Author: Hailey Henkel

As this maymester was going on, I wasn’t sure about myself in terms of either my blog posts or my sketchbook. I honestly felt that my content for blog posts and my content for sketchbook just wouldn’t meet the cut, but as I take a minute to look at both my blog and my sketchbook I realize how much I have grown. I realize that I’ve seen and experienced many things while in Milan. I’ve gone to places I never thought I would and really tried my best to improve not only my sketching skills, but also my ability to write and capture an audience. I genuinely feel that my blog post and my sketchbook aren’t something to me ashamed of, but a sneak peek into my adventure throughout Milan and how I’ve grown as an individual. I’ve felt each part of this course was amazing and as I said farewell during our farewell dinner, I felt sad that the people I had grown close to were no longer going to be there during my day-to-day adventures. So, honestly, from the bottom of my heart, this course was something magical and the experiences I have written down and the sketches I have detailing all that I’ve learned and seen are something that can never be replaced.

It’s been a fun and interesting ride. I’ve met amazing people on the journey and seen amazing sites. This week was the start of a new side adventure as we made our way into a small town outside of Verona. It was nice to see a town with its bustling community and wonderful scenery, but the best part was the beginning of the evening. We were actually able to see the workings of typography. This showed the process of printing, which hadn’t been achieved for quite some time. This was mainly done before printers at home and with the use of a computer. Back then, it was Gutenberg’s bible that was the main part of history showing the first printing press at work. This bible, which is also present at UT, was a show of how history has changed and how difficult it was to create and invent during that time. An interesting video we watched was the actual creation of sheet music. It was quite a feat. Not only did they have to slowly use a pin to push out patterns on a sheet of metal, but then they needed to fill it with ink and make sure that ink was in every piece of the music. This was a hard and long process that didn’t allow any mistakes. A person could literally create the whole music sheet, but if they messed up the last page, then they needed to start over. Another interesting part was how it was all done by hand. Each of these sheets of music didn’t require a robot and instead required a skilled worker to shape and work with the metal. It was amazing to see a video of this long and tedious process and wonder how they could accomplish such a feat for long works of music.

Then afterwards, we were able to see the printing process in action. This was crazy as we picked out each individual letter and had to make sure that it lined up exactly. Then, in order to get the right color of ink, ink needed to be mixed together and placed directly on a metal cylinder. This process took quite a bit of time as they laid layers on the metal and slowly wheeled it across the letter’s surface. I had never seen this process and finally being able to see a master at their craft gave me a greater appreciation for older books that were printed in the masses through this process of lining up letters. It was even difficult to work with a typewriter during this time. Laying the letters down and working with the material was a hard matter. I really felt this experience was worthwhile and can’t wait to show my family the canvas that was created right in front of me.

Thus far my sketch notebook has not only been an adventure into getting to know my drawing style and how I can progress as an artist even though I didn’t even consider that a possibility. It’s also a way to take notes and look back on my previous adventures throughout Milan and how this study abroad experience has impacted me. It’s also a way to find the interesting ads of Milan and show them to colleagues and learn the differences in culture that are present here. One of my favorite sketches currently is the one above. The reason I greatly enjoy it is because to me it feels like a pun and even to the people of Italy I believe it is taken that way. I think this is the case because in the headline it says “eately,” which to Italians is how you pronounce the word Italy, and it also contains the word “eat.” This amazing pun made me laugh for a good ten minutes as I realized the play on words and really wanted to congratulate the agency that thought of this one. Even though I have no idea what the ad is actually saying, I can tell that it’s related to food with not only the picture of the woman holding bags of food but also the word “eately” telling me. It also seems to be strictly for Italy and would not even come close to working in the United States, which I feel gives it that uniqueness and sincerity that can only be achieved here.

