michelangelo's ceiling

Ezekiel

 For two weeks this summer I absorbed the art and culture of  Rome and Florence.  My second day in Rome included a visit to the Sistine Chapel. This past month since I returned has been invested in reading books about Michelangelo and his colossal painting project. The living experience and the reading is now distilled in a lengthy paper titled, "Michelangelo's Ceiling". The following is the beginning and ending of that paper.

Introduction

“I grew up in Rome and was so familiar with Michelangelo that I never questioned whether his work looked now as it had in his own day. I took it for granted than one could hardly make out the figures on Michelangelo’s ceiling, so deeply were they hidden in dark shadow.”  Robin Richmond in Michelangelo and the Creation of the Sistine Chapel

In 1980, a team of experts headed by Guianluigi  Colalucci began a sophisticated multi-million dollar restoration of the Sistine Chapel vault funded by the Japanese television station, NTV. Michelangelo and his assistants invested less time in painting the ceiling than this team took to rid it of layers of candle smoke, incense, brazier fumes, and effects of “the breath of the 17,000 daily visitors, who release more than four hundred kilos of water into the air, setting off a damaging cycle of condensation." The “removal of five centuries of scum revealed such unexpectedly brilliant colors that the Vatican restorers were accused by their detractors of having created a ‘Benetton Michelangelo.’”

The restoration project was rebuked by critics who believed Michelangelo simply was “preoccupied with form at the expense of color.” Most would concur that “His work emerges from the cleaning as a miracle of painting” 

In the summer of 2011 I visited this revered chapel with a group of students and faculty—all part of a graduate program at Gonzaga University. As a visual artist with many of the celebrated images of the Sistine ceiling already animated in my mind, entering this sanctified space was consuming. We stood with hundreds of other tourists on the chapel floor with our heads tilted backwards in an appropriate homage to the man whose neck was in a similar position for countless hours in the four years he invested painting the 12,000 square foot “canvas.”

Conclusion

I grew up in a home filled with ideas, books, stimulating conversations, a love of curiosity, and lots of beautiful art. My mother utilized a spacious wall in our living room to hang paintings borrowed from our local library. She rotated them regularly and spaced them closely together so there were at least ten on that wall at any given time. She also fashioned a coffee table from an old round kitchen table with the legs cut off.  She had a heavy piece of glass cut for the top and carefully arranged pictures of notable paintings under the glass. All of these works of art were with me every day and filled my consciousness with delight in the variety of colors, forms, textures, compositions, and…stories. I am grateful for this, my mother-rhetor’s legacy and I see a parallel gift in Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling which serves as a decidedly successful rhetorical act generated by a man whose energy, skill, and fearlessness are evident in his life and work

"what is left over after the education stops?"

My mind is still reflecting on Italy much of the day. I look back at my photos frequently and they stir up thoughts of class lectures and discussions as well as the face-to-face with art, architecture, and stories embodied in our many outings. The readings done before arriving in Europe were animated by the experiences and re-reading those same documents now evokes a frequent “aha!”

One of the more interesting refrains in my thoughts is the diverse possibility of rhetoric which is included in “the discovery of all available means of persuasion” (Caputo). Rhetoric is usually assumed to reside within the confines of public speaking. We “met” some incredible rhetors in our two weeks (including Paul Savonarola). But to take rhetoric beyond this was a new concept for me and I think it serves to enhance mindfulness of what is happening in my environment as I begin to see meaning and influence embodied in artifact. We were immersed in these visual rhetorical artifacts in Rome and Florence: Cosimo’s turtles, family crests, the Vatican, paintings, domes, bridges….all containers of ideas and meaning and purpose. As a visual artist and art instructor, I find this adds credibility and depth to what I seek to create and teach.

The final day in Florence I experienced a kind of sensory overload. I remember sitting in La Lampara with Deb on our last day. We had just eaten an amazing lunch and had a glass or two of wine and knew we had a pretty long hike to the Galileo Museum. I admitted to her that I would much rather stay and talk or go back to the room. It was not that I was disinterested, but maybe feeling in my emotions like my stomach was feeling at the moment….really stuffed.

