November half term fun ♥ (a few weeks late!)

This past half term we went to Kent and stayed in a caravan for a few days. It was quite badly timed as all the south-east was expecting to be swept away by a hurricane. Luckily the caravan which belongs to Mike's sister, sat just outside her house, between cauliflowers fields and Maston airport. So, during the weather's worst moments, we were able to run indoors and camp on my sister-in-law's living room floor. Exciting times.

Apart from dodging hurricanes and eating loads, we managed to visit
Broadstairs, Sandwich and along some of the coast. We also went to Turner Contemporary in Margate. 

Turner Contempoary is a beautiful modern building overlooking the sea. Even when inside, you still get the feeling of being outside. The high ceilings, the big windows and the immense natural light are so cleverly combined. In such a cold and windy day it's comforting to just sit on one of the benches alongside the white walls and watch the sea rant and rage. 

Upstairs in the exhibition hall one can float around the best of british romantic painters but also admire contemporary pieces from the temporary exhibition which, in this case, showcases works by the Irish artist Dorothy Cross.

I knew Dorothy Cross from her previous works amongst which, her famous 'Virgin Shroud' installation. However, I am so pleased to have had "bumped" into one of her shows as I totally rediscovered her genius. Cross's exhibition at the Turner Contemporary somehow transcends the limits of being human - mixing the body and the environment every which way and creating connections between impossible items. I'm referring in particular to her 'Shark Heart Submarine' installation, where she took a real shark heart (found on Connemara beach and locked it inside a shiny silver submarine model). 

She says:

“I am very interested in what is repulsive and what is beautiful, because in our own bodies we are so confused about that, in terms of sexuality and our own mortality. The shark epitomises that, too, in terms of fear and desire and misunderstanding.”


Once back in London I took the kids down Hanover Square where artists Damien Hirst and Felix Gonzales-Torres are paired up for an exhibition called 'Candy'. 

Hirst's paintings were made as a direct response to an art critic who had discredited his previous Spot Paintings as 'just visual candy'. Painted in bright colours, at first these images don't fail to deliver happiness. However, it's a chemical happiness. Once you read the description you learn that these colourful spots actually resemble medicinal pills. Suddenly they start to assume a different look. The images become distorted, muddled and run through with tension. 

Feliz Gonzalez-Torres died in 1996 at 39 years old. He often produced installations where the viewer could take a piece of the work with them contributing to its disappearance. In this instance, diminishing the work by eating the sweets.

The kids were delighted when the janitor told them they could actually eat a few. What a strange concept 'edible art' must be for a child... Dixie had to make sure this was actually true by asking me a few more times if 'she could really pick and eat'. Maybe not for the same reasons, but I am also equally impressed with art that you can touch, eat, move... I guess it's because I see it like "if you eat art you're bound to become it". I'm intrigued by the shifting of the attention from something sitting still in a gallery that then moves, changes shape and form but in the end remains connected to its original purpose. 

During the weekend we wound down before going back to school. Dixie vanished upstairs and told me not to go in her room until I was called. A few minutes later an ululate came from her bedroom resembling my name. I went upstairs where I was presented with two quickly sketched chalk drawings and two handwritten reviews of Turner Contemporary and the Candy exhibition. What more could a mother ask for eh?? 

Here are the drawings:

"Candy" and "Landscape". These two drawings were inspired by Damien Hirst and J.M.W Turner.

And below you can see (but probably can't read) her review!

In the first review 'Candy', she wrote: "the artist that made the installation unfortunately died but left instructions to other people on how to make it again and again so that we are still able to go and enjoy his work".

In the Turner Contemporary review, she wrote: "painters at the time were travelling to Italy to learn how to paint landscapes. However, a big war in France meant they couldn't travel and so they had to learn by themselves!"

Got to love her ♥

Living in London- 'Saints Alive' exhibition, Dixie's review ♥

I never thought I was going to have three children (or even one for that matter!). Anyway, after Dixie I thought that was it. I put all my time and effort into her upbringing. From the age of six months I regularly took Dixie to the theatre, exhibitions, art galleries, museums and general happenings around London. That's it, this is the thing! London! 

I came from a really small town called San Remo. When I was a young girl my parents worked all the time, so nothing really happened until I was that little bit older and able to go places on my own. If I wanted to go to an exhibition, an art gallery or a concert I would have to travel to Milan, Turin or Genoa which are all a good 3 to 4 hours away by train. Nothing happened in my hometown. The popular "Festival di San Remo", a folk/singing festival, was the most interesting thing that happened and once a year me and my friends made sure we were in the thick of it for the whole week. That meant standing all day in front of the Ariston Theatre in the rain, waiting for singers and bands to come down the red carpet and to see them for half second - or hide behind bushes in front of hotels waiting to see a posh car with blacked out windows drive by. Madness! 

Living in London to me is incredible. I feel blessed every single day and I don't care when people complain about the weather, the traffic or the tourists, I still love it and wouldn't change it for anything in the world. People often ask me if I would ever go back to Italy. What for? I say. Why would I deprive my children of London? We have amazing parks, galleries, museums, multicultural neighbourhoods - everything you need to learn is on our doorstep. No, I have no desire to go back to Italy and with it go back in time. I am happy here and in the future, if they ever feel the need to move away, I will be supporting them every step of the way. But for now we stay put. 

Things have changed a lot since having 3 kids. I can't go exploring around as much and most days I stay local. However, I still like to take them around town to see the occasional show at the theatre or an exhibition etc. One of the last times I took Dixie out was a few weeks ago when we went to see "Saints Alive", the latest Michael Landy exhibition at the National Gallery. We read about it before going and there were lots of questions like "What are saints?" etc. etc. I must say that, apart from the loud noises, she really enjoyed looking at the "alive" sculptures and was very inquisitive about the whole body of work. In fact she was so immersed in the experience that she never once complained of being bored. So, below is the exhibition in her own words (with maybe a few prompts). From time to time I will post Dixie's reviews of events happening in town as I believe other children might feel stimulated by it and the grown ups motivated to go out and experience our beautiful city, London...

"Me and you went to London to see the Saints Alive exhibition. We were excited. We like art and the exhibition looked very interesting. We saw a lady trying to pull her teeth out. It was very noisy "bang, bang!", I was a bit scared because the noise was very loud.

Saint Apollonia, Michael Landy 2013

There was another man that when he did something bad, would bang a stone on his chest. He also was a saint. Saints help and they are very clever. They are special people that help people. There was another saint with a sword that chopped his head because he was mad at himself. But I don't know why. Then we saw the wheel. There was lots written on the wheel. We also watched a video of the artist who made these sculptures. He went around looking in the gallery before making his artwork... but why weren't we allowed to take photos?... Anyway, the sculpture I liked the most was the wheel because it could tell the future and the one I liked the least was the man chopping his head because I don't like people dying."

Dixie, 6 years old.

Mix Saints, Michael Landy 2013

You can see Michael Landy's 'Saints Alive' at the National Gallery - Trafalgar Square London WC2N 5DN, until November 24th. Admission Free.