This week had a very anxious start with the final presentation of our glimpses into Milan and the amazing amount of information presented about our buildings. Through this amazing adventure, we were able to meet the community of Milan firsthand and interact with the city instead of just staring at its wonders. We memorized street names and coffee shops. Smelled the fresh fruits and live atmosphere that kept Milan the amazing destination for those to live and work here. It was a great experience and being able to tell the experience was even more rewarding. I was even asked at the end for more information regarding my story that I told while we walked. The story included actually being able to see a building in the style of a village. It was remarkable to learn how others in Milan live and be astounded by how incredibly similar their living situations were to those in, for instance, New Orleans with the expanded courtyards and the beautiful layout that allowed a person to see those around them when staring up in the courtyard. It was a great experience and retelling it was even better. Being able to hear each of us present this experience to our classmates and retell stories we had constantly practiced was really hard and nerve wracking, but fulfilling.

Friday we had the chance to walk the famous cemetery known as Cimitero Monumentale di Staglieno. This cemetery was a great experience and really allowed me to get to know Milan in a way that most Milanese get to know and incorporate into their life. Religion is a large part of the culture of the Italian people and is primarily Catholic. This inspires the idea that death isn’t just an ending for the Italian people, but a new beginning with God. For this reason, the burial grounds of the deceased are built in an extravegant way to commemorate their ascent into heaven. As I walked through the grounds it was clear that there was much sadness and grief from those still living, but a type of happiness that they are with God. This was shown with sculptures and huge buildings to commemorate their passing. One amazing part of watching the graves as I was passing is seeing how brightly the flowers still bloomed in this famous cemetery and how those ancestors that are still present never forget those long past. Also seeing how well kept and organized each of the graves were and how intricate the sculptures were made me wish that I was loved in the same way as these individuals and remembered like they were. To have that kind of impact on the earth would be a great blessing.

After seeing these amazing graves I felt inspired to go to Florence for the day and see the grave of Galileo Galilei. I had heard great things about how intricate his grave was and others like it inside the Basilica. I wanted to see firsthand how this famous individual’s grave was and how he was remembered after his death even though the church didn’t entirely believe him until recently. However, once stepping inside the basilica I was blown away by the intricate tombs, but even more blown away by how on the ground were tombs themselves. Everywhere there was marble and letters of those that were placed and constantly remembered. There were even areas that had been blocked off with rope in order to preserve certain graves. These had intricate carvings into the marble in the ground and had clear lettering on each grave. It was a beautiful site and even the amazing grave of Galileo was something that took my breath away. It was set in marble and matched with two amazing statues that clearly showed how scholarly and amazing he was as an individual in his life. I loved the gold add-ons and loved how he was clearly shown as he used to look. It was a great experience and one I will highly recommend to everyone I meet in the future when going to Florence.

For this week, my favorite experience was the Kartell museum. This was filled with plastic in beautiful shapes and sizes that I’d never seen before. I really enjoyed getting a chance to see plastic in this way and shaped in a way that heavily influenced to Italian people. It allowed for the simple production of buckets and even something as simple as a chair. In one instance, the guide told of how a child’s chair was created. This was done at first because of the molding that required a certain amount of plastic; however, it was actually a great creation because it allowed parents to give this chair to their children and no longer worry about getting stains or other substances on the chair that would ruin it in the long run since it could easily be washed off. This was an important piece and eventually paved the way to my above sketch of tables with unique and interesting designs created by the husband and wife duo that had an interesting background in chemistry and architecture. These two were design geniuses and paved the way for plastics to be seen as not a cheap solution, but a creative one that would allow Italians to do the jobs they needed and not worry about decaying material or even fragile material with the use of combining plastic and other materials.

So, this week we began really delving into the mapping project we were given. It was an interesting experience and a great way to discover Milan in our own way and give our own perspective on this magnificent place. An interesting part of the adventure was finding a woman that actually allowed us to venture into her apartment complex. It seemed odd at first as we were talking about the architecture in the surrounding area and how it would influence our project, but the woman approached us stating she had a design of the apartment she lives in that is interesting and would help us. Inside we were amazed to find a courtyard in what seemed to be a motel sort of set up. She stated that this type of building was meant to be a sort of village that would allow people to easily communicate with each other and share resources and stories. It was an important part of Italian culture as it was attempted to be the standard. However, it’s not as widely known and because of this, the woman wanted us to experience this small taste of Italy’s past in terms of architecture. This was only a small piece of our project, but to have such important information early on was truly a blessing and made our outlook of our map all the different by the wonderful community that seemed to live in the area.

