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Leah Oban and Iona: After about a week in the crazy crowds of Edinburgh, Oban and Iona provided the perfect setting for some rest, relaxation, and recovery. We arrived in the quaint seaside village of Oban around 2pm, after traveling by train through the highlands, past the breathtaking views of Loch Lomond. Of course, it was raining when we arrived. So we walked with our packs about a mile, passing by rows of tiny shops until we finally arrived at our hostel. A group of us went to a small fish and chips stand and brought back our meal, soaked by the rain from the walk into the town and back. Then we sat with Keith and laughed and talked, all the while taking in the view of the sea from the window. The next day we got on the ferry to the Isle of Mull, took a coach across the beautiful island, and caught the last ferry to the island of Iona. We arrived on the tiny island (1x3 miles) around 4 o'clock, somewhat surprised to see more sheep and livestock than people. We hiked about 1 ½ miles to our hostel, which was run by the sweetest German woman. We met for dinner a few hours later at "the restaurant" on the island. They had amazing seafood and lamb, since both were abundant on and around the island. After dinner we attended a service at the Iona Abbey, founded originally by Saint Cuthbert and from there went to the event of the week, the Ceildh (pronounced Cale E.).Most of the locals showed up in this large rec. room not far from the Abbey (of course nothing is too far on Iona) and we all joined in on a glorious evening of square dancing and storytelling. The next day brought about lots of wind and rain, altering our previous plans of going on a pilgrimage around the island. Instead, I joined a few girls and we holed ourselves up in the hotel on the island, drank tea, and studied for our upcoming final (which we ended up taking at 10pm that night). The simplicity of Oban and Iona provided us with the perfect amount of reflection and rejuvenation as we headed into the second portion of the study program. I know that I (as well as many others) felt blessed to experience a piece of God's majesty and glory. His beauty was so vivid on that island! Kara Probably the thing about modern art that scares me the most is that often the artists don't use the standard symbolism or make the obvious statements that a lot of the earlier art, especially Renaissance art, would use. For me it is a lot easier to understand the meaning of works that apply clear figures (religious figures or political ones) and clear objects that I am used to seeing symbolize something else (such as the cross representing Christ, a lion representing bravery, or a book representing intelligence). Modern and contemporary art tends to go against the standard a lot and so sometimes it takes a lot of contemplation before I can even begin to come to a conclusion about the symbolism in a painting, and some things, like toilet seats or poorly drawn hills with a poorly drawn tree, are the scariest for me to try and see as art when I feel they don't really even have a meaning. I do realize, though, that most modern/contemporary artists really do have a purpose behind their sometimes obscure work. I am excited to learn more of the information behind these artists, which I know will help me in understanding the reasons for the shapes, objects, colors and random people that they tend to put in their artwork. Learning what their political beliefs are, or what causes they support, would be especially helpful. Of course not all of the modern art I see is difficult to interpret, but the art I have had the most difficulty understanding so far has been, generally, work that focuses on a very plain object, or sometimes two or three very plain objects, with nothing else involved in the piece. I saw this type of work most prominently during my first few days in York. I saw a small display of pictures at a local pub, and I remember one had just a lamp and an apple making up the whole content of the painting. None of the pictures contained more than three objects, which were all totally unrelated. Normally I would not even take the time to consider these paintings as symbolic artwork, but there was a small plaque on the wall talking about the artist and it mentioned that he wanted to show modern life and how it is influenced. I looked more closely at the paintings after reading that, but still didn't have any notions as to what the objects represented about modern life (other than that we use the objects). My personal feeling was that the artist could have been a lot more expressive if he had used less dull and uninteresting objects. I then realized that maybe dull and uninteresting was what he was trying to express. I think having some difficulty understanding this type of contemporary art is unavoidable, but also helpful in really opening your mind and imagination to new ideas. It can sometimes really make you think a lot more about the subject than a standard Renaissance "Annunciation" piece would. Back to Off-Campus Studies >> British Isles Study Program >> |
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