Learning How to See

Learning How to See

This photo was taken in 1883 by Thomas Eakins, a painter who used photography to study the human form. Here, two of his art students stand in front of a relief, in poses that echo the sculpted figures. Eakins used photos as a tool to help him make his paintings feel closer to life: “the camera was a teaching device comparable to anatomical […]

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On Statue-Cleaning Bacteria and Pandemic Haircuts

On Statue-Cleaning Bacteria and Pandemic Haircuts

I chopped off thirteen inches of hair last night. I was already overdue for a haircut a year ago when the pandemic came and shut down normal things like being indoors with strangers for grooming reasons. I decided to hold off on cutting my increasingly Lady-Godiva-length locks until I had been vaccinated. Chopping off my hair would be […]

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Two Medici Villas

Two Medici Villas

(As I finish up my thesis this month, this blog will be temporarily transformed into Garlands in Florence with posts about summer in Italy) My drawing class took its first field trip; we went to two nearby Medici villas. At the first villa, the Villa Medici di Castello, we sat out in the gardens and drew whatever we [ ... ]

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