Day out | Postcards From Here and There

Baltic Triangle Street Art 2019

I first wrote about the street art to be found in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle in September 2018. You can read the original post using the link here. As twelve months have elapsed I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the area and have a look at what was new. Much of the original work first seen in 2018 is still here but this post will just concentrate on that which is new to me. Check the link above to see the earlier works.

The Baltic Triangle is a pleasant 15 minute walk from Liverpool city centre, head out along Paradise Street, turn left onto Park Lane and when the road forks take the right branch which is Jamaica Street. This brings you to the heart of the Baltic Triangle.

Blundell Street is very much under redevelopment but there are a couple of nice pieces on the hoardings surrounding the building work.

The next street is Kitchen Street where you will find this work. I can’t seem to find anything about the artist and there are a number of works of a similar nature closely. If anyone knows add a comment at the end of the post.

The building at the corner of Jamaica Street an Bridgewater Street has a number of smaller works including the ceramic by HEX.

On Watkinson Street Liverpool based artist John Culshaw has created a mural of the ‘Fab Four’, although Ringo does appear to have had one of his teeth coloured in.

The north side of Norfolk Street is now cordoned off for redevelopment work but you can just glimpse the work by PinHeadUK on the corner with Jamaica Street.

The brick wall on Jamaica Street between Norfolk Street and Brick Street has long been a popular location for artists and is home to probably the real most iconic work, Paul Curtis’s Liver Bird Wings and Straw Girl by Irony. Much here has survived the passage of time but there is a couple of pieces I had not come across before. Latvian street artist Kiwie has this work here.

Check Point Charlie is also a relatively recent addition.

Neal Keating’s Game Over is also here.

Vancouver based artiest Emily Gray has created a delicate, pastoral mural which has suffered a little with a tag added but still looks pretty good.

The Liverpool Life Sciences UTC building on Greenland Street has yet another mural by Paul Curtis. You can even become part of this work as a convenient space has been left for you to stand in.

The skate park on Jamaica Street has always been popular with street and graffiti artists. What started out as an advert for the Netflix series ‘Our Planet’ has since been partially overpainted. It was created in March 2019 and showed Pink Flamingoes coming into land on a lake. Only the top section now remains.

On Jordan Street Manchester street artist Aske has created this portrait of Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.

Paul Curtis has another mural on the wall of Cains Brewery Village. Commissioned by The Beatles Story Museum, in the Royal Albert Dock, for the 50th anniversary of the release of Abbey Road. Paul has created the famous street scene minus the four Beatles enabling you to create your own version of this most famous album cover.

Chihuly at Kew Gardens

Dale Chihuly is an American sculptor known for his large scale glass installations. His work can be seen in museums around the world and his current exhibition, entitled Reflections on Nature, can be found in the grounds of Kew Gardens until the 27th of October. There are twelve locations around the gardens where his work can be seen and a map provided along with entrance to the gardens gives you a route to follow to ensure that you don’t miss anything.

The sculptures are a perfect complement to the formal structure of the gardens, adding colour, contrast and a sense of scale. The first sculpture on the trail, just to the left of the entrance gate, is Sapphire Star, it gives a real idea of what is to come. The intensity of colour in the blown glass is amazing.

Sapphire Star

The second location features smaller pieces inside the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. Once again it is the colour that strikes you immediately and the lighting in the gallery has been set to ensure they show at their best.

The Lime Crystal Tower is almost camouflaged against the surrounding vegetation.

The beauty of the placements of many the sculptures is that you don’t really see then until you are almost on them so well have they been blended in to the landscape.

The Temperate House at Kew is one of the most iconic and popular places to visit. Opened in 1862 it is Grade 1 listed and has recently undergone a major renovation. Chihuly has placed several pieces in here including Persian Column which is suspended from the roof and was specially created for this exhibition.

Persian Column

Just outside the Temperate House on either side of the central entrance are two Opal and Amber Towers.

Cherry Walk leads from the Temperate House to King William’s Temple. Here Chihuly has placed Cattails and Copper Birch Reeds. The grass has been allowed to flower here with no mowing giving height from which the blown glass emerges. it is a wonderful explosion of colour against the flower heads.

The area below King William’s Temple is perhaps one of my favourite sections of the exhibition. The setting is perfect and the choice of colour stunning.

While some of the pieces emerge from the surrounding vegetation others are statement, stand alone pieces that are almost in complete contrast to their surroundings. This is perhaps best illustrated by the Scarlet and Yellow Icicle Tower.

