Just 6 days to go . . .
We have discovered that the Harris Museum in Preston has a full size replica of the Door of Paradise, the eastern door of the Baptistry which faces the Duomo in Florence; a place of honour. Ghiberti took 27 years to complete the beautiful goldsmithed and sculpted doors, and it is said that even Michelangelo said that they were "worthy of Paradise".
Nicola and I are meeting in the Harris this weekend to plan how we can bring together a simultaneous happening next Friday as she will be in Preston whilst Lisa and I are in Florence.
elated | excited | determined | proud
We are getting close to the date of departure now and I realise that I have focussed so completely on this part of the project that I have left behind ideas of what to do in Siena, which I will do alone. These next few days really need concentrated thinking time for that too.
8 days and counting . . . Thursday; where did all those other days go to?
I am now surrounded by books, paper, post-it notes – over 20 of them attached to various surfaces around my desk – and all reminding me of things I need to do, or remember; and most of them need sorting before I go. I'm sure you can measure a person's stress level by the volume of paper around them.
I spent yesterday multi-tasking with work, children, art, football, shopping and feeding as well as becoming chief bird scarer after seeing 3 magpies cruelly raid the blue tits box and take off with a fledgling in the morning. This morning one is back again; my fault for exposing so much of the tree when I gave it a haircut last month.
So this morning is practical stuff; look at all the ideas we have shared so far about what we might do in Florence (which the concentration is on for the moment) and think about what fits in with my visit timings.
Lisa recommended Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities which I started at some early hour this morning and I am captivated with the idea of these overlapping, layered views of a city through the eyes of a traveller. It's starting to give me more ideas for my visit too.
Nicola (our group is now three) is also going to be putting her suggestions into the pot so we are all feeling excited with ideas whilst being challenged with having enough time to give to the project.
I thought I ought to share with you the writer, Lisa McGarry who I have made contact with and have started discussions and ideas for collaboration.
I was hooked in when I discovered her way of seeing and articulating place and spaces; the reflections and inspiration that come from exploring this city and the people who live & visit here through her book and website.
The book, 'The Piazza's of Florence', explores some of her favourite public spaces in Florence which captures the individual and very personal response, as well as bringing to life the movements of people through and in a space.
This makes me realise how fleeting a few hours will be; perhaps it's like the momentary beauty of studying a captured butterfly, recalled afterwards by colour, pattern, shape and delicacy after you have let it go to be free once again.
I've been thinking; at what point where two or more people work together towards a shared outcome can that be defined as collaboration?
I recall from a management training course in my distant past that business teams can be said to go through these stages; forming, storming, norming, performing (and finally adjourning). Is this similar to the process of collaboration in some ways?
Do the individuals who are collaborating have to have gone through similar stages together to truly describe their work as collaborative?
And is there a leader in a collaboration?
Could it be possible to have both a collaborative and individual practice?
Hmmm, food for thought. Comments welcomed . . .
phew; tired, reflective, elated
We have started discussions about collaboration in the last few days and have also started to give and share ideas which is great. We are trying out Google Groups and Google Documents to share the information we find and it seems to be working, although early days yet. At least we have a shared workspace where things are, which is incredibly valuable when you are working remotely from each other.
Had my first interview today for a creative project which sounds fabulous and will be intensively collaborative; everything's crossed for Tuesday . . .
