Headed out for breakfast and a day of exploring in the breeze and sunshine of Rome. Yesterday’s rain cooled the city down, and it’s amazingly comfortable today. Hoping to get some more sketching in today.
Via dell’Arco del Monte
Penciling in Rome
Category / Art and Photography
Roman Dreams-Come-True
At the Pantheon
After sketching yesterday morning, I spent almost all of the day editing the article we hope to have published in the Journal of Engineering Education.
I was inspired by emails that Mike Murphy, Eddie Conlon, and I received from the editor of the book we’ve written a chapter for. He emailed us:
The chapter is a very timely, central and relevant chapter for Springer vol II. It would also have fitted nicely into vol I section I. The chapter has a clear, logical, and coherent structure, is well written and very interesting to read. In particular in clarifying the confusion surrounding the engineer and engineering technologist distinction the chapter provides new and useful insights. Moreover there is a good integration between theoretical positions mentioned in the introductory framing of the identity issue and the remaining part. Research problems and methods are clearly stated.
I nearly got clubbed by a Roman!
The chapter is accepted for publication in its present form. Congratulations.
and then the next day:
Your chapter is very good and there is absolutely no reason to change anything. My congratulations to you and your co-authors. Well done.
These messages were a dream come true! They helped keep me focused through many hours of editing yesterday.
At 4:30 PM, I headed out for a tour of the Villa Farnese, a sandwich and ice cream (I hadn’t eaten since breakfast), and a little stroll through the city.
I haven’t shown it here, but I strolled past the site I often use for projects with my Hampton University students. There’s been construction activity on the site for the past two years, because a parking garage was planned. For years, they’ve been excavating here (because there are Roman ruins under the ground everywhere here and they have to study and document them). The signage surrounding the site is now different from it was last summer and last September (when I last visited). I’m hoping this change means someone important decided against installing a parking garage; it would be a travesty to put such a structure on Via Gulia!
From Borromini’s clock tower at Piazza Orologio…
…I headed east for an ice cream at the Frigidarium (2 Euro for two flavors dipped in chocolate!)….
…and I headed onward toward Piazza Navona…
…where I nearly got clubbed by a Roman!
After Navona, I usually continue through the courtyard of San Ivo…
…on my way to the Pantheon (my favorite building in the world!)
Drawing Marcello
Theatro Marcello in Rome
The OU students put the in-studio drawing lesson (that Daisy Williams delivered Monday) to work on site today. We met at ISU’s academic center and headed over to the nearby Teatro Marcello to draw. The students practiced the charcoal and pastel techniques they’ve been learning, while I used the mechanical pencil I had on hand.
The sketch I made in class.
Every one of OU’s study abroad students…
…decided to enroll in the drawing class.
Some of them are art or art history majors…
…others are majoring in architecture.
Today, they all practiced charcoal drawing techniques…
under the towers surrounding Teatro Marcello.
Drawing with Daisy
My former colleague at Hampton University, Daisy Williams, is teaching two different classes in Rome this summer in addition to being the director of University of Oregon’s study abroad program in the ancient city. One is architecture studio and the other is a drawing course, pictured here.
Tomorrow, I’ll join the drawing course for a morning outing… so I’d better hit the sack now!
Daisy’s drawing class in action.
The Library at Iowa State’s Rome center.
The entry stair at Iowa State’s Rome center, where Daisy’s studio and drawing courses are held.
Passage in Toulon
I’d forgotten how much I love Toulon, France. It’s a naval town, and the sister city of Norfolk, Virginia, where I live in the States.
The little plazas–scattered throughout Toulon–are amazing. Full of character and life. And, they are so close together that you’re never more than half a block from a lively public space.
Our Hampton University architecture program has worked with officials and urban planners in Toulon each summer since 2010 to develop design strategies for revitalizing the city using architecture and urban design.
This year’s HU students in the plaza in front of the opera house, on the way to an event.
Reception hosted by the Sister Cities organization in Toulon.
A sketch I made this year of a pedestrian friendly street in Toulon. We got to see inside an apartment on this street in 2010.
This refection photo from Toulon was part of my recent exhibition.
Fulbrighting at Glasnevin Cemetery
Hanging out with Daniel O’Connell. My photography exhibition was held in the house where he used to live, on Merrion Square.
Our Fulbright shin dig included a visit to Glasnevin Cemetery. I’d spent about an hour here, just outside the gate, one evening near Halloween when Esther was visiting. That was part of the (very worthwhile and historically accurate) Ghost bus tour and we followed it up with a visit to John Kavanagh’s “Gravediggers” pub.
The cemetery itself was started outside the city, at the same time the same thing was happening all over the USA. The American cemetery movement actually sparked the American park movement, believe it or not. The historian J. B. Jackson explains that people found they loved going to the suburban cemeteries — which were new and had wide open (corpse-free) spaces. These early cemeteries were well-designed and had beautiful architectural features, as you can see on the home page for Thornrose Cemetery where my grandparents lay today. In any case, in the ten year period of the Civil War, nearly every American city built a “central” park, and Frederick Law Olmstead’s office designed many of them… and many college campuses too.
