Fifteen Moore students enjoyed 12 days in Granada, Spain, as part of their Cultural Immersion class, taught by Dr. Kelly Kirby, Liberal Arts department chair, who traveled with the students.
From January 4 through January 18, the group from Moore toured Granada, a southern city in the Andalusia region, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Courtney Warren, a junior Curatorial Studies student, documented the trip. This is her third dispatch in a series.
By Courtney Warren, Curatorial Studies junior
On Day 5, our guide took us in the opposite direction of the old streets we learned about before. We walked in the direction of the expansion of Granada. The buildings got newer and newer, with bigger roads and more traffic. We talked through the changes and expansion of the city as urban areas got bigger and bigger. What really stuck out to me was that I put into practice some of the things I learned in my History of Interior Design class.
We stopped in front of Caja Royal, a contemporary bank built on a boulevard of neoclassical buildings. Our guide told us how this building was really controversial. Locals thought it didn’t fit with the neoclassical buildings around it, that it was too contemporary. It reminded me of learning about the PSFS building in Philly during my History of Interior Design class. When international-style European skyscrapers came to America, the same things were said. Looking closer at the building, though, I noticed that the first floor was indicated by thicker distinct masonry on the outside, which is still in the tradition of neoclassicism. Being able to take studio classes reinforced my experiences of art and design. Putting into practice different lenses of viewership and appreciation took my observation of this building further.
Day 6 was a beautiful day that I think we all will remember for a lifetime. We started our day eating fresh fruit on the top of a hill, where the sea lingered in the distance behind trees. With the sun smiling down, we got to see close up all of the fruit trees grown in the the subclimate of the south of Spain.
After that it was just a little ride to a Paleolithic cave in Nerja. Found accidentally by a group of boys in 1959, the cave had been home to people who painted and made music on the rock formations. The shapes illuminated by different-colored lights revealed what seemed like fabric and folds.
For lunch we ate seafood paella on the beach and spent time by the ocean. The sand was made of small versions of the rocks. They were delightful and almost perfectly round next to pieces of sea glass and quartz.
Capping off our day, we looked over the balcony of Europe, looking out at the Mediterranean and soaking up the sun.
The textures of the fruit, caves and beach got me thinking about my artwork. While I'm mostly a curator, knitting is my newfound love. Seeing the melons and star fruit, playing with the smooth round sand and stones of the shore, I found myself thinking about textures of knits I want to design. The roundness of the rocks and quartz I found on the beach reminded me of weaving techniques and I'm itching to get back to the textile lab at Moore to start experimenting with these new patterns and feelings. I'm going to try to see if I can find yarn made in Spain to get some of these ideas going.
