The British Art Museum

Last tuesday, i went to the British Art Museum on an Art trip with school. Our focus was on North American artifacts, African masks, Egyptian Mummies and the Egyptian sphinx. After we had all got on the bus, taken a two hour journey to London and got in the museum, i was outstanded. The ceilings were patterned glass, letting a large amount of light in, the floors were a cream marble, sparkling in the sunlight and the walls were plain white, complimenting the museum hugely. It was amazing. But, i had some drawing to do, and couldn't stare at the ceiling all day. First, we headed off to the African masks. As soon as we walked in, it was like we'd entered Africa. Brightly coloured masks all over the walls, all decorated with feathers and beads. Some were HUGE and some were tiny, some were very standing out, some were hard to find. The one i settled down to draw, was a medium sized mask. It was a vibrant red colour, covered in feathers and what seemed to be dreadlocks. We only had a certain amout of time in each section, so off we went to the North American artifacts. Again, it was like we'd entered a completely different world! This time, there were more varitey. And that was good because we had to squeeze in another drawing this time! For my first drawing, i had to draw a Kawackawacka bird. It looked like a penguin, parrot and Toocan all put together with much duller colours than the mask. Greys, browns and blacks covered this intresting North American artifact. Next, i drew yet another mask. This time, it was of a Eskimo looking woman, her hair swooping over part of her face and a rather strange facial expression. She looked slightly pained, worried and greiving. And on the information list, it said that most of the masks in the museum are made from real people (or at least inspired by them!). Then, we headed off to the Egyptian part of the Museum, with Mummies, Sphinxs and rude looking statues. For my first drawing, i settled for a nice looking statue of a man carrying a sword, with his hair all wavey at the back. He was very elegant looking. For my second, i drew a Canopic jar. I have a great fasination in the Egyptian history, espeicially about Mummies. They used to put the late Egyptian's body organs in these jars, along with a few other things to help them in the after life. For my very last drawing, i decided i would draw a sarcophagas. The 'coffin' of the late Egyptian. Where the head would be, there was a big gold cat's head, which would of proberbly meant the person in the sarcophagas was quite special, being as the cat is sacred in Egypt.

In conclusion, i found this trip to the British Art Museum was a very good idea of the schools, i thoroughly enjoyed it and strongly recommmend a visit there for anyone intrested in Art, History or just some funny looking masks and statues! x