Kong Oscar Fjord, Greenland
My husband Rob has spent all fall combing through the thousands of pictures he took on his trip to Greenland this September. His photographs are so spectacular, that it was a challenge to narrow it down to this selection. I hope you enjoy his tour of the amazing land, sea and ice of Greenland!
On his photo excursion to Greenland, my husband Rob visited the northern most village of Ittoqqortoormitt, which is settled by about 300 Inuit. The community has hunted polar bears for generations and is allowed an annual quota of 35 hides. Even in mid September, there were still patches of snow scattered about. I must point out again that there is nothing green about Greenland.
As he walked around, Rob met and photographed people he saw outside, mostly men. They did their best to communicate with sign language and a minimum of English. I hope you enjoy this glimpse at a unique place and people!
Polar bear hide
View from Kong Oscar Fjord
My husband, Rob Goldsborough went on a trip to Greenland in September. He and about a dozen photographers traveled aboard a small cruise ship, into several fjords on the west end of Scorespy Sound. The group took daily excursions on inflatable zodiacs, which brought them closer to land and floating ice.
Rob described this northern landscape as being different from what we saw in Antarctica (see posts here). Both had tons of ice, but there was more bare ground in Greenland during this time of year. Of course, there’s nothing green in sight! The story goes that early explorers named it Greenland in hopes of attracting European settlers. Rob visited a village, which I’ll show in another post. For now, I hope you enjoy his beautiful series of reflections taken from the zodiac.
Glencoe and window in St. Margaret’s Chapel in Edinburgh Castle.
Isle of Skye.
The Great Hall in Edinburgh Castle.
My husband Rob made the following video, which is a composite of our 2 trips to Scotland this year. In June, we hiked the Great Glen Way, along the Caledonian Canal in the Highlands. Then, in Sept./Oct. we traveled with a WGBH Learning Tour, which focused on Scottish music. The video soundtrack includes live music we recorded during the evening performances. The musicians are credited at the end of the video, including the teenage students at the National Centre of Excellence for Traditional Scottish Music in Plockton.
Can’t help taking pictures of doorways…
Portree on the Isle of Skye and the streets of Edinburgh…
And rows of houses in the quaint village of Plockton. See more scenes of Plockton here.
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Here’s a group of signs that caught my eye during our travels in Scotland.
One of the special places we visited in Scotland was the small Isle of Iona. The Irish Saint Columba founded a monastery there in the 6th century and it remained a center of Gaelic Monasticism for 4 centuries.
We couldn’t have wished for a more gorgeous, sparkling day to take a ferry ride and walk around the village.
The Iona Abbey is a short hike from the ferry dock.
The 8th Duke and Duchess of Argyle are buried inside.
We wanted to stay longer in this tranquil spot, but had to catch the ferry back.
Last week, Rob and I visited Greenville, South Carolina, where I gave a talk in conjunction with my Pocketful of Posies exhibit. It was a pleasure to meet the people who came to see the show and hear about my work at the Upcountry History Museum last Thursday. Before heading inside the museum, I couldn’t resist standing next to the enormous banner outside.
The museum staff did a superb job hanging the show! I’m happy to say that it’s the most creative and professionally presented installation I’ve seen on the five-year tour. There’s plenty of time to visit the show, which is on display until Feb. 14th, 2016. This could very well be its last venue, as I’m no longer soliciting new locations. Of course, it could be a different story if an invitation from a great place with funds to ship the artwork comes forth.
The bold choice of lilac purple walls really sets off the natural golden brown wooden frames. They covered one area with a 6′ blow-up of the “Wise Old Owl” and a screen, which shows my Rabbitat video and Felt Wee Folk book trailer on a loop. Signage with different versions and information about the rhymes hang below the framed illustrations. For this, the previous exhibitor, the Bel Air Library in Maryland generously shared their research about the rhymes with the Upcountry History Museum. To give an idea of how I make the figures, they laid out step-by-step parts in a display case. They’re the same ones I made and photographed for Felt Wee Folk. And last but not least, the black box theater lighting makes everything pop and sparkle!
Pocketful of Posies, Oct. 17, 2015 – Feb. 14, 2016 at the Upcountry Museum – Furman University, Greenville, South Carolina.
We really enjoyed our visit and took a few extra days to see a friend and relative in the area. I spent a wonderful day near Columbia with my cousin, also named Salley with an “e”. Her 5-year-old grand-daughter is also named Salley, so our family surname continues to be passed down. Our grandmothers were 2 of the 5 independently minded, high spirited Salley sisters of Orangeburg, SC. In this circa 1900 photo, my cousin’s grandmother has their father’s arm around her and mine is standing, 2nd from the left.
And we had a fantastic visit with my RISD classmate, Niki Bonnett, who lives in Asheville, NC. What an artsy, fun town! Years ago, Niki designed the poster and catalog for my pins, which you can see here. We could have soaked up the southern hospitality for a bit longer, but had to fly home.
While traveling on the west coast of Scotland, we stayed in the port town of Oban for a few days. The weather was glorious, with incredible light in the early morning and at dusk. From here we took the ferry to the islands of Mull and then Iona, which I will show later.
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SALLEY MAVOR 