Royal Mile, 5 February 2014, 11:30am
More and more scaffolding goes up along here in these less-trafficky months.
Cheers!
Kate xx
05 February 2014
04 February 2014
03 February 2014
State of the internship
I may or may not have mentioned it at some point, but I'm getting on halfway through an internship stint with the National Trust for Scotland and I just have to say... wow, is it exhausting! It's incredible the amount of work and time and teamwork and planning and organizing and so on that goes into something like the Trust, and what I get to see is just one small slice of the pizza-pie.
I've been shadowing a curator there, which is pretty much what it sounds like: shadowing. Quite a bit of standing/following around, a lot of listening, a little bit of doing--but a lot of learning. The days I help out are rarely spent in the office, and usually involve driving to one (or some) of the properties under the Trust's care in order to assess specific issues or work on projects particular to those places. It's a conservation charity, but it's so much more than that. Aside from collections and archives, there are entire estates to manage, holiday lets, historic house restoration projects, wilderness conservation, and archaeology. There's a wold heritage site!
It's an enormous volunteer-driven organization (3000+) with a staff of several hundred to do the steering. It's an incredible amount of work, and like any other cultural/ artistic/ heritage institution, it's got its fair share of financial woes and restraints. In spite of this--or because of this--I feel, more and more, that the work this organization does is imperative to preserving the history and natural environment of Scotland for generations to come. Where I am from in Wisconsin, there is no heritage organization that remotely compares in scale or scope, so volunteering with NTS has been an eye-opening experience. Not to mention that it drives home the notion that I really have chosen to pursue something I love.
I may not be with the NTS for more than a few months, but like my museum experience before this, it's teaching me loads about every part of the museum and heritage business. Universally, big organizations can seem a little bureaucratic, they can feel disorganized, staff might not agree with one another's viewpoints, the public can be critical, problems of storage and finances arise, membership needs to be maintained, and so on... but the history (the artwork, furniture, ephemera, etc.) is priceless and the preservation work is paramount. One may learn something practical about how to properly carry a chair (not by the arms or back!) but what's more is where that chair came from, who used it, what its significance is, where it might go... History is an endless, unfathomable well. So in a day's work one learns to communicate with different departments that might have different needs. You begin to piece together what it means to have these properties open to the public, and the challenges that presents. You might move a bunch of paintings one day and sit in front of a computer doing data entry the next.
So it may be exhausting, but the reward is knowing that little by little, even if it feels like there's Just Too Much, history is recorded, preserved and presented to the public.
I encourage you to check out the NTS website where you can search their latest news and also search by location or map for all of their properties and projects. It's a fantastic resource for information on things to do all over Scotland.
Have you ever volunteered your time? Museum or cultural institution? Education? Maybe a community garden? What was the most rewarding part?
Cheers!
Kate xx
I've been shadowing a curator there, which is pretty much what it sounds like: shadowing. Quite a bit of standing/following around, a lot of listening, a little bit of doing--but a lot of learning. The days I help out are rarely spent in the office, and usually involve driving to one (or some) of the properties under the Trust's care in order to assess specific issues or work on projects particular to those places. It's a conservation charity, but it's so much more than that. Aside from collections and archives, there are entire estates to manage, holiday lets, historic house restoration projects, wilderness conservation, and archaeology. There's a wold heritage site!
St. Kilda World Heritage Area // via //
Glencoe // via //
Leith Hall // via //
Gladstone's Land interior // via //
Falkland Palace // via //
Inverewe Garden & Estate // via //
It's an enormous volunteer-driven organization (3000+) with a staff of several hundred to do the steering. It's an incredible amount of work, and like any other cultural/ artistic/ heritage institution, it's got its fair share of financial woes and restraints. In spite of this--or because of this--I feel, more and more, that the work this organization does is imperative to preserving the history and natural environment of Scotland for generations to come. Where I am from in Wisconsin, there is no heritage organization that remotely compares in scale or scope, so volunteering with NTS has been an eye-opening experience. Not to mention that it drives home the notion that I really have chosen to pursue something I love.
