On Friday, March 15th we went to the British Museum and saw a postcard show called, “The World Exists to Be Put on a Postcard” and there was postcards from 1960 to Now. They were all very interesting and I like how they were set up in different sections. My favorite section was the one titled ‘Graphic Postcards’ because it had simple designs on the postcards, and many of them included type in there designs. My favorite one was titled, ‘Italian Lesson’ and it was by Erica Van Horn the postcard just says ‘In Italy One is Only Allowed Eleven Words Per Post Card’ in a green sans serif. I really liked this postcard because it used type in a clean way but it also use the amount of words and the context of the words in a really cool way. The postcards in Italy are only allowed 11 words and her postcard only uses 11 words while explaining that rule too. The show overall was really interesting because I collect postcard wherever I go so seeing all these artists use postcards a quick and easy medium was really cool and inspiring to see.

While we visited the British Museum, we were given a task to find and pick out our favorite post card series that was on display. There were so many different types of post cards like political, vacation, feminism, etc. They were all interesting to look at but I think that I had a favorite from the start. There was a section of post cards called the “Altered Post Cards.” Maybe the visuals were not as fascinating as the rest, but I enjoyed the premise behind these. They were tweaked in some way to create visual interest. Whether it be photoshop, hole-punching, or even burning, these post cards were all different. It took a casual post card and altered it in some way. For example, there was a Statue of Liberty post card that was photoshopped so it would have a life jacket on. Small yet funny stuff like that made me pick this series over the rest.

For day five, the group went to the Tate Modern museum and the National Galleries which included the National Portrait Gallery. At the Tate Modern, my favorite museum on this trip, there was a lot of things to see. I think this museum had stuff for everyone. There were paintings, artifacts, photo, design, sculpture, interactive pieces, etc. The building itself reminded of a place that housed and built, or fixed up ships. I think this museum had a lot of different things which kept making me excited to see what was next. After that, we made our way to the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. The National Gallery was great, and yet it was a little surreal. I was seeing paintings that I had learned about for years in my history classes but I have only seen them on screen. Here, I was seeing them up close and personal. I got to see some Van Gogh’s, Da Vinci’s, Manet’s, etc.

Day 7 the last day started off with a big breakfast, bacon, 3 scrambled eggs, sausage, and ham. Our first stop of the day was the TATE Briton, unfortunately, we were only there for an hour and nothing really caught my eye there. The next stop was the British Museum which was huge I could have spent a whole day there and not seen everything. One exhibit we had to see was the postcard exhibit, it was about postcard old and new that was really interesting.  There were 3 cards that caught my interest, The first a card with a businessman taken a selfie smiling with a huge fire or explosion in the background, the card was made by kennardphillipps called Photo Op from 2005. The second card that I was interested in was a yellow card that had the same word (wordswords) repeated 5 times in the middle in red. The card was just very clean, and I know that I stop and looked at it because of it’s in your face yellow and red colors. The card was by Stuart Mills and was called a homage to Wyndham Lewis created in 1969. The third card that I looked at was a dark green card with big bold white text in the middle saying “I will paint your floor green”. I think I liked it because it was funny but also because the text was a sans serif in all caps. The card was by Ruth Ewan called I will paint your floor green created in 2008.

Day 6 was our free day so I slept in till 10 and got breakfast late. There was a group going to abbey road so I deiced to go with them and see the historical crosswalk. I had no idea that the studio where they recorded was right next to the rode. Also on the wall surrounding the studio, there was a lot of graffiti of people signing their name and writing beetles lyrics, I always carry a sharpie and I put my name on the wall. After that we went into the gift shop that was next to the studio, there were a bunch of infographics about what music was recorded there and the famous people who had visited to record. Jay-Z, Kanye Westnd Pink Floyd where some big names that stood out to me, also the soundtrack for the James Bond movies had been recorded there too. After that, we went to see platform 9 and three quarters from the harry potter movies. We ended the day at Buckingham Palace with our leg/feet hurting.

