Route Master

West Wind, St James's Park

It may be drizzling today but the next time the weather holds fine and fair again Mr. Deedham (the J and the D in JD Collections) recommends this short 3 sculpture excerpt from our Moore Outside project.

Begin in the regal elegance of St James’s Park, where you can observe the considerably less elegant (but strangely beautiful) sight of the Pelican Feeding Frenzy, every day between 2:30 and 3:00pm. Be sure to bring your camera – and your children – they’ll get a whole new understanding of Roald Dahl’s classic The Giraffe The Pelly and Me. Find Henry Moore’s West Wind here. Click for the mp3 audio guide.

West Wind, St. James’s Park

Knife Edge Two Piece, Westminster

Eastward from the Park and your Public Art and London sightseeing tour continues to Knife Edge Two Piece. Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament are all secondary players to this spectacularly dramatic piece. A worthy stage for one of Britain’s True Greats. Click for the mp3 audio guide.

Knife Edge, Westminster

Locking Piece, Millbank

Now south along the rippling London artery. The laconic flowing beast. The Thames. Pass Tate Britain (though you may well return) and head towards Vauxhall Bridge. Locking Piece is made of two enormous interlocking brass halves that can only be separated if lifted and twisted at the same time. If you’re feeling particularly strong you could have a go yourself but expect it to be a task of Arthurian magnitude! Instead you could content yourself with the mp3 guide below.

Locking Piece, Millbank

At the end of each sculpture’s mp3 there is a mission that you can complete to gain discounted entry into the Henry Moore exhibition at Tate Britain. Alternatively you could blog or email your creative responses to me to be in with a chance to attend a celebration of the great Henry Moore at his former studio in Hertfordshire. Either way I’d love to hear from you and hope you enjoy your trip.

Best, P.x

Moore at The BBC

Two stalwarts of Great British Greatness – Henry Moore and the British Broadcasting Company. The two worked together a surprising number of times and thanks to the Henry Moore exhibition at Tate Britain, This rich content (including what many regard as the first every Artist Documentary) has been digitised and brought into our lives again. You can view it all in Tate Britain right now and the footage is set to proliferate across many more UK galleries in the coming years. Click the BBC Blog for full details of what has been a tough project to pull off but one that should be saluted. Our country’s really quite good when you think about it!

Best, P.x

Ideas From Old Bones

Henry Moore by Allan Warren

Calling all Sculptors.

We’re looking for talent and we’ve got a sneaking suspicion you’ve got some. Whether you’re a Brancusi or a Beginner we want you to get involved in our celebration of sculpture.

Henry Moore drew great inspiration from the world around him. Not from the monumental but from the often over-looked – broken pieces of bone, driftwood, fragments of rocks and pebbles worn smooth – things borne of The Earth and modeled by her ineffable force. Moore found great beauty and significance in these natural forms. He would carry them with him in the pockets of his jacket. Touching and holding them, understanding their shape and scale. Grasping their concealed meaning. Many of his most iconic pieces owe their form to this natural detritus that The Earth had worn smooth. Locking Piece, just east of Vauxhall Bridge on Millbank (a stone’s throw from Tate Britain) and further North along The Thames,  Knife Edge Two Piece (which sits proudly in the suitably grand surrounds of Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament) both took their form from objects Moore had found.

If, however, you are feeling creative and looking at spectacular modernist sculptures just isn’t enough for you JD Collections wants to see what you can make. We’re looking for the best Sculptors in London to submit their Moore inspired entries to our Competition. These can be made from objects you’ve found or they can be pieces you’ve made in their entirety. All we would ask is that they are small enough to be easily held and that you would be happy to exhibit them. Our favourite entries will be proudly displayed at a special event. If you enter you will also be eligible to attend a once in a lifetime event at Henry Moore’s Perry Green studio in Hertfordshire.

To enter, simply send us a picture of your sculpture. You can either:

• Post a photograph in a comment on this post
• Post a link to your Flickr/Website
• Or  Email poppy@jdcollections.co.uk

Best, P.x

Moore Outside

Henry Moore by Lothar Wolleh

Sorry for the lack of posts! We’ve been really busy getting our  Moore Outside walking tour up and running. It’s a project JD Collections is running with Tate Britain to coincide with their illuminating exhibition on the great Mr. Moore himself. The Tate show really gives you an insight into the mind of the man who made stone sensuous and the chisel cutting edge. In addition to the splendid retrospective, there are also many Henry Moore sculptures on display publicly in London, for which Mr. Deedham has written some beautiful audio tours you can download and listen to on your mp3 player! Click the link to be taken to the Tate website where all 8 mp3s are availabe along with hand drawn maps.