The sizable St. Ives Museum displays lots and lots items having to do with mining, ship building, ship traveling, agriculture, and other daily life sorts of things plus some clothing from the Victorian era and fabrics. The clothing was what captured my attention. All of it was exquisitely made, and some was very delicate. The baby clothes....all I could wonder was, "Did the babies, even the most special babies on the most special occasions of that era, not spit up or poop out of their diapers that they could be dressed is such elegance?" Alas, photo taking was not allowed, so you can't see any of the marvelous creations.
There is a lot of art in St. Ives and a lot of non-art that calls itself art. I got to see both kinds.
This guy, yeah, the one whose lower half is in the photo, builds these little cairn-like towers out of the rocks on the beach. The most "spectacular" one—because you see, they have to balance—was four rocks high. He has an ingenious little chute (not shown) rigged up for photographers, comme moi, down which one is to throw some coinage:
The highlight of St. Ives is the Barbara Hepworth Museum (there is a branch of the Tate Modern here, but it is under renovation until some time in 1917) whose sculptures bear some similarities to those of Moore. Aside from indoor displays, a wonderful sculpture garden exhibits pieces beautifully placed within the foliage, like this tall piece backgrounded by a stand of bamboo:
The schpiel that tells you about her work describes it as having "pagan beauty." Perhaps someone would like to explain what the heck PAGAN beauty is as opposed to, say, some other kind of beauty.
Here is another work remarkable in its delicateness compared to most other pieces:
Here is one not in the garden, but showing the Moore connection:
Then I happened upon a super gallery that had paintings, jewelry and ceramics. These miniatures, done by a Japanese artist were exquisite. Each one, no matter how tiny, is shaped, glazed and finished to perfection, and the date each was made is carved in the bottom:
I wonder whether, among Japanese, there is a special affection for the miniature.....they being masters of the netsuke and all.
Still life with cat (from a different gallery) for the cat lovers. You know who you are!
Shoes made out of chocolate! It reads: What every woman wants, chocolate choos:
The arts experience did not cease with the visual. There was also the theatrical! A live performance of Richard III, featuring such heavies as Ralph Fiennes and Vanessa Redgrave, televised from London, was being shown in St.Ives. ¡Qué suerte! I was feeling guilty, though, that I would probably leave during intermission because the running time, 210 minutes, does not jive with the schedule of a walker. It turned out, however, that the disappointing production made exiting easy! First, everything was very black...the staging, the clothing, black. There was a gold crown floating above the stage, but the camera did not capture it that often. Fiennes merely played at playing Richard. Once in a while he gave a snort or smirked, but that was not enough, Mr. Fiennes! In fact it seemed that each actor was in his/her own orbit shrieking their lines with no cadence or nuance. Sort of like, "It's my turn now! My turn." Then there was the modernization aspect, employed with unclear purpose. Cell phones were cleverly used a couple of times—someone asks, "What news, Cousin?" And Cousin whips out his iPhone 6—and the clothing was, I don't know, maybe contemporary, but it was all so black, who could tell, really? Glad I went! Glad I left!
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Location:St Ives
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