Today, during our exploration of the Hugh Lane Gallery, I found several pieces of art that stood out to me and made me genuinely excited. The first of which was the Francis Bacon Art Studio exhibit. I watched part of the film playing in the gallery, and found it interesting enough, but what I loved the most was the quotes on the wall from Francis Bacon about the art studio the gallery had imported all the way from London to Dublin. As I observed the actual studio through the glass, I heard a woman scoff and comment about how messy and disgusting it was. There was another quote from Bacon about how he had tried fancy studios and was never able to create the same way that he could in the “messy” studio that we all saw today. The quote pictured reminded me of one of our discussions about place, and how each of our perspectives are so unique. We don’t see the same things, no matter whether or not we’re looking at the same things.

I also enjoyed a painting of Lady Heath by Sir John Lavery. It was called “An Irish Pilot” and done in 1928. I didn’t know anything about Lady Heath prior to this, but I learned that she was the first person (male or female) to fly a small open-cockpit plane solo from Cape Town to London. She also helped bring women’s track and field to the Olympics. She accomplished so much in her life. The painting was part of a series from Lavery titled “Women’s Work,” and what a woman to include.