The Ringling

There are so many coincidental connections for me when it comes to The Ringling Museum of Art. First, is the architecture. I started my education studying architecture at The University of Kansas, where I specifically studied the use of Italian-esque architecture used in the United States in the early 1900s. John and Mable Ringling bought their property and wanted an Italian-esque home built on it. Walking on the grounds and through the museum, my mind is taken back to my time in architecture school, and studying in Italy in Summer 2015.

The next coincidental connection I have to the Ringling is, duh, my love of fine art. This isn't so much a coincidence because it is an art museum. But, when I add up all of the connections I have to this place, it feels as though it has to be a coincidence. For my senior thesis, I created a strategic business plan and design of a B-Corporation studio co-work space for fine artists and designers. In this co-work space, there will also be a gallery space for artists to showcase their work. I studied museums and galleries in Sarasota and Tampa, including The Ringling, to get a sense of what people are used to seeing in these types of spaces.

The final coincidental connection I have to The Ringling is mythology. This semester, my last semester at Ringling, I decided to take a class on mythology in art, literature, and music. Coincidentally I had an assignment recently for that class where I had to find various depictions of figures from Greek Mythology in art at The Ringling. Our tour from Mark on Wednesday showed me how much Greek Mythological art was actually in the museum. There was one piece, in particular, we spent a good amount of time on discussing who the people in the painting were. To everyone's surprise, they were not just normal people being depicted, but they were actual figures from Greek Mythology. This helped me tremendously in my assignment for mythology class, and identifying works of art and studying them.