Glasgow Gallivanting: October 2023

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Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Paestum

No, I haven’t been to Italy! John had a few days at a conference in Paestum, and although he didn’t have time to visit the museum he sneaked a few pictures of the ancient Greek ruins from beyond the fence. This is my favourite. John has also been to London, but this time I didn’t accompany him. Other than a day trip to Edinburgh, of which more later, my month has been entirely Glasgow based.

The autumn colours have been moving on apace in the Botanics and along the Kelvin.

Autumn colour in the Botanics
River Kelvin from Kirklee Bridge

The Botanic Gardens have also been getting themselves ready for Halloween. This year has a Ghostbusters theme.

Who you gonna call?
Pumpkin Parade
Pumpkin Parade

These are some images of previous Halloweens, some of which I might have posted before – here they are again if so!

Halloween 2021
Halloween 2022
Halloween 2021
Halloween 2021
Halloween 2022

Even the penguins have a pumpkin! And a new ghostly friend.

Penguins and pumpkin
Ghostly friend

Nothing much has changed at Stockingfield Bridge – the sea serpent’s head is still under wraps, but the tiling on the central spire has recently been nicely grouted in pink and the fencing has been removed from around what is now my favourite tiled bench. The swans carry on regardless!

Still working on sea-serpent’s head
Tiled bench
Tiled bench details
Central spire now grouted
Swans

By contrast, in Bridgeton, home of the Women’s Library, there has been a big change. The Bridgeton Umbrella, a shelter first erected in 1875, was starting to break up. In the summer, it was dismantled, behind suitably decorated hoardings, and taken away for refurbishment. This month, it has returned in all its glory.

Dismantling July 23
Beautifully restored October 23

On a couple of occasions I did a walk that was a favourite in lockdown but has since fallen out of favour – through the grounds and gardens of Gartnavel Hospital.

Autumn colour at Gartnavel
Garden sculpture
Walled garden
Walled garden

I had never noticed the stone carvings in the grass before – along the edge of a carpark. I’m guessing they come from some of the older buildings which have been demolished.

Suzanne Bonnar, Iona Fyfe, Arthur Johnstone, Calum Baird, Gavin Livingstone

Culturally, we’ve had a few excursions including to a concert celebrating the 30th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s visit to Glasgow. We were the first place in the world to bestow Freedom of the City on Mandela in 1981 when he was still in prison. Eight other local authorities in the UK followed suit and in October 1993 he came to Glasgow to receive all the Freedoms in a joint ceremony.

There is a Nelson Mandela Place in Glasgow, formerly known as St George’s Place. It was renamed in 1986, a gesture prompted by it being the location of the South African Consulate. I’m not surprised Mandela chose Glasgow to visit!

We also went to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, specifically to visit the new exhibition Glasgow: City of Empire – oops! Got the dates wrong. Where is someone with a librarian’s information skills when you need her?

Glasgow City of Empire
Glasgow City of Empire

Never mind, a visit to Kelvingrove is never wasted. I always spot something new or find a new thought about old things. For example, I had never looked closely at the labels on the three female marble busts below. One is instantly recognisable as Queen Victoria, but the other two are not accorded the dignity of their own first names. They are described as Mrs William Law and Mrs William Sim – a quick Google and Art UK tells me that the former was born Jane Turnbull, but the site has no further information on Mrs Sim. Poor anonymous woman, forever defined by her husband.

Heads
Queen Victoria
Mrs William Law
Mrs William Sim
The coronation of the Blessed Virgin by Harry Clarke, 1923
The coronation of the Blessed Virgin by Harry Clarke, 1923, WW1 detail

Although the stained glass window above (Coronation of the Blessed Virgin, 1923) by Harry Clarke is very prominent, I hadn’t previously noticed the small panel commemorating those who died in World War One. The whole work was commissioned by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur for the chapel of their teaching convent (now housing) in Dowanhill.

Finally, I noticed some Grayson Perry pots. I have seen two other examples in the Gallery of Modern Art in the city centre – a look at old photos confirms that they are not the same ones in a different location, so we have at least four in Glasgow.

Grayson Perry
Grayson Perry

Perhaps I was more attuned to spotting Grayson Perry because I knew I was going to his exhibition in Edinburgh, Smash Hits. Not only that, I was going with Becky who was up in Scotland visiting relatives. We had a fabulous time and would both recommend the exhibition most strongly – if you are anywhere near Edinburgh before it closes on 12th November, go see it! It’s the biggest exhibition ever of Perry’s work and spans his 40 year career. To quote the National Galleries of Scotland website, which puts it far better than I ever could:

Popular and provocative, Perry makes art that deals with difficult and complex ideas in an accessible and often funny way. He loves taking on big issues that are universally human: masculinity, sexuality, class, religion, politics and more. On view will be subversive pots, brilliantly intricate prints, elaborate sculptures, and huge, captivating tapestries – all imbued with Perry’s sharp wit and social commentary. Working with traditional artforms, Perry addresses the controversial issues of our times.

