Week 2: Zoe Hillenmeyer

This week has been a week of settling. I am getting in the rythm of things here, and I'm already starting to think it's going to be a bit challenging to go home. It's hard for me to think of anything farther away than two weeks (even that, is a struggle). So planning life after Italy is daunting. Things seem to move slowly here, which I am really starting to like. It leaves time for appreciation, reflection, and progress - but eliminates (nearly) stress, and extravagence. I'm becoming a bit quieter - not completely, but I think it's a calming sort of thing. Nicole and I went to Viareggio this weekend, and it was really transforming for me. On the train ride over, I saw some sheets hanging, alternating between pink and white. I wondered whether the woman hanging them had done so intentionally. I started thinking of the many loads she had done, and that she probably just hung them in the order she pulled them from the basket. It got me thinking about time, about life, and about creation. After spending the day trekking the coast, and feeling the awe of the infinite that seems to happen when surrounded by ocean and the tide, I got to feeling quite a bit spiritually stronger. I keep thinking about Taoism, and religion, and God. It just keeps circulating. There is nothing surprising about this: everyone does the spiritual quest. But something about yesterday really resonated. I'm working on figuring out what that was now. The dinners at the house are great, I look forward to them everyday, and the few days we don't have them (Sat, and Sun), I feel I am missing something.

On art: The mind maps we did I found really wonderful. I had done similar stream of thought exercises before, and created similar types of mindmaps - but nothing that big and that expansive. I had also never followed a mind map with illustration or aesthetic creation, which was really wonderful. It helped me take my ideas, expand them, and then resynthesize them into more concrete, precise, and interesting combonations. I think that is a technique I will continue to use. It was interesting how the mind maps allowed for expansion of the technical, emotional, personal, and political aspects of an idea: generally leading to a more potent conclusion. The focus on synysthaesia was also fascinating, it was surprising how easy it was to feel ideas in parts of my body.

My eyes are still on the Manicans, and also now I especially enjoy looking at the patterns that Florence surrounds me with. The patterns in the Russian work at the accademia were beautiful, and I enjoy stopping in the homeware store near our house and looking at the patterns on the tablecloths, sheets, and curtains. I'm enjoying the little shops- and hating the inconvienance of needing to pee. There is so much more, but not for this blog-around. Ciao!
Zoe Hillenmeyer