"What to write, what to write. We went to the Doge's palace today.
(This is just a small, small section of it)
It was beautiful, grand, big & expensive. It's one thing to see pictures of places like this or read about them, but you can't understand the detail, the effort, the meaning & scale unless you see it in person. It's like the first time I remember seeing a pure white marble bust. It glittered! I was amazed at the light a piece of stone could produce; that aspect is always lost in a picture. Being in the palace was similar. The rooms are huge. The paintings to cover them, equally so. And the amount of gold! I was amazed.
The same with the church, San Marco. The church is absolutely covered with mosaic.
(I don't have any pictures because taking pictures inside isn't allowed.)
And again, so much gold! Even the colored stones. I'm surprised they could find so many colors & in such quantities.
What struck me in both places we visited today was the amount of time and effort that went into not only the art but the buildings themselves. Even more work has been done to restore & repair it all.
It seems to me that today things are made to break or consumed right away when, hundreds of years form now (if we make it that long), what will people have to look back upon of the world we know? Digital photos, mp3s, landfills full of electronics & inherited pollution problems? I'm not exactly proud of the world we live in.
One of my ceramics teachers in high school had a poster on his wall that said
"Do something everyday that proves you exist."
I read that every other day for a year yet often forget it. It was fitting since we were in an art class, creating art that would be turned into stone. He also held art history in that class though. I imagine it was his way of telling his students
"Look! Look at what's been done in the world! These people have all left their mark, even if we don't know who they were, we know they existed. What are you going to do?"
I've been realizing that I really have no idea what I want to do with my life. I have no clear goal, no career aspirations.
I think I'm okay with that.
As long as I'm making my mark. As long as I'm doing something I love, I don't really care what it is or how much money I'm not making. If I could put the kind of effort it took into building, creating, these beautiful places, I think I'll be okay.
I just have to remember these things don't happen with a single person working on their own."
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