I may not be with the NTS for more than a few months, but like my museum experience before this, it's teaching me loads about every part of the museum and heritage business. Universally, big organizations can seem a little bureaucratic, they can feel disorganized, staff might not agree with one another's viewpoints, the public can be critical, problems of storage and finances arise, membership needs to be maintained, and so on... but the history (the artwork, furniture, ephemera, etc.) is priceless and the preservation work is paramount. One may learn something practical about how to properly carry a chair (not by the arms or back!) but what's more is where that chair came from, who used it, what its significance is, where it might go... History is an endless, unfathomable well. So in a day's work one learns to communicate with different departments that might have different needs. You begin to piece together what it means to have these properties open to the public, and the challenges that presents. You might move a bunch of paintings one day and sit in front of a computer doing data entry the next.
So it may be exhausting, but the reward is knowing that little by little, even if it feels like there's Just Too Much, history is recorded, preserved and presented to the public.
I encourage you to check out the NTS website where you can search their latest news and also search by location or map for all of their properties and projects. It's a fantastic resource for information on things to do all over Scotland.
Have you ever volunteered your time? Museum or cultural institution? Education? Maybe a community garden? What was the most rewarding part?
Cheers!
Kate xx
Philip
image: dan busta // via //
I couldn't go without posting a small tribute to one of my--possibly just my favorite actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died yesterday at the age of 46. I've been a fan since his role as Dusty in Twister which was a wonderfully terrible movie and most of the 'wonderful' was due to him. His roles were as challenging and searing and deep as he seemed down-to-earth and ordinary in the day-to-day. From the bits of silliness in Along Came Polly, The Big Lebowski and my favorite role as Lester Bangs in Almost Famous to the wrenching Doubt, The Master and Oscar-winning Capote... This guy was a stage and screen titan who seemed to casually linger in the Hollywood periphery. He was a brilliant performer, but not Hollywoodian. He was a master of nuance who lived for and suffered his art, and one whose legacy will long, long outshine his too-brief life.
------------
Kate x
02 February 2014
'Tis the season
They call it the 'off-season' for a reason. Tourist numbers drop (so do prices, would-be travelers take note!) so while January feels quite calm and relaxed compared to the craziness around the holidays, it's also when you start to see a lot more cranes, road works, and scaffolding. Within the last week my entire building has been encased in a framework of metal rods and wooden planks, all but obscuring it completely. Over the next ten weeks they're refurbishing the windows, or painting them... something about the windows. Anyway. Always best to do this stuff when there aren't a ton of people wanting to get photogenic views everywhere they turn. It's also just not very nice to have to weave through narrow closes with mini forests of scaffolding posts, so best to avoid that during the high season.
If I'm being totally honest, it looks kind of cool in an industrial, Tinker Toys kind of way. ;)
Cheers!
Kate xx
01 February 2014
Just off the Mile
There's a court outside my window that tour guides like to take their groups through because it's quiet, but also because it's a little bit off the beaten path. That sounds weird when you think about it being in the center of the city, mere steps from the Royal Mile, which is apparently the most-visited part of Scotland annually. But what the tour guides say is true: people don't step off the Royal Mile very often. There are numerous closes (narrow walkways) with winding, zig-zaggy steps, steep walks, cobbled alleys, courtyards and historic houses and museums back there -- and most people walk right on by! All the souvenir shops don't do any favors: their signs often out-shine the smaller ones that denote the passageways or historic plaques, but that's all the more reason to, as a visitor, keep an eye out for the less obvious things. It's what's not in-your-face all the time that is often the most interesting.
So, case in point, a couple of courtyards just off Lawnmarket and literally feet from my flat. In one of these photos you can actually see my flat window, but I'll be secretive and let you guess which one it might be. ;) I was spurred to take these photos because I've noticed recently that a popular photo was going around on Pinterest that someone had captioned 'hidden alleyways of London' or something general like that. It was clearly Edinburgh, and I know because I can see it out my window. So I decided to use that as the inspiration for this blog post, which is just pretty pictures of this wonderful courtyard pair of connecting courtyards and the stunning, very Scottish architecture. So... enjoy!
Cheers,
Kate xx
So, case in point, a couple of courtyards just off Lawnmarket and literally feet from my flat. In one of these photos you can actually see my flat window, but I'll be secretive and let you guess which one it might be. ;) I was spurred to take these photos because I've noticed recently that a popular photo was going around on Pinterest that someone had captioned 'hidden alleyways of London' or something general like that. It was clearly Edinburgh, and I know because I can see it out my window. So I decided to use that as the inspiration for this blog post, which is just pretty pictures of this wonderful courtyard pair of connecting courtyards and the stunning, very Scottish architecture. So... enjoy!
Cheers,
Kate xx
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