Death in Dulwich

I went to the Dulwich Picture Gallery yesterday, not expecting too much as I'm not usually mad about old masters' paintings, but I was pleasantly surprised.

They've got The Judde Memorial (above), which I've seen before in books about the art of death, so it was really good to see the original. It's a 16th century memento mori painting, allowing the viewer to reflect on one's mortality through the use of a variety of typical symbols of death in use by artists at that time. The video by the director of the gallery on their website is a good overview of what's in the painting.

There is a small mausoleum built into the gallery, to house the remains of three of the founders. It was apparently bombed during the last world war and rebuilt as accurately as possible, but some of the features are slightly curious. The hefty, solid-looking pillars look like dark stone, but are made of wood, which you can tell if you tap them. The stained glass seemed a bit odd, as it was a couple of panels of small bright orange glass rectangles. I thought it looked a bit '60's and slightly incongruous alongside the 'stone' pillars, eternal serpents and the casket-shaped receptacles with human remains inside. I'll have to find out more about it.

I was impressed by the labels for the Best of British exhibits. I think it's the first time I've actually found labels memorable - I usually look at the work, read the label, look again at the work and move on. These labels included short quotes or anecdotes about the people in the portraits from writers who were around at the same time, such as Samuel Pepys (diarist) and Fanny Burney (novelist). It seemed to make the portraits come to life more for me by using snippets about someone being thought a blockhead for not getting his hair cut, or being embarrassingly vulgar in polite company, or knowing that the artist had been kind in his portrayal by not painting an old woman toothless, as she was in reality by then, and including unreal curly youthful hair. It gave a sense of the person in the portrait, knowing what others thought of them at that time, whether it was flattering or not. These quotes of text enhanced the portraits by not being just little strings of dry facts about the painting or the artist which for a non- afficionado can be rather dull sometimes.

Apologies to the label writer for not remembering better examples more accurately. I didn't realise I'd still be thinking about labels the next day, but it was an unexpectedly interesting visit, albeit short because of my dad's new knees being tired. I can't think why I've never been there before.

I think I'm back...

I think I'm probably back with the blogging, though I was wondering whether to call it a day as it's been a long time now and I hadn't really felt like writing...

A mini-summary of the last few months: did a conference, got sick, went into hospital a couple of times, got sick again when I came out but am ok now I think, got my corrections for the PhD, have had a rest from academic stuff, apart from going to work in the hotbed of intrigue that is Higher Education. I think I'll have my dinner now and attempt to think of something interesting to write about, as I don't really want to clutter up the blogosphere with my inane drivel... so see you later, I expect.

I'm Dr B now!!!!!!!!!!!!

I passed my PhD viva with minor corrections the other day, so now I'm a Dr! It's quite funny really after all that time, effort and angst! My brother couldn't stop chortling on the phone and I've been getting cards addressed to Dr too, not sure what the postman thought about my sister-in-law's congratulations to Dr Death though!

It went alright, nice examiners who all knew each other already, they really liked my work and asked okayish questions. It lasted an hour and a half, then they spent ages, maybe an hour deliberating about the results before they called us back in to tell me I'd passed. We were wondering if they'd popped out for afternoon tea or something as it took so long. They asked if they could see the workshops as they seemed to find the whole art school thing very interesting, so one of the staff gave us a quick tour. And they liked the domed college foyer where your voice echoes in a really strange way if you stand in one particular spot.

Then my nice colleagues took me to the pub for a well earned drink. So that's nearly that, I suppose and I can move on to something else. Whaaaaheyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

One down, one to go!

My mock viva went quite well on Friday, it seems. It lasted about 2 hours, had some rather difficult questions, but my supervisors said I addressed them well. I found I had a tendency to forget what I was saying when I started answering odd questions, especially after a long intro to the question, so my mind went blank. I'll have to try to write down keywords while they're speaking to stop me rambling inanely in my replies.

To be honest, I was a bit gobsmacked by the good feedback I got, both supervisors were so enthusiastic about my work that I was a bit taken aback. Both said it had been useful to have a break from it and both hadn't touched it for months, so came to it fresh. Apparently it's really good, interesting, enjoyable to read, well written and I should be proud of it. And it would make a great book. And they loved my idea about a curatorial project and suggested one of the major London museums, which I had in mind anyway, though I didn't want to seem too big for my boots by suggesting it myself before I've actually got the whole thing wrapped up. Blimey!!!! :-)

So there we go, one exam done and the real thing next week. It's done my confidence a lot of good, so now I can just get on with revising as I have been and stop agonising quite as much. I'm not so naive that I think the viva's going to go as smoothly as the mock, I think it's wrong to take anything for granted, but it's been a really useful experience. I'm so lucky I've got good supervisors, it makes a hell of a difference.

So... I'll see what happens on Thursday.

Trying out Twitter

I just wondered what this Twitter thing is all about, so I'll be trying it out for a little while and see how it goes. More online trivia... great.... The whole blog needs a rethink anyway at some point and I'm still dithering over the pros and cons of anonymity.

Viva

I've been revising for my PhD exams (viva next week, mock viva this week) so am not around much on the blogging front, which will continue for a bit.

It's a bit nerve wracking, as the stakes are indeed quite high. I would hate to mess up all my work in the final stages by not being prepared enough, which I don't feel I am at the moment... I was told that you could swing the final decision on your thesis either way in the viva, which puts more pressure on you to perform well on the day. Not to over-exaggerate, but I really don't like this feeling of impending doom. It's a rather nasty final countdown at this point. It's like being on the academic equivalent of death row, though obviously the examiners won't finish me off physically on the day. It's the most horrible stressful thing I've actually chosen to do in my life. How the hell do I keep so much work and knowledge in my head on the day, under all that stress...???

Oh well, thank goodness for perky pop songs and Elvis in luridly technicoloured, Hollywood hip-swivelling mode. There are marginally better quality videos of this song, but this one crops out more of the stage and the prancing women. I'm afraid it's the most upbeat thing I could think of in my ongoing viva hell, with it's irresistible finger-snappin', foot-tappin' bongo beat.

Submitted!!!!!

Yesirree, I finally submitted my thesis for examination yesterday afternoon. Printed it out (7 copies of about 300 pages each) on Friday afternoon, took them to the binders and collected them yesterday lunchtime to deliver to Research HQ to be signed off. I dreamed my bag of theses got swopped on the bus with someone's heavy bag of Tesco's shopping so I was thwarted at the last moment for submitting, but that didn't happen in real life as I clutched them tightly, just in case. 3 copies get sent to a panel of chosen academics for my examination in a few months time, before the whole thing rolls on towards its final conclusion. It's been a hideous few weeks which I hope I never have to revisit, far too much stress and a dreadful lack of proper sleep, but at least it's another stage reached.

So in the words of Dusty Springfield, now I just don't know what to do with myself,* as it's been hanging over me for so long! Well, not quite in Dusty's words as she obviously wasn't singing about a thesis and she's sad, whereas I'm certainly not, but it makes my point, and anyway she's got a great voice and it's got an interesting set made from big white tubes. So now I'll have to rehabilitate myself into 'normal' life again! How weird it's all been recently....

* apart from catching up on sleep, SO desperately needed right now.