East End Gallery HUnt, High Tea

The East End Gallery Hunt was a tiring experience. For some reason i expected the galleries to be almost next door to each other, lining the streets. Yet that was not the case and sadly a lot of the galleries were closed. But Mary, Lee, Emily, and myself trucked on and went into any random gallery we walked past. I found it interesting how some of the galleries blended in, you would not even know that art was on the inside of an industrial looking building or a building that looked like a simple apartment. Viewing these spaces reminded me of how difficult it is as a new artists trying to get your work shown and even just appreciated by the public. I was observant of the 'workers' in each location, how they mindlessly sat behind a computer, seemingly unaware of my presence. At this point my body and mind was tired and i needed a visual rest.

Before heading to high tea, a few of us stopped at a street market just to wonder and shop. I was overwhelmed with the size. I easily could compare this location to a cleaner, busier Canal Street. In other words, i loved it and could spend forever and then some there.

High tea was bitter sweet. It was a fun experience but a sad ending to the trip. I thought it would be cute to have the tea in a small cafe or something like that but due to our group size i do not think that would have been possible. Although i love tea, i would have preferred flake bars to the finger sandwiches, but thats just my tastebuds :)

Royal Observatory, Anish Kapoor, National Portrait Gallery

It's been a while since i updated my blog, primarily because i have been in mourning ever since the flight landed. But anyway, we took a sight-seeing boat tour to the Royal Observatory where the Prime Meridian is. The boat ride was somewhat of a disappointment. We did get to see some interesting locations but we had already visited almost all of them. I believe that I would have enjoyed the ride more and it would have benefited my experience more if we would have done it earlier in the program. Although it was a rainy day, it was interesting to stand on the actual Prime Meridian, and I feel as if everyone who travels to London needs to visit this location. I wish I could have visited at night and seen the light beam but there was just too much rain to stay there all day.

Before heading over to the National Portrait Gallery, a few of us went back to Kensington Gardens to see Anish Kapoor's sculptures. Although they were interesting to view in good weather, i was disappointed in how small the scale was. Each of the pieces look almost twice as large in images as opposed to in person. However, they were all uniquely beautiful and well worth the long walk.

Next to the Tate Modern, the National Portrait Gallery was my second favorite museum. The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize exhibit made me want to explore photography since i never really worked in that medium. Some of the works did not meet my expectations yet others were beyond impressive. I love how a description of the person photographed was next to the photo. However, I believe that the more successful photos did not need the additional information. From this entire trip i realized that i am far more interested in current art rather than historical pieces. It was interesting finding myself in London.