Kickstart my heart

YES! The time is now to bring this character to life. I am lucky enough to be traveling back to Italy this summer for 5 weeks and will be living outside of Siena. This is perfect timing to bring the culmination of over a year of research into short documentary form. Most of the work regarding research and animations have been done, I just need that last extra push to make it an exciting documentary for a wide range of audiences and film festivals.  Check it out, and take a journey to Siena with me! Grazie mille!

Taccola - First Vitruvian Man

I was lucky enough to present at the 2013 Multidisciplinary Graduate Student Conference held at the Newberry Library in Chicago a few weeks ago. It was a fantastic experience and the presentation was well-received. I presented a paper highlighting the crescendo of my thesis subject which I am finishing this semester at Kent State to complete my MA in Art History.  This also represents the culmination of all the work I've been doing the last year and a half, traveling to Italy and Germany for further research.  I created a video combining the powerpoint presentation with my paper so I hope you enjoy! And if everything starts falling into place I will have more exciting news soon. Grazie mille.

Taccola - First Vitruvian Man from Andrew Bly on Vimeo.

instagram + blurb = book

the great people at blurb make book creation extremely easy, thought I could create a decent coffee table book out of the instagram photos from this summer so here it is!

ACB* abroad by Andrew C. Bly | Make Your Own Book

rollercoaster

I'm halfway through my 3-month stay in Italy and there have been extreme highs (Onda Palio win) and extreme lows (losing my Omi and being thousands of miles away from family). The first month was getting used to being here nearly alone and trying to get in to routines and fine tune the thesis research. I'm now off to Germany to see family and visit where my grandmother was born, lived and got married. I feel extremely lucky that I get to see these relatives and then finish my last two days in Munich to see the most important image of my research. Hopefully the image that will bring future fortune! With the wealth of photos I took last summer I have eased off carrying a camera around every day and more interested in experiences but if you have instagram I have been posting regularly from various locations under the name 82acb. I have a few photo projects planned for Germany so I will post the results shortly!

Estate di Andrew

T-minus 34 days until I'm under the shadow of Brunelleschi's dome yet again. This time it's on my own with a lot to accomplish but there isn't any other place in the world I'd rather spend 3 months.

ci vediamo presto l'Italia...

Firenze dov'è?

Constantly on my mind...

New Beginnings

2012. Only two weeks into the New Year and I am feeling extremely anxious and excited for it's potential. The end of 2011 was a mixture of great times with family & friends on top of stress & feelings of living two different lives. The always-fabulous Johanna Armstrong made a trip across the pond and as always it was great to see her because her work and friendship is extremely inspiring. She is doing some great work so head to her portfolio link to check it out and also has one of my favorite tumblrs currently. I also rang in my 29th year (yikes) of existence surrounded by the most important people, family. I am so fortunate to have them. Birthmas celebrations, Grandma's manhattans, stuffed pork chops, new brother, VanMaurik's and friends. Pure Happiness.

I have a lot to accomplish and have tried to start this year as focused as possible. Architect'n, Teaching, Photographing and most importantly trying to graduate by May so that I can catch a one-way flight to Italy. It may have taken me ten years, but I feel like I am finally in the right place on the doorstep of a dream career. For now it is back to this thesis and the mountain of other projects that are sure to drive me crazy by the end of March. I will hopefully be updating more often with the photos I have currently been taking, the title link will take you to the shots around University Circle here in Clevelandtown that I took wasting some time before shooting an installation piece by a friend. Enjoy and cheers to the new year.

Blog Slacking

I have so rudely forgotten to keep up with the blog posts so hopefully everyone has been keeping track via facebook or just bookmarking my picasa page. The last two weeks have been absolutely gorgeous....from Rome back to Florence to Venice back to Florence. Could not have asked for better weather right now. I also managed to stay away from a plague-like flu that took down half our group (including our professor) right before or during the Venice trip. Venice was absolutely amazing in so many different ways....check out the pictures. Got a bit homesick this week with some not so great news, but I miss you all who are close to me and can't wait to see your faces in a couple weeks in July. Ciao.

San Gimignano & Siena

Spent today traveling around the incredible sites of San Gimignano and Siena. I enjoyed San Gimignano more than I ever thought because it is breathtaking to walk around such a well preserved medieval Italian town. Siena was an overload of art and architecture and definitely was not there long enough to really appreciate it. I can not wait until we get to experience the Palio in a few weeks...

We have a day of rest before leaving early Monday morning for 3 days in Rome. Ciao.

The Present

Two days from now I will be on my way across the Atlantic: Pittsburgh to Charlotte to Madrid and eventually sometime around noon on Friday I will be arriving in Barcelona. Spending a few days in Spain before heading back to Florence for Dr. Medicus' program and some thesis research. I have a lot of work to get done this summer but there is nowhere else in the world I'd rather spend the next two months than Italy. Goodbye Ohio.

Firenze sulla mente

Another semester in the books and one closer to that MA! A lot of work to be done before I can call myself a Master of Art History but all should be done by December. In one month I will be back under the shadow of Brunelleschi's dome and I couldn't be more excited. Trying to finalize travel plans which include finally making it to Spain which just raises the level of excitement. So stay tuned this summer for pictures, I'm going to go camera crazy since last time I was in Italia I had a 1 megapixel digital camera....

Ciao a tutti!