Barcelona ... July 4th Sketching

Had an odd 4th of July; odd in the sense that I was very far from the typical Independence Day involving bbq/baseball/beer/fireworks/etc. I had to spend a chunk of the day at the 16th International Conference on Learning, where I gave a presentation that went over well. Of the few other presentations I attended that morning, the one in this first sketch was the most interesting, focused on helping students learn to keep graphic journals of their experiences. So naturally, it was an opportunity to graphically record the experience.



Later that day, after my conference obligations were done, I headed off to find the "Barcelona Pavilion" aka the "German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition" aka the "Pavello de Mies van der Rohe" ... it was a long walk, but entirely worthwhile. Yet another architectural gem in Barcelona that lived up to - and in some ways exceeded - my expectations. It's strange how a building lacking any apparent program could be so captivating, but it's just pure series of spaces defined by walls (some clear, some translucent, some solid), roofs, floors, pools, and a smattering of columns. What surprised me was the evident role played by shadows and reflections, which accentuate the changing perspective of vertical and horizontal planes. Good stuff.

So it really didn't feel like the 4th until later, when I found a bar in the Barri Gotic that was playing Johnny Cash and had killer cheeseburgers and good cheap beer.