Entries from October 2009
LAC New York Trip p1
October 27, 2009 · Leave a Comment
This year I finally went on the New York Trip with the Liberal Arts College. I’ve been invited to go along numerous times while I was pursuing my Theatre degree, but was always unable to go because of time constraints. I was very excited to be going down. I only deviated from the trip by staying with my boyfriend instead of with the group.
Here are some reactions and reflections:
Day 1: The Bus Ride down
We all met to depart early in the morning and there was some delay waiting for one student to arrive. It fun to see how excited everyone was. I’ve been fortunate to go down many times during the past year to visit my boyfriend, so the novelty of going to a new celebrated city for the first time has faded. But the excitement, as well as the colds on the bus, were contagious. Once we arrived I left the group to meet with said boyfriend and made him dinner. I went to Trader Joes, my favourite grocery store in the world. I made a simple dinner because I was tuckered out from the long (9 hours) drive down: Linguini with Vodka Sauce with a baguette and salad with italian dressing.
Day 2: Met and Cloisters and Mamet
This was the third time I’ve been Met, and each experience so far has been different. The first time was overwhelming, the second was romantic given the special exhibit was on Italian Renaissance Art and done over the Valentine’s weekend, and now the third was very educational and illuminating.
Our art history professor concentrated on Medieval Art, especially sculpture for the Virgin Mary and Child and the difference in the representation throughout the period. We also saw a detail that I never noticed before: unmotivated movement in drapery on statue. When on my own I used that time to explore the the Greek and Roman Art in order to see the different styles first hand that I’ve been looking at in pictures all of this semester.
A small group of us ate on the Met steps, I had two hot dogs from a Street vendor. Which was tasty but I’m certain wasn’t the best choice, but the quickest. Then we went off to the Cloisters.
That was a definite first for me. It was interesting and beautiful. Although I have to say by the time we got there I had a few moments of feeling “museum-ed out”. But that quickly faded as we started to explored and learn. Seeing images that we had seen in class up close with a professor speaking with us was the interesting. Walking around the museum felt like a time warp. The most memorable were:
- Tomb Effigies: Seeing the stone, and shape of the people who had died was beautiful but also eery.
- Bonnefont Cloister garden: this was the moment of time travel for me. I’ve been always been interested in Paganism, and it’s place in history so seeing so-called magical plants up close was fun.
- The Unicorn Tapestries: They made me sad, and affected me. The images of conquest, attack, capture- they made me feel for this creature. We were told of that it was a representation of X, but that didn’t change my reaction. A lot of people expressed that it was beautiful but I couldn’t get past my first reaction.
After we left the Cloisters, myself and a small group of students went to TKTS. The majority went to see Chicago, but myself and a new friend went to see the revival of David Mamet’s Oleanna at the Golden Theatre. This two-hander starred Julia Stiles as Carol, and Bill Pullman as her professor John. As a fan of Stiles, I was excited to see her perform live. The power play on stage was- well wasn’t balanced, or reflective of the Mamet’s work. Carol is suppose to be seen as confused, and John to be strong. And for that power to shift throughout the play. But Stile’s is defiant and strong, and it’s hard to feel as if she truly is falling apart. In contrast John seems to be a victim of Carol in the first scene. The dynamics were off. Even the blocking, seemed to be stagnant. But overall it was a satisfying play, and interesting to watch the struggle between the two characters.
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