Picture 1: above are two pictures taken at St. Canice's Cathedral in Kilkenny. This structure was built as a cathedral for the Church of Ireland and dates back to the 13th century, even though the site it rests on has been used for worship since the 6th century. It is the second longest cathedral in Ireland! The beautiful architecture is, like most medieval structures seen in Ireland, characterized by stone, load-bearing construction with gothic features. The more stable, pointed arches around the windows and vault openings are seen in both pictures. Not only are there small ones encasing the beautiful stain glass (see pic 2), but also large arches inside the church creating the ribbed vaults (see pic 1). Although the architecture appears dark, the way the light illuminates the colorful stained glass makes the building appear majestic and mighty. I love how something so dark and almost intimidating can be so mesmerizing! I am also blown away that despite Oliver Cromwell's men vandalizing the church around 1650, it can be restored so beautifully. Although it has withstood a lot, this church has been well-preserved.
Picture 2: these are photos taken from the first room in the Butler Gallery in Kilkenny Castle. The castle itself dates back to 1195 when William Marshall, the 1st Earl of Pembroke, built it. He constructed it to control the River Nore as well as act as a symbol of Norman occupation.
The name of the exhibition in the gallery was called "Point of No Return" (displayed from June 15th-Jly 28th), which displayed art produced by Norwegian artist Magnhild Opdol. Although from Norway, she associates herself with other Irish artists and is known for practicing sculpture, drawing, installation and photography. In this gallery, we could see all mediums of art Opdol's practices. For instance, the pictures above show vintage postcards of deer she purposely colored in black to accentuate the different deer and their unique characteristics. Apparently Opdol is incredibly fascinated with nature, and especially deer. There were dozens of these frames postcards on the wall, and each one seemed to tell a story. By blacking out the environments, Opdol forced the viewer to focus on the deer themselves and what they were doing. I believe we were supposed to come up with our own interpretation of what was happening in some of them too, based on the way she chose to highlight different things over others. I too appreciate nature, so I could connect with this art and enjoyed analyzing what I thought each altered postcard meant.
Picture 3: there are photos taken from the third and last room in the Butler Gallery. The donuts seen in the pictures above were made out of bronze and molded by Opdol herself. This type of art is an example of sculpture, yet also a form of installation. The bronze donuts are molded form actual donuts Opdol carefully selected from a bakery. The guide told us that this room, characterized by donuts placed on a table in a room with pictures of dilapidated houses and natural environments on the walls, was influenced by a show about cops who loved eating donuts. This particular place symbolized an actual scene from it. Opdol must have loved this show because it inspired other rooms in her gallery as well, included the one with the pink donut boxes (installation art). I really appreciated this room a lot more when I understood the significance every piece had to Opdol. I tried to analyze it myself, but this was a piece of modern art I could not exactly interpret. Overall, I loved the gallery and I thought it was an awesome mixture of various art mediums!
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