City of London Epping Forest - The View

This morning after a leisurely breakfast with a friend we decided to visit The View Visitor Centre for Epping Forest located just beyond the mainline railway station in Chingford. I spent a great amount of time there a few months ago with an art and craft group that I used to run and what prompted me to write this post were two differing exhibitions that are on there at the moment.

In the upstairs exhibition space an art exhibition by artist and illustrator Simon Pemberton which was absolutely brilliant.  The friend I visited with is visually impaired and was blown away by this lovely exhibition.  A lot of the works are based around local Epping Forest landmarks as well as some using bike gears with woodland themes attached. My particular favourite was a work called Winter Snow which caught your eye as soon as you entered the room. I particularly like the silhouetted people in most of the works on display.

The exhibition continues until Sunday April 27th and is free to attend during the opening hours of the Visitor Centre 10.00am until 5.00pm daily.

In the outside space there are some new arrivals as well...deer! Or chain saw carved deer made from oak from Epping Forest.  These works by Denius Parsons were commissioned by The City of London and financed by The City Bridge Trust and make a visually stunning impact in their new habitat.

It really is only a 10 minute walk from the station and the rest of Epping Forest lies beyond....which is always well worth a visit.

The Wettest January?

Each January I realise that I still have quite a lot of holiday to take before the end of March..... Use it or lose it I think they say. This year is no exception and today and yesterday were the start of me 'using' these full days up.

The weather was not kind at all and although my BBC Weather app promised me rain after 4pm I'm sure it was with me on most of my 8.5 mile walk!

First stop after a walk from Liverpool Street Station was Fashion and Textile Museum, Bermondsey for the first day of their new exhibition Artist Textiles Picasso to Warhol. The wording on the exhibition leaflet states: 20th Century art in textiles and fashion from Cubism and Surrealism to Pop Art. This runs until 17th May 2014 and is another fabulous exhibition.  A change from the last few which have been mainly about frocks but here were some really good examples of textiles designed by extremely well known artists - Picasso and Warhol obviously but also Chagall, Dali, Henry Moore and Dufy...

The museum is not open on Sunday or Monday but opens the rest of the week 11am until 6pm.

Next stop was supposed to be The Crossbones Cemetery in Southwark but unfortunately Network Rail had other ideas and the road was shut (for a few days anyway) to all traffic. 

Further along Southwark Street and after lunch at the Menier Chocolate Factory I went in search of Hopton's Almshouses on Hopton Street. They were founded from a trust set up in 1752 and are on their original site.  They are amazing and you get a glimpse of them through the railings. I'm going to look out on Open Gardens weekend to see if this oasis in the city opens to the public.

 

 



By now the rain was really falling but I still managed a look at the Tate Modern Turbine Hall followed by a wander along the Thames and back over The Millennium Bridge...

Back on the North side of the Thames I made a very quick visit to see the new exhibition at the Guildhall Library by the Worshipful Company of Needlemakers, a return visit is a must!  Across the courtyard I went to see the new display downstairs at The Guildhall Art Gallery...some lovely work on display old and not so old which work very well together..

 

 

 

That leaves only another ten days to take and hopefully they will be sunny!

Christmas Pop Up Guildhall Library

This is where I'll be with Made at Home on Thursday 6th December.  Looking forward to being in the City of London for the Christmas shopping event lasting from 11am until 8pm.