Tag Archives: Charles Rennie Mackintosh

July 24, 2013 · 1:41 am

House for an Art Lover

30th May 2013

After you’ve done it once, the anxiety is less – that’s the way it’s supposed to work anyhow. I’ m not so sure about that, but I keep plugging away. To get the ‘The House for an Art Lover’ I could get the subway but then the walk had tons of turns, so I took numerous screen shots of the maps, hoped for the best and took off. You’d think after this long I wouldn’t think twice but my tummy still gets all tied in knots doing new things. I keep hoping one day I’ll all of a sudden realise it’s not happening anymore.

House for an Art Lover, Glasgow

Okay, enough of the deep and meaningful, I got there without any dramas – I usually do, so I don’t know what all the stress is for. The house is in Bellahouston Park, and was built from plans that Charles Rennie Mackintosh, with his wife, Margaret Mackintosh, drew up for a competition in 1901. His plan didn’t win the competition as some of his drawings were submitted after the closing date. Then the house was built by a charitable organization in the early 1990’s as an aid to stimulating interest in art and architecture.

Drawing for House for an Art Lover, Glasgow

It was great to see their designs up close, to be able to touch and sit on the furniture, take photos and just have time to take it all in. Everything has been made using as close to original methods and materials as possible and the gesso panels and wall hangings designed by Margaret really are quite special. I’m still amazed at how modern their work was for the times.

I met a couple of Scottish blokes while going through the house and we ended up sitting together for lunch as well. I thought one of them might have been a Victorian when I first saw him – socks and sandals, with jeans! But no, they were both pure-bred Scotsmen. Nice blokes and it’s always great to talk to locals,
I was sooooo tempted to buy something from the gift shop, but once again, I thought about how much easier it is the less stuff you have. That usually does the trick, or else I try and decide what I’m going to dump if I buy something new, that works too!

Interior at Glasgow City Chambers

After another wander through the house I made my way back to the city for a quick squiz inside the Glasgow City Chambers building. Then it was back to the comfort of my ‘hood and the library again, not terribly exciting but good for the soul to have some downtime.

Love this font at the House for an Art Lover, Glasgow

Glass paneling at House for an Art Lover, Glasgow

Dining room, House for an Art Lover, Glasgow

Margaret Mackintosh designs at House for an Art Lover

Fireplace in House for an Art Lover, Glasgow

Piano in House for an Art Lover, Glasgow

Even got talked into having my photo taken, that doesn’t happen often!

Panel in House for an Art Lover, Glasgow

Glasgow City Chambers

Glasgow City Chambers building

Building in Glasgow

Just some cool features in Glasgow

Dinner!!

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Filed under Mid-life travel, Scotland, Travel

Tagged as Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow City Chambers, House for an Art Lover

July 21, 2013 · 7:35 pm

But wait, there’s more – it’s Glasgow again!!

27th May 2013

On the tall ship at Glasgow Riverside Museum

Feeling very brave today, I tackled getting to the Riverside Museum via public transport. Glasgow has a little subway system consisting of just two circular lines, the inner and outer lines. I have been using this great system for the last few days but today I tried the buses out as well. My plans went slightly astray when one of the bus drivers told me the Riverside Museum bus I wanted to catch didn’t run anymore – I later found out it does still run, but anyway, it just meant I had a longer walk than I anticipated. The Riverside Museum is quite a way from anything else, sort of stuck in the middle of nowhere with not much around it. So, when I saw other people heading in my direction I kind of stalked them for a while, but also was following my map, just in case – and we all arrived in no time!

Glasgow would have to be one of the most budget friendly places for visiting museums, this one was free entry also – and absolutely full of families. The main museum is chock a block full of every conceivable means of transport, and a tall ship that was built in the Clyde, is permanently moored outside. The fact that you can climb all over a large number of the exhibits really makes it popular with the dads and kids, I saw lots of mums standing by looking just a tad bemused; and had a little chuckle to myself a few times, thinking, hehehe, I can leave any time I want!!

I found the bus stop and had a much quicker trip back to the city, thank goodness, because it had turned really cold and wet by the time I left. Glasgow rain is not at all like the rain I encountered in Ireland. You could walk around in the misty Irish rain for hours and hardly get wet, but this stuff was like ours a home – really heavy and wet you through.

CRM model at The Lighthouse, Glasgow

More Charles Rennie Mackintosh in the afternoon, this time at The Lighthouse Centre for Design and Architecture. Mackintosh originally designed the building for the Glasgow Herald Newspaper, so the architecture has his imprint all over and several floors inside are dedicated to his work.

