Just back from a delightful journey full of relaxation and inspiration. After four days in London we were off via the Chunnel to Brussels. Thanks to the sage advice of Linda Colsh, we based there for four days. Above is from the day we spent in Brugge, a very, very beautiful 11th-century town that was splendid along its canals decked out in Fall colors.
We hit all the Belgian foodie highlights in Brugge – a brewery tour, traditional food,
and a stop at Mary’s chocolates:
The main reason for our Brussel’s detour was to visit the Open European Quilt Championships in Maastricht, Netherlands.
My artworks, Shagbark 3 and 4, were being shown there as part of the Studio Art Quilt Associates’ juried exhibit, Two by Twenty. (GREAT to see the exhibit in person, but if you can’t do that I would urge you to purchase the catalog – its detail photos are superb.)
I made a special effort to make it to this more traditional quilt show because of an exhibit, Eye-Talk by Jette Clove (Belgium) and Katriina Flensburg (Sweden). I “met” Jette through Fiberart for a Cause and have have long admired her graphic and typographic artwork.
It was a thrill to meet Jette and see so many of her artworks in person. There was also an exhibit of artwork on the theme of windows from a Masterclass taught by Jette. I found this the most innovative exhibit at the show with 3-D artworks, artworks using transparency and translucency in new ways, and all the artworks showing great thought.
When we returned to London, the weather has turned to what Joe called the “London-iest” – foggy, a little cold, and rainy. We used our remaining four days to tube here and there and look at exhibits ranging from cosmonauts to bark cloth . . .
to astronomy photos of the year to an unfinished Mark Rothko. In the end, we managed to visit Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Southbank Gallery, Serpentine Gallery (see more on the Jimmie Durham: Various Items and Complaints here. I veered from liking this exhibit the best to just finding it all too obvious.), Sackler Gallery, the V&A, the British Museum, the Museum of Science, and the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
With, of course, our mandatory tea breaks.
I’m always glad to be home, but also feel as if I’m the luckiest person in the world when I can travel to see and experience new things.
