Three exhibitions and a birthday

Friday afternoon, we hied us over to Liverpool. We decided to be extravagant, and stay in an hotel actually on Albert Dock, so we could do exhibition number one and get a meal accompanied by a drink or three without having to use the car again. This plan worked a treat.

The first port of call was the Klimt exhibition at the Tate. We both of us loved it. There were some fabulous pieces of art there, but the whole thing was hugely enhanced by having the movement espoused by Klimt and a number of other associated artists, architects and so on set in context. So as much of the work related to homes and the people who commissioned/owned them, we were shown photographs, architectural models and drawings, furniture, artifacts including some truly fabulous silver "domestic" items, and one room set for each family. So you got this fascinating snapshot of lives and times, which made so much more sense of the whole thing. I've never seen an exhibition quite like it, and found it so enormously satisfying.

Although I remain completely overwhelmed by the fact that these people had the money and otherwise good fortune to be able to commission entire houses and almost lifestyles in that way. Except that they all had such good taste! I wonder if the Beckhams and Andres do as well, eh?

The hotel was definitely worth it, too, to be a bit more prosaic. Although, it too fed the aesthetic senses, being a conversion from the original warehouses on the dock and very sympathetically done.



I have never before felt inspired to photograph the ceiling of a hotel bedroom!



And the view from the bedroom window, to be totally cliched.

We went this weekend because it was the only one that the Association of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers National Exhibition was open, believe it or not. I had expected that it would have been absolutely heaving with visitors, but it wasn't. Maybe the truly atrocious weather had something to do with it.

I wouldn't say that the gallery was ideal for the purpose, but on the whole, everything was very nicely displayed. One or two exceptions, but that was probably inevitable. There was some super work, but I'm not going to include too many photos as I can't attribute properly. There was no catalogue as such, merely a list of the hanging numbers/makers names, and I really didn't feel like marking this up. There was a file with full details by the entrance, but it would have meant rushing back and forth to check every last thing, which simply did not feel like an option!

So, a flavour.



A detail of a rather nice woven wall hanging.



Another, irresistible, detail from an item that consisted of a gorgeous ship complete with cargo and crew, inspired by a poem. This should be Reepicheep, but wasn't........



A collaborative entry, by Craven Guild. Terrific. Completely puts the lie to the origin of the camel thing!

The third exhibition was next door, in a church. The main draw was some magnificent ecclesiastical vestments, but also that you could get tea and cake there, not possible at the Gallery, even though you could smell it somewhere!

However, the Held in Trust proved to be much more fascinating than just that. Not being a Catholic, I did find one or two of the exhibits unlikely, shall we say, not to mention some of them being positively ghoulish. But the historical artifacts were great, and the vestments indeed sumptuous and wonderful.

The cake was good, too.

The rain continued to fall. So I didn't go on the hunt for lambananas that I had intended. Just managed to grab photos of three of them on the way back to the car park, in a lull from the downpour.



I've seen pigs in Cincinnati, apples in New York, and now lambananas in Liverpool. Wow, I have lived.

And the birthday? Mine, of course. The plan is to do nothing I don't wish to do, and to feel no guilt. Oh, and to eat pizza for supper.

I think that is quite a plan.