More quiet time at the botanic gardens produced another sort of acceptable sketch later in the day. I even had a walk through the big round glasshouse instead of just looking at it from the outside – more “firsts” since I left home than you can poke a stick at!!

Glasgw subway

on the way to the Riverside Museum, Glasgow

Double decker tram, Riverside Museum, Glasgow

Really cute double decker tram, Riverside Museum, Glasgow

Real cars on the wall at Riverside Museum Glasgow

Part of a MASSIVE loco at Riverside Museum Glasgow

On the tall ship at Glasgow Riverside Museum

Strange signage on the car at the Riverside Museum Glasgow

Fascinating moving display of boat models, Riverside Museum, Glasgow

Staircase at The Lighthouse, Glasgow

Kibble Palace greenhouse at the Botanic Gardens Glasgow

Inside Kibble Palace at Botanic Gardens Glasgow

Cool infographics in the greenhouse at Botanic Gardens Glasgow

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Filed under Mid-life travel, Scotland, Travel

Tagged as Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow, Riverside Museum, The Lighthouse

July 16, 2013 · 5:44 am

Huge day around Glasgow

26th May 2013

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow

First port of call today was the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum – I walked there, only went a tiny bit out of my way and was still early, wonders will never cease!! Once again the building held more allure for me than anything else , until I went inside and found what a treasure trove they have. It is truly amazing, and, guess what? It’s free!! There’s a huge range of exhibits, a Spitfire hanging from the ceiling, a whale somewhere else and a massive amount of beautiful sculptures and art. I really had a wonderful time there and saw my first live Salvadore Dali, the painting ‘Christ of St John of the Cross’. It sort of feels a bit strange to mention that one – I’ve actually seen lots of ‘my first …….’ in galleries all over England since I got here, but this one made quite an impression, and I loved the preliminary sketch hanging in the same little space.

School of Arts, Glagow

I have a slight problem lately, I seem to have developed a very short attention span when visiting art galleries or museums. I used to joke about having a short attention span with my grandchildren, because I could hand them back, but now it’s for real. Seems like after a few hours my eyes glaze over and my brain just refuses to take in any more information – old age????

But, at Kelvingrove, I discovered Charles Rennie Mackintosh, a Glaswegian architect, interior designer from the late 18th early, 19th century, so I took myself off to the Glasgow School of Arts to find out more about him. As luck would have it, the inside of the School of Arts is shut for two weeks in preparation for their annual open house or something so I had to be content with a walking tour around the building with a short visit to their gallery of original Mackintosh pieces. He designed everything about the School of Arts building, furniture, clocks, name plates, he even developed his own font – and it’s very cool. Did I say I became slightly obsessed with all things Charles Rennie Mackintosh?

To continue my trail of discovery I went looking for the Willow Tea Rooms in the city, one of many tea rooms he designed for the owner Miss Catherine Cranston. An English woman got off the bus at the same stop, we happened to start talking and she was heading to the tea rooms for a look too, so we had afternoon tea together. It was funny, because we walked there together, sat together and then we both started to apologise and ask if the other minded, but of course I didn’t mind, it was like we’d known each other for years. She was in Glasgow with her grandson while he was a contestant on some game show, so while he was at the BBC all day she was out sight-seeing. We had a lovely time, I had a vanilla flavoured tea and a piece of sponge cake – but their sponge cake is not like ours, it’s much heavier, but still nice. It was good to have someone sneaking photos with me for a change, I’m often not sure if photos are allowed or not.

Duke of Wellington wearing his cone hat in Glasgow

After a little snoop in the other rooms we parted company and I ended up down in the shopping district listening to some wild looking Scottish band busking in the mall – and I must be going crazy, I bought one of their CD’s, still, it was a bit of light relief! The guy riding a horse and wearing an orange traffic cone was beckoning me, so the Gallery of Modern Art kept me off the streets next. I still don’t get some of the modern art installations but I can usually find things to appreciate in most of them these days – still with some shaking of the head and frowning, but, hey, I figure that’s an improvement.

I was absolutely had it by the time I left there so caught the hop on hop off bus back to my hotel. There weren’t many on the bus and a family had asked for the ghoulish commentary, very entertaining. It just amazes me how these guides keep talking and how they remember all the stories, I was fascinated but half an hour later can’t remember any of it, oh bugger, must be that old age thing again.