Author: Blythe Atzbach

Nunca Mas

A site that I was looking forward to visiting on this trip was the Museum of Memory. I had done a lot of research on this topic in AP Spanish in high school and the subject weighed heavily on me. While visiting the museum, I couldn’t help but notice there were parallels between it and our 9/11 memorial in New York City.

First of all, they both use enormous scale gallery walls that can be seen from almost any part of the museum. The Museum of Memory has the enormous wall filled with many picture frames of victims of the attacks and the 9/11 memorial in New York has varying shades of blue tiles to represent what color most people described the color of the sky was on 9/11/01.

New York City 9/11 memorial tile wall

My sketch of the wall of picture frames in the Museum of Memory

I think that this large scale is used to make a great impact on whoever is entering the museum and to make them realize just how many lives each specific event has effected.

Another similarity between the two museums is the use of water. I think that the water in both museums represent the absence of those who were taken from their loved ones on these days.

Museum of Memory

Reflecting pools at 9/11 memorial in NYC

 

illuminating the cubes

It was so peaceful starting day three out at the Benedictine Monastery. I thought it was really beautiful how light was encorporated throughout the entire building. When we first walked up, the monastery was framed by rays of light due to the perfect placement of the sun as shown below.

Ring of light around the monastery

When we entered the building, I thought it was interesting that the beams of light coming in reinforced the corners. For example, in the picture I have shown below you can really see how the three beams of light draw your eye to the corner where they all meet.

Light on the inside of the monastery

This occurred in several other locations throughout the monastery as well. This may have been done to remind people of how it’s based off of cubes, or to draw one’s eye to the altar. I found the light that occurred both inside and outside beautiful so I decided to sketch the light in two different ways: one of the interior using graphite and one of the exterior using color.

Sketch of the monastery

I decided to add color for the exterior because the vibrant landscape brought such a contrast to the all white monastery. I decided to use the color yellow to show where the light was hitting in the moment I was sketching.

Repetition + Reflection

My favorite part of the day was viewing and sketching at the PreColumbian Art Museum. Something that I noticed and found very interesting was that there was a common theme of repetition in the exhibits. When I first walked into the courtyard there was the large hanging ombré display. It was a repetition of squares gradually going from light pink to purple and then back to light pink. When looking below the exhibit I noticed it’s reflection in the glass on the ground which reinforced the idea of repetition.

Reflection of hanging display

Moving along into another exhibit, we came across an infinity mirror. It was cool to play around with how the light changes when you look into the mirror from different angles; it fades from yellow to green in the position I took my picture from. This repetition of the mirror was a lot like the hanging display from earlier.

Infinity mirror

The last place I visited in the museum was the basement. This was my favorite part because the dim lights and quiet made it very calm to sketch in. I noticed that there was also repetition here because all of the chemamulles statues looked similar, all of the various vases where together in long rows, and the case filled with the quipu had many repetitive patterns. Below I have a sketch of the repetitive pattern of the quipu, some of my favorite bowls/vases, and the chemamulle statues.

Sketch of the Minera Escondida exhibit

Blythe’s Pre-Departure Post

I can’t believe it is almost time for us to depart to Chile! Time has really flown by and I am incredibly excited. I can’t wait to fill my sketchbook with drawings I can look back on to help me remember this once in a lifetime opportunity. I also hope that when I look through my sketchbook when we get back that I notice some improvement. I am also excited to get out of my comfort zone and try new foods. I usually just stick with a grilled cheese here in America so I can’t wait to expand my palette a little.

I’ve never flown out of country before (the longest flight I’ve ever had was 3 hours to Las Vegas, Nevada), so I’m really excited to gaze out my window at the beautiful parts of the world that I’ve never seen.

I can’t wait to have many pictures, stories, sketches, and souvenirs to give/show to my family and friends when we get back. If you would’ve asked me one year ago what I thought I’d be doing for spring break, I never would’ve guessed that I would have the opportunity to travel to Santiago. I am immensely grateful for this opportunity and cannot wait to make the most of it!