Comments on: Thinking about Thinking in Rome: part four http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2009/11/19/thinking-about-thinking-in-rome-part-four/ The IMA blog is a space to discuss everything related to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:32:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Eric Fulford http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2009/11/19/thinking-about-thinking-in-rome-part-four/comment-page-1/#comment-59085 Eric Fulford Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:04:56 +0000 http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/?p=9462#comment-59085 Ah Roma....We feel it's presence,perhaps less intensely,in the smallest expressions of our everyday life and work. Yet when I spoke of experiences similar to yours when recently interviewed by Landscape Architecture Magazine about the Rome Prize I got the distinct impression of a lack of interest, which was later reflected in their article. Though our experience was uncommon, a family living in the city, shopping for food everyday establishing relationships with our local street market vendors, bakers, sweet shops, it was what defined our year. Ah Roma….We feel it’s presence,perhaps less intensely,in the smallest expressions of our everyday life and work. Yet when I spoke of experiences similar to yours when recently interviewed by Landscape Architecture Magazine about the Rome Prize I got the distinct impression of a lack of interest, which was later reflected in their article. Though our experience was uncommon, a family living in the city, shopping for food everyday establishing relationships with our local street market vendors, bakers, sweet shops, it was what defined our year.

]]> By: Linda http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2009/11/19/thinking-about-thinking-in-rome-part-four/comment-page-1/#comment-58413 Linda Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:24:58 +0000 http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/?p=9462#comment-58413 I do remember that you went to the AAR, Eric, but don't believe we ever got a chance to discuss. The quote from your presentation is right-on. A sense of the beauty and fertility of the earth was ever-present with me during my time there - and it's interesting to consider multiple cultural and situational reasons why that sense was heightened. I wrote a kind of diary entry on this after my first week in Rome: 5 October, 2009 I’ve been thinking about how my body feels, and how it is to be in this environment. I’m not sure if it is the radically different diet – organic, seasonal, local to Rome, hugely varied with small amounts of dozens of foods each day – but something has changed in the way my insides relate to the outside world. I feel as though my body energetically interacts with the environment, as though I am engaged in an on-going physical and biological conversation with this place. In truth it feels a little overwhelming! I was used to experiencing my body as more-or-less a constant entity, and the food I eat as fuel that maintains that constant state. Lately I feel less constant and life feels a bit more intense. Inside and outside, myself and this place: these don’t seem to have such defined boundaries. Ah, Roma! Thanks for sharing your reflection, Eric. I do remember that you went to the AAR, Eric, but don’t believe we ever got a chance to discuss. The quote from your presentation is right-on. A sense of the beauty and fertility of the earth was ever-present with me during my time there – and it’s interesting to consider multiple cultural and situational reasons why that sense was heightened. I wrote a kind of diary entry on this after my first week in Rome:

5 October, 2009
I’ve been thinking about how my body feels, and how it is to be in this environment. I’m not sure if it is the radically different diet – organic, seasonal, local to Rome, hugely varied with small amounts of dozens of foods each day – but something has changed in the way my insides relate to the outside world. I feel as though my body energetically interacts with the environment, as though I am engaged in an on-going physical and biological conversation with this place. In truth it feels a little overwhelming! I was used to experiencing my body as more-or-less a constant entity, and the food I eat as fuel that maintains that constant state. Lately I feel less constant and life feels a bit more intense. Inside and outside, myself and this place: these don’t seem to have such defined boundaries. Ah, Roma!

Thanks for sharing your reflection, Eric.

]]> By: eric fulford http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2009/11/19/thinking-about-thinking-in-rome-part-four/comment-page-1/#comment-58376 eric fulford Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:22:32 +0000 http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/?p=9462#comment-58376 LINDA, LINDA, LINDA.........thanks for sharing your recent experience in Rome. You may have forgotten but Ann, my son and I spent an incredible year at the AAR in Rome. Would love to share some thots related to the stated goal of your project. Hopefully we'll talk later, but I will leave you with a quote from my presentation to the AAR Board. "With these words comes the recognition that I will no longer be in Rome. It will be a little like losing a part of myself, but it also will be about finding myself with a new voice, a new expression, astounded by the beauty witnessed. In the end, I imagine it will not only be the monuments to man or church, or the grand piazzas, or the marble or bronze statues that will endure, but also the richness of the earth that has sustained such vanities for so long, still producing in its fertile fields and hillsides, grapes, olives, fruits and vegetables in a purposeful beauty that enthralls." ERIC FULFORD LINDA, LINDA, LINDA………thanks for sharing your recent experience in Rome. You may have forgotten but Ann, my son and I spent an incredible year at the AAR in Rome. Would love to share some thots related to the stated goal of your project. Hopefully we’ll talk later, but I will leave you with a quote from my presentation to the AAR Board.
“With these words comes the recognition that I will no longer be in Rome. It will be a little like losing a part of myself, but it also will be about finding myself with a new voice, a new expression, astounded by the beauty witnessed. In the end, I imagine it will not only be the monuments to man or church, or the grand piazzas, or the marble or bronze statues that will endure, but also the richness of the earth that has sustained such vanities for so long, still producing in its fertile fields and hillsides, grapes, olives, fruits and vegetables in a purposeful beauty that enthralls.” ERIC FULFORD

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