Cathy's Art Diary

Moving installation at the Tower of London to mark the century of the end of the First World War. Created by Designer Tom Piper and sound artist Mira Calix it filled the moat of the Tower with flames which were started by one flame being lit by a Yeoman of the Guard and this being spread gradually throughout the space. This was a beautiful spectacle but was very popular so the space was very crowded. I was meeting friends there and we just watched from the rim of the moat, once we had found each other! It’s strange to be directed in the opposite direction in which you want to go for crowd control reasons. I never worked out what people were queuing up for. I know before the event you could get tickets to go into the moat but not sure this is what people were queuing for as there didn’t seem to be many people down there. I got a good view from near the entrance to the Tower by standing in tip toe and peering over people’s heads but a much better one from the road to Tow...

Beautiful installation at the Imperial War Museum of the ceramic poppies which started their journey at the Tower of London. It was wonderful to see these poppies by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper again. The Weeping Window element of the original installation worked really well at the museum starting from a window in the rotunda and falling down the classical arcade. They made you look at the architecture of the building with a fresh eye as well as coming home and looking at my individual poppy again. It was touching to see a junior school queuing up for each class to have their photo taken in front of the display and for their teacher to explain the meaning of the poppy to them. Here’s hoping them remember. Closed 18 November 2018

Magnificent installation at the Tower of London of ceramic red poppies filling the moat to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the start of the First World War. It is created by ceramic artist Paul Cummins, with setting by stage designer Tom Piper. This work is being put together gradually. It started at the end of July and the plan is to place the last poppy on 11 November this year. There will be one flower to mark every fatality of the war. When I saw it I already thought it looked spectacular but I missed the fact the flowers were cascading from one of the windows of the Tower making it look like the building was bleeding. I plan to keep going back and watch it grow and I have already bought one of the flowers. I love the idea that it is partly to commemorate the fact that the Tower was one of the main recruiting stations for the City of London. Imagine how proud you must have felt to have signed up there. However it is like all the men who signed up have return...