Camden Arts Center/Freud Museum/Russell Square

Photos: 1) cool bike thing with child inside looking at fountain, 2) me looking at the fountain, 3) squirrel eating a nut right by me, 4) Russell Sq. fountain, 5) Freud's house




Today we met our art appreciation teacher at the Camden Arts Center. This was in the Camden
borough and the Hampstead suburb. Hampstead is a very wealthy area north of central London.
The gallery was very small with only 2 exhibitions but it was free so yay! We saw works by Daan
van Golden and Andro Wekua. I still feel as though my art appreciation is growing by leaps and
bounds every time we have this class. However, there was a screen print of Mick Jagger taken
from a stock photo and probably not physically screen printed with the artist's own hand and I
just don't understand how that can be considered art and hung on a wall. Kathy (the teacher)
said art has become more of an idea that one puts on a wall - it's "finding" something and hanging it. Call me old-fashioned, but I like the art that actually takes talent - or (in the case of Pollock) at least a little effort and creative insight. However, apart from that, I liked the exhibitions. You can check out a few of the pieces at www.camdenartscentre.org if you wish.





From there we went to Pizza Express for lunch. It was so good too! Ashley and I split cheese pizza (margahrita pizza here) and garlic bread for 4.50 pounds per person including tip. The pizza was also quite large and plenty big enough to share. Our waiter was also authentically Italian and very attentive - for which (along with his rather rugged handsomeness) Ashley left him a hefty tip.


After that Travis and I went to the Freud Museum while everyone else went back. We thought it was free, but it turned out to be 3 pounds. The museum was in the house where he lived the last year of his life after he and his family fled Vienna from the Nazis. It had all the stuff from his Vienna home - books, psycho-analysis couch, antique figurines, etc. Pretty cool I suppose.


After I got back I put my stuff down and walked over to Russell Square garden and just walked
around observing the people and sights and sounds. I took some pictures of the fountain, the
people, the animals (ok, well, pigeons and squirrels). It was a lovely afternoon. While it was cold
all day, the sun was out, the skies were blue, and I was happy to be alive and outdoors.