A damp, grey English day sounds just perfect for a visit to a 500 acre country park, don’t you think? At least I didn’t need to fight off the crowds at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. And the sheep seemed perfectly content. What’s a little rain between friends?
It’s a place I’d wanted to visit for many a year, so I wasn’t going to be easily deterred. I’d even taken note of the website, which suggested that sturdy shoes might be helpful. The fact that I then left them in the boot of the car… well, some people never learn.
So, we’ve met the sheep. If you pick up a map at the YSP Centre, you can then work your way around the sculptures. A small ornamental garden sits below the main building and then the ground rolls away down to the lake. The wisteria was just coming into bloom.
The shapes are interesting, though not necessarily to everyone’s taste. Sticking to any kind of order was beyond me. A glimpse of something through the veil of trees and I’d be off at a tangent. There are marked paths, however, so you don’t need to stray, unless you want to. The mossy pond gave me my first vision of rhododendron loveliness.
The first renowned piece of work was Molecule Man 1+1+1, by Jonathan Borofski. Impressed, I examined it from many angles.
I don’t pretend to understand, but some things just draw the eye. Barbara Hepworth’s Family of Man I found less appealing but, huddled there beneath the trees, I felt a certain sympathy. The textures were beautiful.
Next in line (groan!) Magdalena Abakanowicz’s Seated Figures, but I didn’t get the photos to do them justice. My eye was wandering off to a small stone and glass structure, sunk in gloom upon the lawn. The door, temptingly ajar.
The Camelia House, and its bedraggled beauties. White Rabbit or Mad March Hare? I wasn’t sure, but I kept a wary eye on him. And the horse!
And then there are the KAWS. I don’t know that I entirely ‘get it’, but they are the reason for my presence in the park today. An exhibition dedicated to them is set to end on 12th June, and my son is a fan. Reading about them it seems that Brian Donnelly, a Brooklyn-based artist known as KAWS, focuses on ‘nostalgic characters in the process of growing up’. There’s certainly pathos in his Disneyesque creations.
At this point the mizzle was getting a little heavier and there was a fair chance of getting seriously wet. While the others made for one of the exhibition spaces, I couldn’t abandon my pursuit of nature so easily. I was determined to reach the lake.
At Cascade Bridge I had choices to make. The trail around Upper Lake appeared to offer more shelter from the weather, leading down into the woods. Persistence found its reward when, deep in the woods, I came upon this dazzling display.
Aren’t they beautiful? Despite the weather, or maybe because of it, I delighted in their radiance. It was starting to get a little slippery underfoot and it was time to retrace my steps. I had already decided that I would be back, to witness the park in all it’s Autumn finery.
We never did get to see the KAWS exhibition, much to my son’s disgust. The Longside Gallery, where it was held, was on the far side of the park. Had I paid closer attention I would have observed the small pink shuttle bus making it’s round trip to the gallery, every 30 minutes. Instead we contented ourselves with a quick look at the work of graphic artist Eduardo Paolozzi, and a cappuchino in the restaurant. The deck beautifully overlooks the surrounding countryside.
Living in Leeds, our son is much closer to YSP than we are, and he intends to return this weekend. IF he sends me any photos, I’ll share them on my Facebook page. Meantime, you can read all about it and find details of how to get there on the YSP website. Coffee time now, isn’t it?
I have a wonderful selection of walks to share again this week. Please make time to visit. You really won’t be sorry. Many thanks to all of you for sharing and for walking with me. Details of how to join in are on my Jo’s Monday walk page. A click on the logo above will take you there.
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Drake was quick off the mark this week with a very beautiful share :
Then along came Anabel, almost on my home turf! Such a lovely place. You’ll like it :
Meg took me gently strolling through the streets of Warsaw, and down Memory Lane, in more ways than one :
I love introducing one blogging friend to another! Susan, in California, meet Ann in the Ukraine :
Jaspa shared life on an extremely grand scale, down in Buenos Aires :
Something a bit more challenging now, in a country I would love to visit. Please go and say ‘hi’ :
Hiking in the Japanese Alps- Kamikochi to Nishi Hotaka hut
I also love reflections, shop window or otherwise :
Jude is the perfect companion for a garden stroll. This one is delightful :
Garden Portrait : Bourton House
I’m reserving judgement on Denzil’s amusing walk, but I did visit Ostende, briefly, many years ago :
Carol is taking us to the heights, in more ways than one, in Hawaii :
If only the bench were free, I could sit with Gilly all day enjoying this one. After our stroll, of course :
That’s it for this week. Although I’m showing you clouds, I’m happy to report that a tiny bit of sunshine has made it to north east England. I hope to get out and enjoy it. Take care and I’ll see you soon!
restlessjo 
Oh! I love KAWS! Didn’t really love it when I first stumbled upon his sculptures but now I’m a fan.
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I think it could be the kind of stuff that grows on you 🙂
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Wow… Nice walk through the sculpture park… Hope all is well…
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It was brilliant, Lori 🙂
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I love the KAWS statues. They remind me of the Japanese ‘cute’ obsession. We climbed Ben Lomond in the Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park this weekend. I must say i’m rather tired today!
http://www.lovefromscotland.co.uk/Ben-Lomond-Ptarmigan
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I’m tired thinking about it, Smidge. 🙂 🙂 I think KAWS might grow on me. Many thanks!
