a lot of his work was bright, reflective and curved and usually quite big, in terms of scale to humans. I also noticed that Kapoor used a variety of materials for his models ranging from plastic and foam to masking tape and even tights.  At the exhibition I took pictures and did a few quick sketches from some of the presentation models.

         At the NLA exhibition we encountered models which were more specific to areas within London. These varied from models representing the city as it is now and others which tried to show us the ever changing face of the architecture, environment and the skyline of London. The exhibition also had models showing us ideas for ‘green buildings’ with features that take environmental sustainability into account. I also had the opportunity to do some drawings and take photos here.

  Overall the trip was extremely inspirational, educative and informative and it would be worthwhile for anyone to check out any of these exhibitions irrelevant of their architectural knowledge.

Fahad Malik

sOUND & mUSIC

Trip Review

This was amazing because when I moved back my shadow became enormously big and when I moved forward my shadow became small. We also went to the British Library and saw old fashioned recorders and we had the chance to listen to some sound.  I also learnt about old recorders, very old songs and century speaking. We also went to the EC1 studio located at Old street and this was good and quite trendy to.

                                                    

I would definitely recommend the British and the Barbican Library because it is good and inspiring. The event inspired me because I’ve never been on a trip like this before; I’m gobsmacked about how my shadow in the curved room at the Barbican centre changes the radio station any time I moved.

 

Simon Wilson

 

Arts Award

We’ve made a new catergory called Arts Award. This page has some general information that will help you with your arts award portfolio for example; I have posted my details about my trip to the women’s Library. Guy’s please feel free and  encouraged to post your comments on the Blog about the Arts Award,  Holla @ u Guy’s L8er,

 See Ya

 Ndidi 

 

My day trip

Arts Award – My Trip

 

My day with the drama group at the Women’s Library was good, funky and inspirational.  My experience felt quite different because the library was so gorgeous that it looked more like a modern day arts museum. This trip was full of so much information and the Library was full of books, magazines, posters, flags, etc of well known women that made an impact during their generation. 

 

We researched about Mary Wollstonecraft she was born 1759 and was a popular feminist. She was extremely well known within the Newington green area especially for her book Vindication of the Rights of Women. We found out that she was married twice and had a daughter also called Mary Shelly who wrote the popular book, Frankenstein

 

We also looked at other saucy information i.e. her love letters, could you believe it that I actually saw her love letters but it didn’t sound so romantic because I found it quite hard to understand. Her letters were over 200 hundred years old( yes extremely delicate)  so we had to be very careful with the way we handled them, I actually felt like somebody doing a forensic test but without the gloves.

 

The trip was lively the Archivist was really good, with one of Mary’s letters, the capital S looked like a f  and the archivist explained that is was due to the typing style for that period. I had a good time in general and I would tell everybody to pop round the women’s Library to find interesting facts about powerful women, so girls give it up for girl power. 

 

Ndidi