 

When I first began this journey abroad, one important graph our coordinator showed us was the downward slope that’s created near the end of the journey and how it affects those around you. In this case, it was quite a few factors that created my downward slope. The first of which was my loss of internet. I am currently taking this course as well as a physics course, so not having an internet connection was, honestly, a death sentence. I couldn’t finish my blogs in time and I wasn’t able to reach out to my friends or family because I didn’t have data. This also led to the realization that unlike the U.S., where there are random cafes that give wifi and allow you to sit and work, these cafes don’t exist here. It seems that Italians don’t have this type of lifestyle, which didn’t work in my favor. Once I finally did get an internet connection, I decided to celebrate! Hooray, internet! I may as well go out with friends to enjoy Milan a bit. However, in the process of my celebration, I actually lost my wallet. It was honestly a stab to the chest in an already rough week.

However, even though these events did happen to me and I do feel poorly about it, I do have some bright sides. Thanks to the outstanding staff at IES, I did manage to communicate with the police and file a report, then get a new metro pass at the Centrale station. Also, thanks to the outstanding teacher I have, I was only met with understanding when I couldn’t post my blogs in a timely fashion. So, though these awful events did happen, it didn’t bring me all the way down. I did manage to look on the positive side which was that at least my wallet wasn’t filled with a lot of money or with important documents such as my passport. This situation could have been a lot worse, and we could have even been without an internet connection for longer, but was only without it for most of the week, not for the next week and the weekend. It was quite a turn of events to receive the text saying the internet was back.

I also feel that, just like the graph shown to us, the downward curve does have an incline and I honestly have a greater appreciation for the time I do have and the exhibits that are to come in the future. It seems that these small realizations have shaped and accustomed me to a standard of living in Italy that I was not used to before. It humbles me to my past and my future and makes me grateful for this opportunity at becoming more cultured and being able to laugh about these events. And also hopefully, my family doesn’t get too worried about me being on my own and can trust me a bit more on how I handle a crisis type situation.

Grand Canal of Venice by Umberto Boccioni

Novel of a Seamstress by Umberto Boccioni

While visiting exhibits we were able to see some amazing works of art that really inspired and brought together the ideas of futurism with many colors and talents from many artists. Two that really stood out to me was Novel of a Seamstress and Grand Canal of Venice by Umberto Boccioni. Both of these amazing works done with oil on canvas and done beautifully. I had never seen such detail done with oil paints before and to allow for such depth and shadow to appear in this work. Umberto Boccioni himself focused his energy on working during the futurism movement and creating pieces from this time. However, I felt the strongest connection with these portraits that were created earlier in his life in Italy where he pushed for portraits, mainly of his mother and landscapes of the beautiful scenery. I felt a deep connection with these portraits even though they aren’t too closely related to his more intense work done during the futurism movement which focused more on abstract shapes and designs. I felt that this was remarkable in its own right and deserved to be recognized as an astounding piece.

During this week, we actually had a chance to visit the Alessi museum. It wasn’t quite a museum as told by the host, but it was something to behold. Even the extravagant way in which our guide moved the shelves was amazing. With this turnstile type wheel, the shelves were moved across the floor and pushed each other into one direction in order to get to the shelf beside the one being pushed. It was amazing and a remarkable use of engineering and creative genius. The entire presentation of the items in this museum was amazing. There was constantly something interesting to look at and another interesting story to back it up. One of my absolute favorites was how the son of the original owners, made his own by bringing in amazing artists such as Salvador Dali to come in and create an interesting piece of their own. It was so great to see someone born from such a creative family to admire the art of those around them and understand the importance of these artists when it comes to the inspiration of great design. It was even interesting seeing how architects were the main assets for design genius during this time and weren’t used for strictly designing buildings, but also modeling their tea set to the shape of cities.