I imagine Renaissance Florence provided a concentration of creativity and new ideas. As it was then, so now. I returned to the states with stops in New York, Michigan, and South Carolina before coming home to New Mexico. In these travels and at home I occasionally notice architectural and art “wanabees”….reflections of the originals in architecture and art that I never before realized were not original….never really thought about it at all. The impact of coffee table books come to life in Florence was huge for me. The concerns of my real life back home faded as I found myself each day waking up to something exciting and forming. The seven Da Vincian principles and the lectures revolving around them still find place in my daily journaling. The rhetoric of Machiavelli, Savanarola, Catherine, and Dante find application in my thinking and conversations.  I think that these personal experiences may reflect somewhat the response of Florentines to the “no limits” creative life in this city at this dynamic juncture in history.

Is there one single image that burns bright in my mind from this time in Rome and Florence?  That is a difficult question. As a painter, this question reminds me of “what’s your favorite color”….and for me it has always been impossible to play favorites with my palette. If I were to reflect on an image(s) that burns bright in my mind from this time in Florence/Rome , several pop into mind: The Sistine Chapel,  David, The Prisoners of Michelangelo, Bartolini’s Nymph and the Scorpion, The Duomo, The Coliseum, and  St. Peter’s Basilica. But if I answer the question tomorrow, it may be a new set of images…..the Market in Florence was incredible.

In the final analysis, we want to see our knowledge of the function of rhetoric realized in practical application. A dynamic vision for an organization, a community, a family, or a relationship warrants the “discovery of all means of persuasion.” Knowledge of the extent and potency inherent in the various forms of rhetoric must be joined with mindfulness and intentionality on the part of leaders in order to effect transformation.

This post is a response to Dr. Caputo's question (and title of this post) on a Gonzaga COML Blackboard discussion. 

la dolce vita

“The sweet, soulful, life”…

The title of our first discussion post on the Gonzaga ORGL Blackboard page: “Is there life after jet-lag?” evokes responses that are colorful and varied; Each of us experiencing the transition to some degree of  “life as usual” after two weeks of immersion in a dynamic group experience…strangers in a strange land –privileged partakers of the culture, its people, academic challenges, and interpersonal relationships.

My re-entry into the life before Europe was delightfully prolonged both in time and place. It was extended two weeks traveling in Europe and ten days in the states with family. My thirteenth flight ended at the Albuquerque airport on Monday July 4^th and, as of this writing, I am 24 hours home and just beginning to fall into a kind of comfortable rhythm. Beyond the physical sense of overload, is the chafing transition into the realm of duty and deadlines. The past 41 days have made few demands on me….no hard schedules and, besides toothbrushing and showering, no significant responsibilities…a relaxed pace taking life as it comes…”La Dolce Vita….”the sweet, soulful life.”

My initial approach to this first day back was speed. There is so much to do that the default strategy--  jump on it and ride hard until it’s done…seemed smart.  I began today with a six-mile walk in my neighborhood that included some challenging hills. As I walked, I mused on my next goal: unpack and do laundry. I could already visualize the empty suitcases and the neatly folded laundry. Before tackling this first project, I took a nap. Four hours later, the suitcases sat by the backdoor waiting for my husband to store them in the garage and the familiar sound of the dryer tossing my clothes resounded through the house. About this time, I was ready to generate another small goal when my husband called and invited me to lunch….defaulting to European slack mode, we took a leisurely lunch at the Wild Herb and I came home and took another short nap (like the Italians and my SC son) and then sat in front of my computer watching my Facebook newsfeed and playing with some receipts.

My next goal:  posting some checks and paying five bills went exceptionally slow with interruptions to talk on the phone and Skype my grandson….but making progress---though the goal is accomplished in record slow time. I then envisioned a home-cooked meal. We had pasta and fresh green beans at the dinner table…and we ate it slowly---like Leonardo.

It’s 9:10 now. I did the few dishes we used making and eating dinner and I am drinking a glass of wine….it’s making me sleepy and I think my evening will be over soon. This transition day has been strangely unhurried but peaceful ...with some duties fulfilled. I did not make a whole lot of progress and honestly hold hopes that maybe I made a permanent shift into a lower gear…”la dolce vita.”