Dear Future Student

            Paris. It’s really crazy to think about that only five letters can represent something so incredibly large. I have gone on school trips abroad before, I have also lived abroad before, but nothing could ever compare to the experience I had in Paris. I’m not even sure where to begin when telling you about my trip. I guess in the beginning, that’s always a good starting point.

            Before I left I wasn’t sure what to expect, we had a two classes to prepare us before we got there, we also had readings and a book to give us some perspective on the city and the things we were going to see. I knew this trip was going to be very intense, but never did I think I was going to feel so many emotions when looking at art and architecture.

            I initially wanted to take this trip because my love when it comes to art history is more design based, although I am a fine art major, for some reason architecture and design is what really interests me. I expected to learn a lot from this trip and I expected to be also very tired. Other than that I was really open to anything and everything. Needless to say, my expectations were met and very much exceeded.

            I came to Paris needing clarity within my own studio practice and my own life. Coming to the cultural capital of the world is probably one of the best things you can do when in that sort of position. Seeing buildings that were 100’s of years old, seeing art that has been through war and tragedy, but yet stands so beautifully, really puts one in there place. Knowing that I needed some clarity on where I stood, I really focused in on the people in Paris. Something that we don’t really have in Milwaukee is community space. We don’t really have places throughout the city that people gather to drink coffee and admire the day. This idea of how people move throughout the city really became an important idea for me to think about on the trip.

            This idea was further highlighted when walking through galleries and museums. I always knew that curating was a really impressive art form, but I don’t think I paid that much attention to it before the trip. We had many assignments about looking at how the space was set up to highlight a piece of work, for me, this also meant how the space was set up to move people around. The Louvre was overwhelming with curating genius, I felt like I was constantly spinning around, looking at people looking at art, looking at the walls, looking at the room. In Paris there is really a lot of looking to do. Within this course, we did so so so much looking!

            Although Paris is a very fun city, this course was no joke. You go there and you are not a tourist, you are a student. There were times when I wished I was just a tourist, but those times very few and far between. I was so grateful to have two professors show me around the city. Going on this trip was almost like a private tour of Paris, you learn more about the city, about art and about yourself then you could just going by yourself. Chris and Eric are so unbelievably smart, and watching them together is really a treat. They both get so excited about buildings are different pieces of art, and when a teacher is excited about something, this automatically transcends you into their mindset. Its really important see things in real life, some say that Paris is like walking through a history book. I’d much rather walk through a history book then read it from afar.

            One of the biggest challenges of this trip was traveling with a large amount of people. Although it is really fun, I am the type of person that needs to be alone when thinking and reflecting on our days. When you are up and ready to go at 7:30 in the morning and then are out until 6 or 7 at night, it’s hard then to get your brain to work after a long day of seeing so many beautiful things! Maybe it was just me, but when I am constantly on the go and seeing beautiful building after beautiful art, my head gets a little overwhelmed. Then going back to the hostel with 10 girls and 1 guy all in one room makes it a little hard to settle down and reflect. I found that often times I just needed to go and have coffee by myself and try and get Internet in the hostel. Alone time is crucial when going on a trip as intense as this.  

            International study is the most important thing anyone can do. I don’t know how people just stay in one place their whole life. Meeting new people and seeing new things gives you a deeper understanding about the world as it stands today. Understanding history in context with art and seeing all of that in real life brings feelings and emotions to the surface that cannot be had while looking at a picture. For example, I cried when looking at August Rodin’s work. I knew of him before I left, but there is this indescribable feeling you get when standing in front of something so powerful and so large. Everyone should study abroad, it changes you for the better, and going with a school group is a wonderful way to do it safely and to do it right!

                                                -Ana Maria Minter

Some Photos

 These are just some photos that I have taken over the course of the trip. Things that have been visually really attractive, and in their creation a learning experience. Above is Musee Pompidou, which house's more modern and contemporary works. The Pompidou was a really wonderful experience, I was able to see works that I have been looking at online for my entire MIAD career, and to see them in person is amazing. One of the more famous works I saw was the Fountain, (R.Mutt), It's so funny because I have seen that a million times online and was expecting greatness. When I got to the piece, it was a little lack luster. but I guess that really part of the piece though. I feel like after all my travels throughout the world I have seen almost every Picasso Piece. Okay maybe not every but I've seen quite a bit. The Pompidou had many many pieces. Below are also photos from a slide show I did comparing Picasso and Hans Bellmer and how they have depicted women throughout their works. Doing little assignments like that have been nice in way to take you a step back from the seeing all the time and bring you to the understanding. 

This is an image looking up at the Pantheon, also a pretty remarkable place, although at the moment they are having some structural issue. Which is funny because Rome did this way before Paris and they are still standing strong. 

ooooooooopera

                                             The Opera.