The British Museum is a fabulous place to explore– and it’s free! It’s home to things like the Easter Island Statue, the Rosetta Stone, and quite a few famous mummies. But the postcard exhibit was interesting as well. They had all different categories (altered, political, present day, etc.). My favorite happened to be the altered postcards. I tend to find collages very eye appealing because it plays tricks on your brain and allows for you to see an object in a different light. The way the artists play with scale and humor is just great. They were free to do as many experimentations due to the inexpensive way of producing them. This allows for all sorts of new ideas and interesting conversation starters.

Day 3 began on sort of a rough note. I accidentally set my alarm for 6:30 PM rather than AM. Cam and I somehow woke up at 9:00 however, the group had already left for Kew Gardens. We immediately hopped on the tube and headed for Kew Gardens to meet the group there. This was my first time on the tube and I found it very easy to navigate. The map is very clear, and we had no trouble making it to the gardens. My favorite part of the day was visiting the temperate house which is pictured below. The temperate house was really cool because it housed plants and trees from temperate regions all around the world. After the gardens, the group got lunch at pizza express, which i thought was amazing. We even got to cut our own pizza.

Day 5 started at 9:00 with our group catching a train to TATE modern museum. The TATE building was the first thing that caught my eye with us walking inside was basically was a man-made crevasse. With 10 stories, 6 on the right 10 on the left, it looked like the building had been used to make boats before being converted into a museum. There where a bunch of cool peace being displaced like Pablo Picasso’s weeping woman, Andy Warhol’s self-portrait and Haegue Yang’s blind installation. That same day we went to the national galleries where I saw some more history art piece. The first peace that I went to see was Jan Van Eyck’s portrait of Arnolfini and the man in the red turban. Both peace where painted in the Flemish style in oil paint and are also surrounded in mystery. After spending too much time staring at those paintings I made my way to the DaVinci and Vincent van Gogh piece. I took photos of all the peace that I studied for art history and sent them to my classmates to get a reaction. Seeing the actual paintings in person adds a whole new perspective to the art.

For day four, we visited some museums. The first museum of the day was the Design Museum which housed some amazing objects and design pieces. Right as you walk in, your eye is attracted to this sign that changes between three words: Designer, Maker, and User. Walking around the museum was intriguing because there was a lot of things to look at. Eventually, we got to hear a worker tell us how it is working in a design agency. She was at a major design agency and she stressed how important it is for a designer to work hard with his/her writer. Design is important but designers need to allow the copy to be heard and read. After the Design Museum, we made our way to the Victoria and Albert. This was a really big museum that reminded me a lot of the MFA in Boston. It housed many different genres including fashion, video games, sculpture, photo, artifacts, paintings, etc. Going around was amazing because of all the different exhibits, but one area stood out more than any other. There was a room that housed plaster remakes of famous sculptures. The one that caught my eye was Leonardo’s David. It was a remake, but looked completely real. I also never realized how big the sculpture was until I got to see a remake. I got some great photos of different artifacts and sculptures

Day 4 was the first day I finally got into the right sleeping pattern and woke up for the day rested and ready to go. unfortunately, it was raining out and I hadn’t brought my raincoat or umbrella so hoped from awning to underpass until getting to the Design Museum. The museum had opened up in 2002 and was very up to date with their collection of computers and other electronics on the latest models. There were a lot of cool installations there inducing one called making memoirs which was about building being and already built that have to do with something in history. Thwholele exhibit went into details about what the building was representing and how certain part of the building where directly attached to parts of history or the culture they were made for. After we all made our way to the Victoria and Albert Museum. There where 2 exhibitions advertised there, the Dior exhibition which was sold out and the video game exhibition which was closed. The most interesting room in the museum was the plaster room of famous statures like a Lifesize cast of Michelangelo’s David and the column of Trajan. There where other casts but those are the two that stood out.