Summer 2011

Added on Monday 4 Jul 2011

It has been such a busy year for me with various family matters that I have not updated the diary so I will try to cover the Academic year in a few paragraphs. In 2010/2011 I have been studying level two History of Art. I have a real passion for the subject and I left it to the end of the subject credits that I needed to go into Junior Honours.

In terms of classes and seminars, it has not been a demanding year but in the second semester I was required to complete a 3,500/4,000 word essay with some original research as a practice for the dissertation required for an Honours degree. I did well in the essay and have been invited into the Junior Honours course. As I am part time, I will have to discuss with History of Art in the School of Cultural and Creative Arts how the course can be broken down to cover five years rather than two years full time.

I have enjoyed History of Art immensely this year studying specialist subjects that were all new to me. It has four components over two semesters. These were Gothic Cathedrals, Sites of Modern Art, Voyages of Captain Cook and Women in Transition in Chinese Art in the Twentieth Century. They were all fascinating and I particularly enjoyed Captain Cook as it covered new countries and culture with a backdrop of Georgian England. Most people would not regard Captain Cook's voyages as a History of Art course but it is very much with artists on board ships sailing to the New World along with convicts sentenced to the penitentiary in Australia who turned out to be excellent artists!

This year I discovered the Special Collections on the top floor of the library where many rare books are stored. Lectures were in the basement lecture room of the Hunterian Art Gallery and I managed to catch interesting exhibitions there such as Durer prints and Joseph Beuys.

In the Spring of 2010, there was an unfortunate incident in my little haven, The Mature Students Association, which led to a case going before Senate for bullying and harassment. I was pleased to find that the University has a very robust system for dealing with such matters. A new committee at the MSA was formed in the Autumn with excellent office bearers who have drawn up a new constitution and the Club is now on a secure footing. It is still a place to share experiences with students from other subjects and enjoy the social chit chat. Glasgow University Union allows us to use their facilities and we had a good end of term karaoke night there.

In September it is back to academia and I am looking forward to it. Anyone care to join me as a mature student? Ten years to study part time for a four year full time degree is the way to do it for us more mature students.