Reflections

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Reflecting on the past few days, I have come to notice that history and art is in everything around us in the beautiful city of Firenze. On our walk around the city yesterday with Antonio, he was commenting on the myth of Perseus and how he was able to kill Medusa. He said that by looking in the reflection of his shield, Perseus was able to see Medusa without turning into stone. Antonio said that that could be interpreted many ways. I like to believe that it can be interpreted as Perseus had to reflect within himself and he had to think about his actions and consequences instead of facing things head on like the others did. I like this interpretation because we can apply it to ourselves. We have to reflect on everything that is around us and what the various outcomes could be based off our one action.



Within the past few days I have come to have more of an appreciation for the Renaissance time period because a lot of things were built very well with exquisite detail and it has lasted for such a long time. I have always had an appreciation for this time period, but it never had any real meaning to it. I thought that I did but that was before coming here. There was no way that I could truly grasp what that period meant or what it stood/stands for before traveling to Italy. The way that the history of this city is preserved and relished makes it real, more so than any book from back home could try and express. Being where such important people once lived and visiting the streets that they walked is so breathtaking. It’s hard to grasp these feelings by just reading about the time back home.



As we were walking through the Uffizi Gallery, it became clear that the art itself told the history of the time. By way of technique and color palates, the artists were giving their audiences a unique blend of their own history and their current time. Leonardo showed us perspective paintings that were relatively new to that era and Botticelli showed us unique colors that were formed from egg yolks and color pigmentations from various items that could be crushed and mixed in with the yolks.



The most memorable thing for me would have to be the Primavera by Botticelli. I love all types of lore and myths so the fact that this painting was done based in some ways off of those things is very unique to me. The Primavera contains the Three Graces, Cupid, Mercury, Zephyrus, Chloris, Flora, and Venus. Each of these figures can be taken from the painting and have their own myth. Granted, some of the figures overlap in their myth but it’s still very unique.



Back at home, I plan on sharing and discussing what I have seen by showing them the pictures I have taken of the different pieces of art and telling them about each of them. I probably won’t be able to do the art justice by my own retelling of them, but it should be accurate in the details. I also plan on sharing some small replications of the art with the children in the Burrier Child Development Center because whenever we return to Kentucky I will be doing my “student teaching” there. I hope that I can help the children gain an interest in art from looking at some of the stuff that I bring in, even if the children just like the vibrant colors it could show them something that they’re not used to bring them in.



















Total steps taken on Monday (1/7/18) was 26,850 and total steps taken on Tuesday (1/9/18) was 14,245.

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