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I love them Jo. So fascinating and never mind that dull weather. We can’t have blue sky every outing right?
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True enough, Sue, and I’ll go and look at rhodies in the rain any day. 🙂
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I love the ball with raindrops and reflection and the Barbara Hepworth. And I’m glad you persevered to the lake. I smiled at your account of being attracted off at tangents: I saw you in action in Łódż!
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Jo, the headless chicken! Maybe kid in a sweet shop is more flattering 🙂 I did have a ball, literally, Meg. It was so worth the wait. More sunny hugs this morning. 🙂 🙂
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Sculptures are always such a personal thing. Some you love, some you hate, some you haven’t a clue what they are supposed to be. I liked the metal spheres, didn’t like the KAWS if that is what the large doll-like figures are. I do admire YOUR persistence in carrying on with the camera in the rain! And you have reminded me that I was going to write about the sculptures in my local sculpture garden – again some interesting ones, others, well you’ll find out shortly…
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It’s a deal! 🙂 I needed to interrupt the flow of Poland as it was getting a bit sentimental and samey, and the deadline is this weekend for anyone interested in the exhibition. If we’d had time I would have gone in out of curiosity, but we’d already been in search of a car bumper in Dewsbury, and into Leeds for lunch.
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Gosh, you do have a lot of fun don’t you? Dewsbury…?
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The high life! You know you’re jealous 🙂
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Pffh!
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Overcast or not, that place is delightful. Magnificent setting for such gorgeous art.
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I can’t wait to see it in the Autumn, Lisa. 🙂 How are you, sweetheart?
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🍁 Life continues to be full of surprises Jo…mostly welcome
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Oh you know me and sculpture, I so want to go there!
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You’d love it sweetheart 🙂 Thanks for the e.
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Haha being from Barcelona I’d say that rainy weather would deter me from a walk (which actually happened last Saturday 😉 ), but I’m happy it didn’t stop you or we wouldn’t have discovered the scuptures park. So interesting that they filled the park with scuptures, and the flowers do look beautiful with the water droplets. So nice also that you had the company of your son!
I haven’t written about any walks lately but there’s a walk in this post, a little bit mixed with some history of the place and conversations with locals. I guess it can be considered a walk though:
http://www.dreamtravelgirl.com/2016/01/05/la-boca-beyond-caminito-buenos-aires/
Have a nice week!
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I thoroughly enjoyed your look at La Boca, Laia. Very many thanks to you 🙂
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Oh, fascinating! I like the sculptures around the park. Could you perhaps share a bit more about the metal spheres? Something about them laid around captures my attention.
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I liked them too. 🙂 I didn’t see anything about them in the leaflet I picked up from the Park but you might find something in the website.
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Thanks for the tour – somewhere for my bucket list.
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It’s beautiful, Viv, and you could hop on and off the bus to get you around. 🙂
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RJo – The words ‘sculpture garden’ always makes me smile – are they sculptures? is it a garden? – and it turns out, they are both, and so delightful. Thanks for the link-up with Ann. Such fun the blogging world is!
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I really couldn’t resist ‘matchmaking’ when I read your walk, Susan. 🙂 Have a happy week!
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That sure is a diversity of statues! Now, I command the sun to come out, so you will not need sturdy footwear anymore, and you can happily forget it at home or in the car. 🙂
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That worked really well, Liesbet! The sun has been twinkling away all day long 🙂
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Would be a good destination with kids; so many random things to get them interested in would make it easy to keep them walking!
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Yes, I think so too. No climbing on the sculptures though 🙂
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lovely walk- and that tree shot was a sculpture in it’s self! Cheers!
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Glad you liked it, Kathe. I’ve got the sun back at last today. Yay! 🙂
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quite an array of interesting works of art, Jo! the molecule man art is quite impressive! and the flowers so lovely but the sheep stole my heart 🙂 your enthusiasm and great post brightened up the damp, grey English day! thank you! 🙂
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The Molecule Man was probably my favourite sculpture, LolaWi, but the rhodies always win my heart. 🙂 Many thanks for your great company.
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I haven’t been here for a couple of weeks but have been out walking!!
http://junkboattravels.blogspot.ca/2016/06/monday-walk.html
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Good lass, Jackie 🙂 I’ll be along to keep you company soon.
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Lovely, lovely, lovely, especially with the art for the sheep to enjoy.
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You know those sheep were very blase about the art, Sally 🙂 Happy Monday!
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What an interesting park Jo! I love all the cool sculptures. It was really rainy when we were in London and I’ve heard about the floods in Paris. So I suspect you’ve had a rainy month too. So have we here but it is so green and the flowers are amazing. Problem is the mosquitos are all going crazy too now with the rain!
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I suppose that’s something to be grateful for, Nicole. Too cold for mosquitos here 🙂 But it has been lovely and sunny today, at last.
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Yes indeed as we jokingly call mosquitos our state bird!
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