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Posts tagged ‘travel’

Dec 7

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A Space for All: Engineering Contemporary Art on Fuerteventura

Chillida Cavern, Mount Tindaya, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

Mock up drawing of Eduardo Chillida’s Cavern on Mount Tindaya, Fuerteventura, Canary Islands (Image: Arup)

Sunlight will slowly drift over the seamless stone walls, encompassing visitors in a silent shine to humanity.  This cavernous space was the vision of Basque artist Eduardo Chillida (1924-2002).  The actualization of his monumental work of art has been fraught with environmental, historical preservation and construction concerns.  Today things are back on track and the Chilida Tindaya cavern is poised to be one of the most impressive achievements of contemporary art.

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Dec 3

Carrigafoyle Castle
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Exploring with The Keeper of the Castle

The monthly ArtSmart Roundtable brings together posts from some of the best art history-focused travel bloggers.  For December, we are discussing some of our favorite art and travel experiences.  You can find links below to all the group’s articles.

I’ve been lucky enough to see some really incredible art in person, in situ and sometimes under incredible circumstances (like seeing the Florence Baptistry for the first time as part of a religious procession!)  For me, a memorable travel and art experience includes encountering beautiful, unique or unknown pieces and places, but also gives me to opportunity to understand a culture or people better.  And so for this month’s theme, I was immediately reminded of my tour of Carrigafoyle Castle in County Kerry, Ireland with the Castle Keeper himself.

Carrigafoyle Castle

Carrigafoyle Castle, constructed in 1480 AD

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Nov 29

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Painted Roman Statue

By traveling in Greece and Turkey, I’ve learned a lot more about Classical art and architecture.  I find myself describing the ancient sites I’ve  seen and usually slip something in about how “bright and colorful” it must have been.  That usually stops the conversation.  No one believes that ancient Greek and Roman statues were painted!  I myself am still trying to wrap my head around what that would have looked like.  But it’s true, and now I have my own photographic evidence that statues were colorful:

Painted ancient Roman general statue in Corinth

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Nov 26

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Recycled Stone – Christianized Art in Athens

While this practice seems unthinkable today, across the Mediterranean, ancient Greek and Roman structures were salvaged for building materials in subsequent centuries.  Given the prevalence of the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages, pagan buildings were at best a curiosity.  The Parthenon in Rome is said to have only survived because it was converted into a church.

The Pentelic marble used to construct ancient Athens proved to be too alluring for Byzantine builders.  You can see blatant example of stone theft in the piece-meal construction of the 13th century Panagia Gorgoepikoos Church in Athens.  While the materials were stolen, the care with which pieces were selected and incorporated suggests some appreciation for classical art.

Panagia Gorgoepikoos, Athens

13th Century Panagia Gorgoepikoos (The Madonna who Quickly Hears) Church, Athens (Image adapted from the web)

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Nov 22

Turkish grill - peppers and kabob
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Dining in Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving!  While everyone in America is feasting on Turkey, I thought I show you how I feasted in Turkey.  Now enough with the puns, onto the food!

Turkish grill - peppers and kabob

The delicious and ubiquitous grilled pepper

I have to say, overall we ate very well in Turkey!  I love that style of cooking and was pleasantly surprised whenever I ordered something that I didn’t quite understand.  I’ve already written about fish in Istanbul, sour plums and beautiful stuffed mussels but that’s only the tip of the culinary iceberg! Read more

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