Tomb of the unknown craftsman, 2011
Claire’s coming out dress, 2000
Kenilworth AM1, 2010

An added bonus is that the wall texts were written by Perry himself (there’s also an audio tour) so I felt I had a real understanding of what he was conveying. I took very few photos, just a flavour above, because it was so difficult to capture and we were wandering round in quite a daze trying to take it all in. Preceding the exhibition with coffee and following it with lunch in the excellent on-site restaurant, all accompanied by a good old chin wag, made for a perfect day out.

That was one of the month’s highlights. The other was attending a Suffragette workshop at Glasgow Women’s Library and being able to see for the first time Maud Joachim’s Hunger Strike medal from 1909.

For valour: hunger strike October 19th 1909
Name on reverse
Bar for force feeding in 1912

The Library has no acquisitions budget and relies on donated books and artifacts to make up its collection. However, when this medal came up for auction at Bonham’s it seemed to Co-Director Sue John too good an opportunity to miss, and she ran a major fundraising campaign leading to the Library’s successful bid on 3rd October. You can read the full story on GWL’s website. I felt very privileged to be in the medal’s presence.

And that’s it for October! Enjoy Halloween, if you celebrate it, and all the best to everyone for November.

Scotland, UK ,

52 Comments »

  1. 🌆 Your “Glasgow Gallivanting October 2023” post is a fantastic roundup of your adventures and discoveries in Glasgow! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💫 It’s great to see the vibrant and cultural side of the city through your eyes. Thanks for sharing your experiences and the beauty of Glasgow with your readers! 🌟🏙️ #GlasgowAdventures #TravelDiaries #CityExploration 🏰🍂👏

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  2. The best thing about visiting Gartnavel Hospital I find is the wildlife pond and several nice walks around it. Even if you get bad news a walk around that pond helps to place things into perspective again. bob. BSS.

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    • Yes, the grounds are lovely with all the trees as well. We liked it so much in the first lockdown because it was quiet, then other people cottoned on and it got quite busy. I cut through the edge to get to Hyndland station quite frequently, but this was the first time I’d been to the garden bit for a while.

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  6. My daughter and I went to the Grayson Perry exhibition, and my favourite things were the two bronze figures laden with household objects. Took multiple photos as there was so much detail in all the intriguing things hanging from their shoulders. I also loved the pot covered in spurious claims such as “This pot will reduce crime by 27%”. The detailed descriptions of each work (some of which can be seen on the gallery website) were vital to understanding Grayson Perry’s creative process and inspiration. I could see parallels with the Banksy exhibition (satire on the human condition delivered with humour) but very different approaches. All very engaging!

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    • I loved those figures too, especially the woman. I didn’t take any pictures because at that stage I didn’t think you could. I agree Perry’s own descriptions were a huge asset, and with the Banksy comparison. I enjoyed the Perry exhibition more because, even though it was quite busy, it was never overwhelming so, whereas at Banksy most of it was very cramped and hard to view through the crowds.

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  9. Hi, Anabel – I am also waiting for Trick-or-Treaters as I read your post. So far we’ve had 5 young children plus 5 teens. I am hoping for many more. Otherwise, I have no idea what I will do with all of these treats! D
    You’ve had another very full month. I especially liked the Grayson Perry Exhibition. Thank you for taking us there!

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  13. What a lovely round up, Anabel. I’m waiting for the trick or treaters, but none so far. I think they must all be at a party because last year we had loads. Decorating the gardens like that is a nice idea. So glad you got to meet up with Becky and what a great venue. Happy November to you!

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  15. Anabel, I would’ve loved to join you both to see the Grayson Perry Exhibition, it looked fabulous. John is rather nifty with his camera and he did take a good shot of the ruins.

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  19. Well, you might not have left Glasgow this month, but you continue to gallivant. How lovely that you were able to spend time with Becky. Grayson Perry will have given you plenty to talk about. And every time you write about Kelvingrove it re-ignites my wish to visit this wonderful gallery again. I really MUST make Glasgow my personal City of Culture in 2024.

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  22. What an interesting month you had Anabel, I enjoyed reading this and there’s so much to like. I love the autumn colours, the deep pink on the bridge, the stained glass window and the psychedelic motorbike but my favourite just has to be that dress, it’s truly beautiful 🙂

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