The past few weeks have been incredibly busy. At work, I've been preparing for the gallery that took place on July 1st, and another art show that will be in late July. I'm thoroughly enjoying class. I love our professors lectures. He manages to exhibit the material in an interesting and entertaining way, and Im finding myself learning a lot. I've made some very good friends at work, ones I hope to have for a long time. I'm loving the city in general. The people, the sights, the shopping. I've met so many amazing people already, and I feel like I have so much to do in the small rest of the time I'll be here. I would love to live in London- the big city mentality is right in line with mine, and yet the people are so much nicer than typical big city people. London itself is fascinating. There are so many areas saturated in history and yet its hard to imagine a grungy medieval city when surronded by towering structures of concrete and glass, but small aspects of the city give tip offs to the way things used to be. Tiny alleyways of shadow and cobbled streets, teired shop fronts overlooking walkways of stained stone, old architecture peeking out from years and years of grime and the elements, all wedged between Starbucks and Sainsbury's. Some areas of London seem to be begrudgingly plodding its way into the twenty first century, whereas other areas are exceedingly modern, mixing new and old architecture and mentality to create a singular, original identity that is uniquely London
Over the weekend, I went to the Victoria and Albert museum and my favorite area is the plaster cast room. Walking in to the gallery to all the gigantic peices absolutely took my breath away. I was incredibly delighted, as an artist, to be able to see the casts of Michealangelo's sculptures- especially "the dying slave". The area was a treasure trove, and practically a timeline of evolving art over the years. Absolutely amazing.
My birthday was Wednesday the 30th. I'm not a huge birthday person, but apparently my flatmates are. They were incredibly nice, and we went out to have dinner at a resturant called "Strada" on the Thames with a wonderful view of the Tower Bridge. Dinner was amazing, and when we got back to the flat they surprised me with a cake. I completely didn't expect it, and it was incredibly sweet of them. On the other hand, my birthday was really tough- I miss my family terribly all the time, but not as bad as I did that day. I recieved several phone calls from family, singing me happy birthday, and good wishes, and it ended up being incredibly hard without them around. Besides that, my day was marvelous.
The gallery opening on Thursday was incredibly hectic, but a lot of fun. The preperation the day of was extensive, and made even worse by my boss' default state of disorganization. Prior to the party, I was doing a lot of last minute running around. I had plenty of little tasks to attend to, and pulled it to the wire to get everything done. While looking great in my new dress and shoes, I met lots of people in the art and business world. I made a lot of new friends, and made future plans with several people, including an amazing woman who works at Sotheby's and could perhaps get me a job at the location in New York City. Besides the business aspect, the party itself was very glamourous and glitzy, with bubbly flowing, photographers, and amazing looking people. We sold a lot of art and managed to rope in some great publicity in the process.
On the fourth of July, I went to an expatriate bbq in Notting Hill. Truly, there was only about 6 Americans in attendance, but we all had a ball. There were burgers and hot dogs about, cherry pie, and American flag cupcakes, Of course, the beer and wine was flowing generously, as well as mint juleps, strangely. I made friends with most of the group there whose nationalities ranged from English and Irish, to Swedish, Australian, and German. Everyone got along famously and soaked in the atmosphere, and I had a few conversations about different mentalities towards Americans from different people. I keep discovering that Americans, while in America, have a vision that the world hates them, and carry that with them when they travel. Everyone I have met since the beginning of my stay here has been very kind and has not said anything about Americans in a poor light. I think for the rest of my stay here, I'll just continue to promote international friendship. Its the least I can do!
Great post! Fun to read. I'm so glad you're enjoying your work and making good contacts. I had an intern last year who worked in a gallery and ended up working for her in Paris and in the States later! I don't know what became of all the good contacts, but the art world is a small place, and you've made some important inroads! I'll be eager to hear what happens next!
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