From the tower a short walk through the Rose Garden brings you to the Water Lily House. Red Reeds can be found outside, growing straight and tall and in such a vibrant red colour.

Inside the Water Lily House is another of the absolutely stunning installations entitled Ethereal White Persian Pond. Numbers entering are controlled so that it doesn’t get over crowded, giving you space to move around and enjoy the work from a variety of different viewpoints. I took so many photographs here I could probably do a post on this area alone.

Paintbrushes are a fantastic impact piece with sharp contrast between the red and green.

Finally Summer Sun can be found in front of the Palm House on the edge of the lake. Reminiscent of a setting sun it is a perfect end to what is a wonderful trail through these beautiful gardens.

Kew Gardens open at 10am every day however closing times do vary a little so it is worth checking if you prefer entry later in the day. I arrived shortly after 10 and the queue to get in was very short and the gardens themselves very quiet. By the time I left three hours later it was considerably busier and the queue stretched out and along the main road. That said it was a Saturday and the weather very pleasantly warm. If you visit mid week outside school holidays you may well find it quieter.

Kew Gardens are perhaps best reached from central London by taking the Richmond branch of the District Line. It is only a short 5 minute walk from Kew Gardens station down Lichfield Road to the Victoria Gate entrance.

Secret Liverpool Part 2

In Part 1 I detailed some of the more unusual and less well known sights in the centre of the city around the original seven streets. In this post we venture a little further afield but still in and around the city centre and very walkable from place to place.

Lime Street Station. Many visitors to the city arrive at its main railway station but few are aware of art to be found on the station steps and glass panels. “Liverpool to Liverpool – Chronicles of an Aimless Journey” by Simon Faithfull was commissioned as part of the Liverpool Biennial in 2010 and consists of 181 drawings with have been etched into the paving and glass panels. They are not easy to see from a distance but it is well worth a wander to see how many you can spot.

A short walk along Lime Street brings you to the old Lewis’s Department Store. Although it closed for business in 2007 locals still arrange to meet there. Above the main entrance on Ranleagh Street is a statue and three relief panels by the renowned sculptor Jacob Epstein. Its official title is Liverpool Resurgent and represents the rebuilding of the city following the damage sustained in the second world war. The statue of a naked man on the prow of a ship is known locally as Dickie Lewis and has become a celebrated landmark. It has been a popular meeting place for courting couples since it was installed in 1956.

From Lewis’s head up Mount Pleasant unto you reach Rodney Street and the old Scottish Presbyterian Church of Saint Andrew. In the adjacent churchyard is the Tomb of William MacKenzie. Constructed in the shape of a pyramid it is perhaps the most unusual tomb in the city. Local folklore suggests that William, who died in 1851, was a keen gambler and left instructions that he was to be entombed above ground sitting at a card table. Sadly this seems very unlikely as the tomb itself wasn’t constructed until 17 years after he was buried. It does however make for a nice story.

Close by is Oldham Place where the walls are covered in brightly painted murals. If you have an interest in street art it is well worth a visit. Do also take in the yard at the bottom of the street.

Heading back down into the Liverpool One shopping area there is an American Eagle on the former US Consulate building in Paradise Street. The consulate opened in 1790 when Liverpool was a major trading port for ships from the United States. The eagle was easily recognised by American sailors, many of whom could not read or write. As trade declined following the second world war the consulate closed but the eagle remained. Originally carved from pine it required frequent maintenance and renovation so was eventually removed, restored and put on display in the Museum of Liverpool. The bird on Paradise Street today is a fibreglass replica but is no less striking.

Old Dock. The Old Dock was the first wet dock in Liverpool built in the early part of the eighteenth century by Thomas Steers. As Liverpool grew as a port the dock became too small and was eventually closed in 1826. The site was filled in and redeveloped and finally ended up as a multi storey car park which was finally demolished as part of the Liverpool One development in 2001. The dock was unearthed and a viewing window created which is located just outside the John Lewis department store.

Lusitania Propeller. The Lusitania was a passenger liner owned by Cunard which regularly sailed between Liverpool and New York. She was sunk by a torpedo from German U-boat in May 1915 just off the southern coast of Ireland as she was returning to Liverpool. The propellor on display in the Royal Albert Dock was salvaged from the wreck in 1982 and is one of four that were on the ship.