Walking through the Opera was such a great opportunity. Although its no Versailles, (J) It was still one of the most over the top decadent buildings I’ve seen here. Being more than just a beautiful structure, it’s also impressive on a whole new level from what I’ve looked at through out Paris. The Opera is still a fully functional Opera, when we were there they had their tech crew in the theater, working on lights and moving stage props. It was a really cool thing to see them still working, as tourist and school groups are walking about, the Opera still works. In Fact Jessie and Keri, went to the Opera last night, I haven’t had time to talk to them about it yet, but I’m sure they had a fabulous time. There is something to be said about keeping such a massive structure and holding it to its true function, after so many years, wars, and revolutions. It’s pretty remarkable.

 

          ^   The View from outside of the Opera

<   When you first enter the Opera, there were these bright bright                  purple neon lights, beautiful in parts but also distracting

People Watching

Throughout this whole trip something that I have really been attracted to is how people move about. I think I really started to think about this when we were at Versailles when people were being herded through massive decadent rooms, filled to the brim with patterns and gold and art. This really came to my attention because the situation at Versailles was way over stimulating for me to deal with, and what made it a little bit easier for me is stepping back in the corner and analyzing the people and the space.
At Versailles, it was literally a massive herd being pushed through room to room.
At the Louvre it was similar, although much more breathing room, the thing there that was difficult to deal with was the massive tour groups. I felt like if I didn't move out of the way, they would trample me and then I would become a pancake.

Speaking of Pancakes, the Pompidou was really amazing. *note I will blog separately about the whole Pompidou experience soon*

Alberto Giacometti! My heart stopped for his works. His figures are really breathtaking, like they were craved out of thin air.

This is a small image of some of the figures he tends to create, although this piece wasn't at the Pompidou, this has had an huge effect on me.

It's these figures that I want to create.
So I began looking at people all over Paris, how the move through the subway, how the move on the street. Even how the streets are constructed for people to move through them. I began filming everything. Thinking that photography just would do me justice.

This is a film still I took of people moving throughout the Opera house. I have been filming the whole time here and I'm not sure what it will all succumb to yet, although these ideas of mass transit and figures in space are spinning in my mind.

Maison La Roche

During our tour of a beautiful house designed by Le Corbusier, we were asked to take a critical look at how Corbusier’s talents overlap throughout his different mediums. Le Corbusier, is a sculpture, an architect and a painter, some vastly different mediums and ways of thinking. As I was moving throughout the house, keeping his paintings and his sculptures in mind, I felt like this was going to be an impossible task. His paintings and his sculptures have a lot going on, its very jumbly (a word used by our class to describe busy).  His house was clean and strict, with harsh lines and angles, some curves here and there, but for the most part it was very modern. Below are the three photos that I felt best describes his work.

After taking in my surroundings, looking for Le Corbusier's eye, I started looking in my own way. Below are a couple photos of things within the house that really got me. 

^a view from windows in the gallery inside the house^

Wednesday 29th

After a long morning of presentations and discussions, the Foundation Cartier was what filled up our day. This was a contemporary gallery that housed some of the most impressive hyper real figurative sculpture I have ever seen.

The building was designed by, Jean Nouvel, the same designer of the Quai Branley, so when I frist met the Foundation Cartier, I was faced with a large glass fence of sorts, which translated so many of the same feelings I had at the Quai Branley.

Ron Mueck

I am absolutely amazed with what I saw today! When I first walked into the main room, I pretty much felt weak to my knees, the scale of the first figures that I was met with were about 2/3’s larger than us. This did something fantastical to me; It turned the whole landscape and environment into a small little performance, where everyone was one third the size. I’m still digesting it after only seeing it a few hour ago, but it was so odd how everyone marvels at it, when we are the tiny ones, they should be marveling at us. Not that the sculptures are alive, but they have such a aura in the room, sometimes I caught myself visualizing them breathings, and blinking.

To juxtapose this, in all of the other rooms (except one piece in the basement) the sculptures were 1/3 smaller than us, creating odd child/parent-like reactions. Feelings turn from fear to empathy. I could go on for days and days about the power Ron Mueck has over me. But summing it up I will say that something I strive to do with my work is question the scale of my viewer and change their center of gravity in a way, and Mueck does all that and more. 

We were unable to take photos in the gallery, this image is from

 http://www.wallpaper.com/art/sculptor-ron-muecks-solo-exhibition-at-fondation-cartier-paris/6455

(which also has other photos and an article) 

QUAI BRANLEY

  Musee Qaui Branley really made my head turn into scrambled eggs. First of all the whole building on the outside is amazing! it has such great landscape, with wild flowers and plants growing all around, and then this massive structure that like a boulder, with beautiful reds and steels. The building is really unique on a lot of different levels, first of all the had each side of the building designed beautifully (top, left, right, and bottom)

 

  on top of having such a beautiful exterior In Interior was absoultly mind blowing. with the exhibits that had, to the lay out of the exhibits.

