OUGD402 - Studio Brief 1 - Trip to the Hepworth, White Cloth Gallery, Tetley, Henry Moore & Leeds Art Gallery

Today we went on a group trip to multiple galleries within and around Leeds. The first place we visited was the Hepworth in Wakefield.

I absolutely loved the architecture of the building - it's crisp lines in the skyline really stood out. 

When looking around inside the building I really liked the way the gallery sign posted things with just vinyl on the walls which was all consistent and really nicely typeset. 

Within the actual exhibition Lynda Benglis was exhibited and her abstract organic sculptures were very inspiring. They looked as if they had been done then and there in the exhibition space using hot bronze.

The way the exhibition was laid out was really nice as well - lots of empty space so you could really appreciate each piece of work. I wish that this would be possible within the space that we are exhibiting in but it is much smaller than this.

I also really liked this floor plan to show the information about each piece within the space. Maybe my group could create something similar.

I was very much inspired by the prints that were shown in the next part of the gallery. They combined lines filled with energy and movement with blocks of abstract colour to create a brilliant composition. I could stare at them for hours coming up with different interpretations to what they might mean.

I also loved the more geometric pieces like these which again could be interpreted in so many ways. I like the use of light and shade in particular to make something 2D look like it is popping out of the page.

I have always loved Barbara Hepworth's work so seeing some of her design processes and sculptures was very inspiring. In the past I visited her studio in St Ives where I some of her sculptures in her garden. It baffles me how she can make the surfaces so smooth and soft looking. 

I was especially inspired by this quote that was on the wall. You can tell that she was very confident about the way that she worked by this quote. It is definitely something that motivates me to succeed at what I do as I could sculpt a world with my design.

There was a room after this room where we weren't allowed to take any photographs due to the age of the pieces. There was a Jackson Pollock piece in there which left me in awe. I have never seen one of his works in person before and it was rather inspiring. It was a black and white piece, up close it looked like random splats and strokes of the brush. But when you stood back you could almost create a scene from the lines and splatters. I really liked this piece and I wish I had written down its name so I could look at it again.

Next we visited the White Cloth Gallery, which was quite a small gallery yet it held a lot of pieces. The exhibition was about urban exploration photography. The rooms were full of these eery photos where buildings had been abandoned and nature had simply taken over.

Then we visited the Tetley, which I already visited recently for the international book fair. However I noticed this sign outside the gallery pointing to dystopia and utopia and I thought it was rather clever. It makes you think where the arrows could be pointing whether it be in a general direction or somewhere in particular. Everyone would think something different.