Wikipedia has some of the most interesting info online regarding this particular cemetery:
Glasnevin Cemetery (Irish: Reilig Ghlas Naíon), officially known as Prospect Cemetery, is the largest non-denominational cemetery in Ireland with an estimated 1.5 million burials.[1] It first opened in 1832, and is located in Glasnevin, Dublin.
The stories I heard on our tour of the cemetery brought to life for me the history of Michael Collins and Daniel O’Connell, two of Ireland’s most important political figures. Éamon de Valera and Countess Markievicz are also buried here.
The 2012-13 Fulbright Ireland crew…
…visiting Michael Collins grave…
…at the famous Glasnevin Cemetery.
Michael Collins grave…
…draws a crowd and is visited…
…each and every day of the year.
There’s also a monument here…
dedicated to Daniel O’Connell.
Although he was a pacifist…
..his monument was bombed by Loyalists.
And today there is still no stair to the top.
We learned about the man…
..and the history of this place.
In times of disease, they sealed coffins like these carefully to keep illness from spreading.
Countess Markevicz, the first elected female minister, is buried here.
We learned about mass graves…
..and famous writers.
We visited the oldest grave…
…and learned how they’d bought remains of a famous person from the UK here, to convince people to use this cemetery.
Today there’s massive restoration work…
…being done…
…to rectify the lack…
…of proper foundations.
Photos in the News
Yesterday, Joanne from the Fulbright Ireland office sent a number of links to news stories about the photo show. Unfortunately, tomorrow is the final day, and Joanne and I will be hard at work dismounting the work from the walls of O’Connell House.
DIT news
Notre Dame news
O’Connell House news
In W&M News Today
Joanne A. Davidson, the Fulbright Ireland Communications & Information Officer, just sent me the link to William and Mary’s website. Yesterday, they posted a piece about my exhibition on their main news page!
Purchasing a Reflection
Circa 1835, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
I’m posting the images from my photography show, for all of you who didn’t get to attend the opening and take a catalogue home. The title of the show is “Inter-Changes: Reflections from Dublin and Beyond” and it is on display at the O’Connell House at from 9-5 weekdays at 58 Merrion Square, in Dublin 2, from May 8-31, 2013. I’ll be there next Monday, May 27 from 12-2 for one last “Meet the Artist” session.
If you’d like to purchase one of the works, please contact me via email at shannonchance (at) verizon (dot) net. The images are currently selling for 80 Euros or 100 dollars each, plus shipping and handling.
The copyright for these images belongs to Shannon Chance. If you want to use them for commercial purposes, please contact me. You may use them for personal or educational purposes as long as you cite me as the author.
My most sincere thanks to all who attended the launch of this exhibition. You have helped make my time in Ireland memorable and worthwhile! Thanks for reflecting on Ireland with me….
Portofino Telescope, Portofino, Italy, May 2009
Hipsters on the Green, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
Reflecting on Henry Street, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
Ode to Monet, Dublin, Ireland, February 2013
Life on the Liffey, Dublin, Ireland, February 2013
Symbols of Trinity, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
Pen Corner, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
Aspiring, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
Office Lingo, Dublin, Ireland, March 2012
Distilling History, Kilbeggan, Ireland, September 2012
Another King, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
On the Move, Dublin, Ireland, February 2013
Disbelief, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
The Dame and St. George, Dublin, Ireland, February 2013
Grafton Skyline, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
Eyes on Dame Street, Dublin, Ireland, February 2013
Changing Tides, Roberts Cove, Ireland, February 2013
Regal Marks, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
Shipping Out, Cobh, Ireland, February 2013
Morning Stillness, Clifden, Ireland, September 2012
Window Dressing, Dublin, Ireland, February 2013
Westmoreland Yellow, Dublin, Ireland, March 2012
St. Johns Lower, Kilkenny, Ireland, September 2012
Attitude, Dublin, Ireland, February 2013
Quay of Tall Ships, Dublin, Ireland, August 2012
Classic Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, February 2013
Modern Trinity, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
Bald Barista, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
Illumination, Dublin, Ireland, March 2011
Open on the Liffey, Dublin, Ireland, February 2013
Essence of Beauty, Toulon, France, June 2010
Parisian Isis, Paris, France, June 2010
Madrid Shadows, Madrid, Spain, March 2009
Leaning Madrid, Madrid, Spain, March 2009
Dalai Lama, New York, USA, July 2009
Reflections of Life in Trastevere, Rome, Italy, June 2009
Modern Time Warp, Dublin, Ireland, March 2012
Towering Chicago, Chicago, USA, August 2008
Ripple Effect, Torno, Italy, June 2009
Chicago Remix, Chicago, USA, August 2008
Showing Off
Joe Dennehy and Brendan Kennedy dropped by O’Connell House to see the photo show today. That really brightened my spirits (I lost a hard drive this morning and was having it replaced at the time).
Joe teaches Business at DIT and Brendan is an Engineering Technology student who helped me iron out kinks in the identity survey I conducted in collaboration with Mike Murphy.
While I was at O’Connell House, Lisa Caulfield purchased a photo. That was another highlight of my day!
I installed dots on the photos that have sold — a total of nine to date.
Ireland by Chance 