![\"104\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/norwichhumanities\/files\/2009\/08\/104-225x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI love\u00a0museums. I like to put my ipod on and wander around alone, allowing myself to really get the full experience of the art. It feels like I’m connecting to not only the piece of art itself, but to the artist and his or her experiences and emotions.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Amy and I took the tube to Charing Cross to visit The National Gallery. There we proceeded to immediately get lost in the extensive building, but we weren’t complaining. We wandered through room after room that held amazing works by Rembrant, Van Gogh, Monet, Leonardo da Vinci, Cezanne, and Turner, just to name a few of my favorites. I compared this museum to the Met in NYC: both are enormous, well cared for, and very popular. However, I noticed a key difference. This difference\u00a0is simply that most museums here are free, with a just a suggested donation, unlike the Met which charges 10$ per visitor. I love that England honors the historical and cultural value of artwork by making it accessible to the general public. Not only could I observe famous works of art, but I could also examine the evolution of religious practices, social castes, daily life, and even fashion free of cost.<\/p>\n
This\u00a0is a pretty good segway into discussing the museum I visited today: the\u00a0Victoria and Albert Museum, commonly referred to as the V & A.\u00a0As a\u00a0small group, we left from Euston Station to take the central line directly to South Kensington where the tube conveniently led us straight into the museum.<\/p>\n
At first, I really didn’t know what to expect of this experience…I mean, I know very little about fashion and I simply wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to relate to the displays.<\/p>\n
Yet, as is often the case, I was pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n
I walked into a room filled with some of the most beautiful sculptures I have ever seen. Though I had never heard of most of the sculptors, I was able to get really close to each of the statues and really examine the detail and expression in each.<\/p>\n
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With my head phones\u00a0in and the world tuned out, I strolled around. There was a huge exhibit on the evolution of clothing, another on shoes & accessories, another on fashionable metal-ware (pots, religious idols, masks, etc).<\/p>\n
It was really cool to see\u00a0how our everyday lives have been affected by the trends\u00a0of the past. We often\u00a0hear that things are “out of style” or “not in fashion anymore” but have\u00a0we really stopped to contemplate what that means? Fashion\u00a0is constantly fluctuating and changing and all of us, (whether you consider yourself fashion forward or not), are players in this game. We ourselves are walking works of art, displaying the\u00a0genius of designers as they mold trend after trend, mixing past\u00a0and future to create\u00a0something entirely\u00a0new.\u00a0\u00a0And that, at least to me, is fascinating. The thought that I am connected to the past through the evolution of fashion really intrigues me and I would never even have noticed this unless I’d visited the V& A museum!<\/p>\n
Another exhibit that I thought was amazing, literally AMAZING, was located in the main lobby of the museum. It was called “Telling Tales; Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design” created by international designers Tord Boontje, Maarten Baas, Jurgen Bey and Studio Job who were all inspired by the classic fairy tales which they then translated into their construction offurniture.\u00a0I know it sounds almost comical (like really, how can furniture be at all interesting) but I’d never seen anything like it. I posted a\u00a0link a little further down that gives you a little tour.<\/p>\n
Also\u00a0in this exhibit was a frightening, but\u00a0brilliant, room that\u00a0entitled\u00a0“Heaven and Hell”.\u00a0I won’t give all of it away because I cannot adequately describe it, but the link below also can give you an idea of what to expect. However, I will say this, the lighting, color, back drops, music, and the positioning of the art are\u00a0all major contributors to the overall effect of the art and are carefully constructed by the artists\/museum staff. Basically, see it in person because you won’t regret it.<\/p>\n