I was really interested in the upper level exhibit, it was all about hair and women, and it just really floored me I was speechless. above, theres a photo of the back of a bust that was in the Hair show, and within in that, there are reflections all around of different photographs and then the best part of that is a little girl. She just really made the image for me.

>to the side here and right above were some photos I took outside of Quai Branley. There was this giant glass wall, separating the rest of paris from Quai Branley. So the wall was absolutely stunning, but was even more intriguing to me was the reflects, and watching people walk past.

Overall Quai Branley gets a two thumbs!

Transitions

Transitioning into ‘modern’ Paris.

Yesterday was full of emotions. The Musee Rodin was probably one of the most amazing museums I have ever been to. Knowing that we are transitioning into a more modern world and modern way of looking at art, seeing Auguste Rodin’s work was a really nice bridge.

I noticed that he started expressing the human body, not necessarily in a heroic way all of the time. He shows humans in a human way, with pain and tragedy. Rodin has a humanistic approach to sculpting in my eyes.

After the Musee Rodin, we moved into the Musee d’Orsay, which is a huge place marker for the modern world. Everything in the museum was somewhere around 1840-1914, but nothing before that and nothing after that. Looking at the work with that in context, it was amazing to see how truly advanced the think was. Seeing Van Goghs work especially, the use of color within his work is… honestly there are no words to describe it. Using orange and reds in the eyes, pink in the church, green in the skin, there is nothing like that in the world.

I spent a lot of time sketching at the Musee Rodin, below are some pages from my book. I looked very deeply into Rodin’s Eve. One of the most beautiful sculptures in my opinion.

summing up

Versailles, Norte Dame, Louvre, Pantheon, Latin Quarter, Coffee, Bread, Bread with Cheese, Cameras and the Metro.

I guess if I were to sum up my past three days in 15 words or less, that would be it.

Considering this is an academic course, I can do more than that. So maybe I will format this post for all my friends and family and scholarly readers in a organized manner.  I’ll start with the first thing that I encountered in the city of love.

The Metro!

I am so surprised at how simple it is to use the Metro. Right after I got off the plane, it was right there and took me almost right to the hostel. And for the past few days this is how we have been getting around. It is a really easy a convenient system, it really makes me think about how behind on the times of subway design we are in the states.

Coffee

Having traveled to Europe before, I was expecting great things from Paris in terms of their caffeine. As far as I am concerned all my expectations have been far exceeded. After walking around all day, the best most delicious thing in the world is an espresso shot.

Bread & Bread with Cheese

Typical mornings breakfast at the hostel, but still, always amazing. All the food here has been outstanding so far. Being the Wisconsin carb and cheese loving girl that I am, I am pretty much in heaven. I love trying new food and learning about cultural dishes and Paris is a pretty great place to do so.

Norte Dame

I feel like its just as amazing as everyone has said it is. Although there is a certain feeling that overcomes one when they are sitting in front of something built hundreds and hundreds of years of ago. To me there is an awakening of self worth, and there is this moment when all of sudden you realize how small you are in comparison to the rest of the world. But to be honest, perhaps the majority of Paris makes me feel that way.

Versailles

Possibly one of the most decadent and elaborate structures I have ever seen. If you sit here and think about all the words you could ever use to describe something big, none of the words in the world would be able to accurately fit Versailles. The Gardens were so unbelievably beautiful, although the inside building was not the best experience I had ever had in my lifetime. The people there were swarming, it was like a giant herd of people, and if you didn’t move with them they pushed you to the side.

Louvre

Oh My! I want to say there are no words for how the Louvre made me feel but I am sure I can think of a few. We had been there literally the whole day and to think that I only saw not even 1/8 of the artwork there. It gives me chills down my back. The enormity of the Louvre and almost everything in it; is outstanding.  We all sat together as a class and looked at Gericault’s the Raft of the Medusa. Before that, I don’t think I had ever spent more than an hour looking at one painting. And I had never spent so long in such a crowded place, looking at a painting so large. After a while within that painting, I started to really become attune to my surroundings. I started noticing everyone looking at this piece. For the next 45 minutes, I took pictures of people taking pictures, and looked at people looking. After that we were released to look on our own and find two works to compare. I spent 3 and a half hours looking at one piece, without even realizing it.

Pantheon & Latin Quarter

I fell in love with the Latin Quarter, as my dear father told me I would. The Latin Quarter is all the schools are, it is amazing to see all the students! And everyone was so beautiful! I can’t believe the Pantheon as well. It’s almost funny how it works out, the Romans had created a Pantheon hundreds of years before with better construction and almost better technology. I saw its funny because the Pantheon in the Latin Quarter has to be completely redone.

Summing up my experience in a small blog post in nearly impossible. But either I can rightfully say that Paris is the most amazing city I have ever encountered in my lifetime so time. 

>AM