Kettle's Yard, Cambridge
Kettle’s Yard has always been one of my favourite places. We spent many hours here as children, running around the house and exploring the gallery. In recent years the main exhibition space has undergone a beautiful refurb, hosting a series of carefully curated exhibitions and events. I always head here when i’m visiting my mum, and it never disappoints.
We also took a free guided tour around the House - the former home of founder Jim Ede. Every intimate detail of the house is imbued with the character of this fascinating man. An avid art collector, intellectual and friend to the artists, Ede’s personal collection includes paintings by Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Alfred Wallis, Christopher Wood, David Jones and Joan Miró, as well as sculptures by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska, Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth. Alongside the art works there beautiful arrangements of glass, pottery, textiles, house plants and furniture - combined to create a harmonious and inspiring home. The house was initially conceived with students in mind, and during term times there was an ‘open house’ policy, allowing anyone to drop in, talk, see the art and delve into Jim’s wonderful archive of art books and reference materials.
Jim Ede’s vision for Kettle’s Yard was that it should not be :
“an art gallery or museum, nor … simply a collection of works of art reflecting my taste or the taste of a given period. It is, rather, a continuing way of life from these last fifty years, in which stray objects, stones, glass, pictures, sculpture, in light and in space, have been used to make manifest the underlying stability.”
