Art Gallery for the Afternoon

I haven't been to the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield in probably over a decade, but I drive past it every week on my way to work and I saw a banner for an exhibition of works by Kim Lim absolutely months ago. I don't know when or how I first heard of her, but it turns out there was an exhibition of her works at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 1995. I grew up just near there and would have been eleven at that time, so I wonder if I saw her way back when on a school trip or something! I had been meaning to go to the exhibition but didn't get round to it, but I knew it finished on the 2nd of June so I asked my mum to go with me and we agreed on the 28th of May. As I work really close to there, my mum picked me up so that I could leave my car there, and we went round to the Hepworth. 

We got in - my mum got in for free as she's a Wakefield resident - and went upstairs. We started with the Kim Lim stuff. My friend Chloe had told me it was small and while it is, there was still enough to see. I liked learning more about her and her work. Some of her two dimensional work left me a bit cold, but I liked a lot of the sculptures. I also liked when we read the name of it and could see exactly why it was called that. I liked her stuff made of natural stone or marble or wood more than those made of aluminium or acrylic, but I did like seeing it all.

We then went through to the other galleries. Firstly there was an exhibition by Andrew Cranston and we liked a lot of his paintings, especially those painted on hardback books. Then there were some still lifes, which neither of us really liked. And then there is the Barbara Hepworth stuff. She was from Wakefield so my mum and I have grown up with her stuff, but it's always nice to see it. I particularly like the Winger Figure which is absolutely huge - the photo really does not do it justice. 

After we had looked at everything upstairs we headed downstairs to the cafe for a coffee each and a piece of cake. Then we looked at the gift shop and I did buy some postcards too! I'm so glad I made the effort to go and it was nice to see with my mum too. 

Oh you can't really see the writing too well, but it's about her life

This was one of her works made of natural stone

I liked these little forms which were prototypes of the bigger works

We both liked this wooden sculpture a lot

And these prints hanging from the ceiling

Love these free forms of waves and coastline, too

This piece, called Day, lives in the Hepworth's garden anyway, so it was nice to know its context

The hanging works from a different angle

My mum and I liked this one - made of brass - best

We went sure which way it was best from? 

I really liked this spiral piece

This was by Andrew Cranston and was made with bleach and dye on canvas

This piece supposedly has eleven cats in it!

I love old industrial buildings like the mill near the gallery

This is by Barbara Hepworth and I absolutely love it

These cacoa pods were really cool

Another Hepworth

Looking at the river near Chantry Bridge

Look at these geese and goslings!

I love this quote so much

And finally the winged piece, it is probably about twelve feet tall though!

Henry Moore Exhibition in Doncaster

At the end of July my mother and I went to Doncaster to see an exhibition of some of Henry Moore's work. Although he's known as a sculptor, he also did some work on miners during the war. He was from Castleford and he went down a pit there in 1942 and did some drawings of men working in the dark. Some of the art was on display in Doncaster and my mum asked me to go with her. We went at the end of July because Lee was in London for this thing that he likes, so I was free for the weekend.

My mum picked me up in her Mazda MX5 which my dad bought for her just before he died. I haven't been in it in forever but it is a nice ride. We went across to Doncaster and parked outside the restaurant I had earmarked. However, we then walked past somewhere called El Torero. I actually went on New Year's Eve in 2015, but it's changed a bit since then. They had a bunch of vegetarian options so we decided to go in there instead. 

We shared patatas aioli and garlic mushrooms, and I also went for jalapeno poppers and a salad. I also had a peach bellini which was yummy! The food was pretty good too. We then drove to the art gallery - which was a bit difficult because my satnav decided to completely give up on us and we had to go a long way round - but we got there eventually and parked. It's a new building that also houses a library and a train museum and has part of the frontage of the old Doncaster Girls High School. It was all pretty cool to see!

We went up to the exhibition. It was so interesting. One of Moore's sketchbooks has been taken apart so we could see all those pages up close. He used pencil and black crayon and a watercolour wash because, you know, pits are really dark. There were lots of preliminary pages and then some finished works. My mum and I had different favourites! It was really cool to see. There was one quite big sculpture by Moore there too. 

We walked round the rest of the gallery floor and looked at that stuff, then went downstairs to the cafe. The cafe has the original frontage for Doncaster Girls High School inside it; it's nice that they've kept this here on its original spot. I had a huge piece of chocolate fudge cake and my mum had some biscoff cheesecake, and we each had a cappucino. 

The sun had come out while we were inside so I asked my mum to put the roof down on her fancy car. It was nice to drive back to Barnsley with the wind in my hair! 

Peach bellini with my lunch. I didn't get any photos of my food!

Just inside the library

This is a photo of Henry Moore, right, when he was doing his studies down the pit

The front cover of one of the sketch books - it was really cool to see an artist's process through books like this

I will let all the above speak for themselves

My mum liked these studies of men's faces

Which became this finished work of four young men. As Moore went down the mine during World War II, many of the ordinary miners had signed up to fight, so the so called 'Bevin Boys' were working down the pits. Up close you could see how young these lads were

This was my favourite work in the whole exhibition. Up close you could even see the nails in the soles of his boots

And I also liked this ghostly figure emerging out of the darkness

This was the largest sculpture there and supposedly as it shows a man at work it did partly come from Moore's work in the mine

And the sculpture from the other side

Loved this quote!

It wasn't a huge exbihition but it was really good to see

I really liked this artwork in the main gallery

And these portraits

Cake! 

And my mum's cheesecake

And here we are in the car with the roof down on the way home!