News About Caitlin

Hello, Dear Family!

It’s been a busy and fun summer for me. I stuck around Provo for most of May and June so I could take a six week German reading comprehension class. For the art history MA I’m expected to be proficient in a second language, and be able to translate in a third. German has to be one of those languages, since a lot of early art history was written in German, which is convenient for me as a large part of my research will be in German. Less convenient for me is that I always thought I’d work on French art and went ahead and became fluent in that. I also worked during spring term as a TA for Art History 201 which discusses art from ancient times until the Renaissance.

At the end of June I travelled to Alaska and met Jason there. He had already been there for a week or so working with Jeff and Gay. We had so much fun there and hope to return often. We are really looking forward to the family reunion there next summer and demand that everyone go! While in Alaska we went on hikes with Kari, hung out at Jeff and Gay’s (unbelievably amazing) cabin, went on boat rides on the Susitna river, camped and hiked in Denali, explored Talkeetna, and had new food experiences, including eating caribou prepared by Gay and moose grilled by Jensen (and for a couple of vegetarians, we really loved them!).

Gay kept trying to avoid having her picture taken, but I snapped a good one!

Jason on Jeff and Gay's new boat on the Susitna river, AKA, the Davis's back yard

On top of a mountain in Denali Park

Shortly after returning from Alaska mom and I traveled to Great Britain. We flew in and out of Glasgow, which was a fun new experience. While in Glasgow I was able to see a lot of art by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh, who were good friends with the Viennese artists I’m studying for my master’s thesis. That was so much fun. Then we travelled down to the east coast in northern England to a town called Newcastle-upon-Tyne and began our 6 day, 84 mile walk along Hadrian’s Wall. We had such a great time! It was the rainiest summer on record, so much of the trail, which ran through cow and sheep pastures, had become nearly impassable after turning into manure-filled bogs. We got to our hotel each evening aching and covered in what we called “not-mud,” but we still had so much fun! I bought lots of souvenirs in Britain, mostly relating not to the Romans, but to the royal family, particularly Will and Kate, whom I adore.

A spectacular high tea at Edinburgh Castle

Golden fields on day one

One of the boggy bits

Not-mud

We crossed many stiles!

We made friends with some Roman legionaries

A good view of the wall and the "Robin Hood tree," featured in the Morgan Freeman and Kevin Costner movie

On top of the world!

In August, Jason and I went to Portland, where Jason was presenting his research at the convention of the Ecological Society of America. He presented a great poster displaying the effects of fires on the biological soil crusts in the Utah deserts. While he was at the conference every day I explored Portland on my own. I went to historical houses, gardens, museums, bookstores, restaurants and became an expert on driving through strange cities without the use of GPS, as well as the Portland public transport system. A highlight was a tour the Hat Museum which was led by a very eccentric woman who played an original song about hats on a mandolin as part of the tour. Jason and I both bought hats in the gift shop. J After Portland Jason and I travelled down the Oregon coast, stopping anywhere that promised a fun time. This included seeing the band Smashmouth (a middle school favorite of mine) at the Tillamook county fair, and a walk-through safari where I rode a camel and we played with a baby cougar, bobcat, bear and fox, among other things. We then went down the coast of northern California, drove through a redwood tree, and visited some all-sea glass beaches, which became my new Happy Place.

Then we went camping at Christmas Meadows, which has already been recounted by Grandma, but we had a blast and sorely missed those who weren’t there.

The best news I got this summer was that I am a recipient of a very generous Graduate Research Fellowship, so I’ll be getting paid, not only to go to school and do research here, but to travel to Vienna and do original archival research! I’m planning on going in January, which is maybe not the best tourism time, but probably a good sit-in-museums-and-libraries-all-day-and-research-and-write time. I’m really looking forward to it, but am also nervous! Any of my German-speaking family care to accompany me and be my translator? Another big school-related bit of news is that last week I took my comprehensive qualifying exam for my master’s program, wherein I was shown 25 slides from any time period and had to write as much as I could about them for 5 minutes each, showing my knowledge of the artist, date, period, style, cultural and historical context, influences, etc. It was so, so intimidating, but I just found out that I passed! Hallelujah!

This semester I’m taking a seminar on European Primitivism and working like crazy on my thesis research. I’m planning on writing about the women of the Wiener Werkstätte, an art group that I fell in love with while visiting Grandma and Grandpa on their mission in Vienna. I’m interested in the women artists of the group, but also the roles of women in Vienna at the beginning of the 20^th century and the importance of decorative and craft arts.

I had a wonderful birthday on Thursday which included my favorite foods, wonderful gifts, a stressful meeting with my thesis advisor, shopping at Target, a (somewhat rainy) birthday party at the park set up by my school friends, and bowling with Jason. Lots of fun! Thanks, everyone for the lovely birthday wishes. I love you all! I’ll try to keep future updates a bit shorter. J