Sunday 9 October 2011

The Hepworth Wakefield

We had been waiting for a rainy day to visit the new Hepworth Gallery in nearby Wakefield, and Saturday was a perfect day for the visit. The greyness of the sky matched the colour of the building and both matched the colour of hubby's mood after he had gotten up early and made breakfast in bed for everyone, before settling down to watch the rugby with the young man. I had to shout out several times from the comfort of my boudoir, to tell him to mind his language, and I assessed correctly that the French might have put him in a grumpy mood for a while!

Love it or loathe it, I'm glad that they chose to build this new gallery here in the north. I was looking for colour all day and the barriers on the river Calder provided a good splash.
I think the building is stunning.
It is part of the regeneration of the riverside - I love projects like these.
The buildings here are full of character and history and deserve to be brought back to life and used again.
The boats were colourful too.

The gallery is in stark contrast to the Hepworth Gallery in St Ives that we visited in June.

but is the perfect space to display these masterpieces so that you can inspect them close up.


I thought the pink coat added a colour splash to this shot.
The gallery is fairly child friendly and was full of kids drawing the exhibits. They also had a free workshop running for making a sketch book which looked really popular. It also had an enormous play area outside for less wet days!
As well as Barbara Hepworth exhibits, they also had some other St Ives artists work. One of my favourite is Alfred Wallis and I was delighted to find one of his paintings on display.
I love his naive style, and also the way he captured the exact colour of the sand on Porthmeor beach.
The biggest disappointment of the visit was the Gallery Cafe. It looked fabulous and the food looked and smelled amazing, but it was chocca block full, so a revisit - just for food - is planned.
The gallery is free to visit, so if you are near, make sure you visit.

12 comments:

Janet said...

I agree it`s wonderful to see old buildings brought back to life-looks like a very interesting place to go -another item to put on my "to do " list x

Magia da Inês said...

♥ •˚。
°°Olá, amiga! 。♥。
● ♥• Passei para uma visitinha!!!
A arquitetura dos prédios é muito bonita... gostei do seu blog.
˚。˚ Boa semana!
♥ •˚。Beijinhos.
•˚。Brasil
..(░)(░)
(░)(♥)(░)
..(░)(░)

BadPenny said...

Thank you for showing us this amazin place !

Lyn said...

Its on our list of places to visit, thanks for the tour. I too love Alfred Wallis, way before his time.
xxx

Rosie said...

Another wonderful place you've introduced us to! It's now on my 'must visit' list:)

Twiggy said...

We took Twiget in the Summer hols and agree it's fab isn't it! I like the building too, the Wakefield Express newspaper have been running so many, angry of Wakefield letters moaning on about the building - philistines. I think it's great and a welcome boost for Wakefield's economy. We loved how child friendy it all was.
twiggy x

Carol said...

Couldn't agree more, it s wonderful to see these old buildings saved and put to good use. Great photos.
We had the same grumpy problem in our house on Saturday morning and comments of the "need to put as much effort in playing on the field as they do off" variety.
Carol xx

Lisa said...

What a wonderful place to visit for free!
Shame about the rubgy, hope it didn't spoil G's day too much!
Lisa x

Young at Heart said...

how utterly brilliant........what a day out I do envy you I do want to get out and about in Blighty and make some trips.......a boyfriend with a car would definately come in handy!!

Cathy at PotterJotter said...

This is a definite must-visit for me. Glad you whetted my appetite. Great pictures, as ever!

Rowan said...

It's good to see so many of these regeneration projects in our cities - in places like Manchester and Salford they have made a huge difference making ugly places beautiful and saving historic buildings at the same time. Regrettably I can't get interested in either sculpture or modern art but I did love the photo of the narrow boats:)

John Going Gently said...

never heard of this one diane....
anoher place to visit when I am back "home2 in Yorkshire
x