Kevin Henry (Art & Design) writes:
I took this photo while making my daily trip in to teach at LdM. I often see rowers on the Arno and it is in stark contrast to the frenetic buzz of Vespas over the Ponte Alla Carraia (two bridges west of the Ponte Vecchio). This particular day the boat looked bound for heaven with a Cimabue sky reflected in the otherwise 'murky' waters of the river. I especially like the way in which the oars created these perfect rings as the rower moved through the river.
I have been prompting my students to take notice of the everyday world around them which is at times hard to see with all of the art in the way. Florence is a mystery mired as it is in the past and overrun by the 'pilgrims' who come to see it in the present and try to imagine what it must have been like when Brunelleschi was inventing perspective and Michelangelo Buonarroti was carving what would become not only great sculpture but also symbols of civic pride.
It is hard to see the present Florence beyond the designer stores, the congested air, and the omnipresent water bottle that will not last more than a few hours if that. This city was about innovation and creativity and I assume there is still a lot of that going on under the skin if one could only find it. In the meantime I comfort myself with the rowers working skipping the surface of the Arno like some strange underworld.
July 10th 2008