Tuesday 27 May 2014

Tues 27th May: Summer of Colour in Margate





















This bank holiday my best friends took me on a surprise day adventure out of London ................ to Margate, Kent (childhood home to Tracy Emin).  The city has a season of events called "Summer of Colour" which I think probably inspired the city of choice!!  As part of the programme the "Turner Contemporary" has an exhibition of Mondrian which outline his career from early luminous landscapes thru to the Boogie Woogie classics we all know.  We also caught the end of the Sol LeWitt Wall Drawing No.1136 before it is painted over on the 8th June.  Head over to the site to see more of what's on at this fantastic sea-facing purpose-built modern art museum!  
We really lucked-out because the day we went fell on the "Margate Meltdown" scooter rally which filled the coastal town with mod scooters after the legacy of the original 60's day-trippers.  We also visited the Shell Grotto which has to be seen to be believed!  An entire underground vault is decorated with patterns made from shells which is a mystery as no-one knows exactly when it was made or who by or why?!   Its incredible as all the patterns are so detailed and intricate it must have taken forever to collect the right size and shape shells, not to mention arrange them!
The beach and it's rides for children, arcades and fish'n'chips makes it a fun destination to escape the smog of London so I recommend getting on the train the next day off you can!  It's so magic that Margate has embraced Emin's love for art and established this key institution for supporting and spreading the work of modern masters.

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