Mary Elizabeth Vance

Mary Elizabeth Vance

2015

Reykjavik, Iceland

Art as Intercultural Dialogue in the Land of Fire and Ice

Mary Elizabeth Vance graduated in 2014 with a BA in Religion and the Arts, and an emphasis in the Visual Arts. While studying at Belmont she was able to spend a considerable amount of time studying abroad, including a summer in Israel, Turkey, and Greece and a semester at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. These opportunities have contributed to her pursuit of developing a global perspective – as well as deepened her love of adventure and human diversity.

 

International travel and the arts are perhaps Mary Elizabeth’s two greatest passions. The study of art is one inextricably intertwined with human culture; art is not only a powerful means of communicating across linguistic and cultural barriers, but has historically provided sociological and anthropological insight into human culture since prehistoric times. Mary Elizabeth has been involved in the arts since childhood, and intends to use her craft in the future as a means of enabling cross-cultural understanding.

Iceland has been a source of inspiration to Mary Elizabeth, and traveling here specifically is the fulfillment of a long-held dream. After completing the artist residency program at SIM, her work will be exhibited and open to the community of Reykjavik. This opportunity to further refine and practice her craft will serve as a precursor to graduate study in Fine Art, most likely in an international setting.

More about me....

Major(s): Religion & the Arts

My Stories

  • Context

    Context

    It has been strange undertaking work in such a unique place as this: far from home but still a home-like setting.  Daily life

  • Heima (at home)

    Heima (at home)

    After being in a place so long it begins to feel like home – even a place as committed to consistently challenging one’s

  • 100 Years

    100 Years

    Filming in the landscape is such a different experience – being able to now that the weather is much better, and finding myself

  • Holidays, Tourists, and Institutions

    Holidays, Tourists, and Institutions

    Tourism here has surged in recent years not only because more people are finding out about how beautiful this country is – but

  • Accessing the Inaccessible

    Accessing the Inaccessible

    The past couple weeks has been full of crazy adventures and uniquely Icelandic experiences (which I will break into a few posts –

  • Spaces of Dialogue

    Spaces of Dialogue

    I still find myself occasionally stopping in the middle of the street to marvel at where I am. The brightening skies keep each

  • Collaboration

    Collaboration

    One of the great opportunities afforded by doing an artist residency is the chance to work alongside artists from different perspectives and genres

  • Midnight Sun and Labor Strikes

    Midnight Sun and Labor Strikes

    I talk so much about the weather here – a dull topic in any other place in the world I am aware –

  • Climate Changes

    Climate Changes

    It was the nicest day we’d seen yet. Myself and two of the artists with whom I shared a studio for April set

  • The Nature of History

    The Nature of History

      Sometimes I feel like when you’re in another country working everything is research. Exploring the local supermarket? Research! Walking into town and

  • Learning the Landscape

    Learning the Landscape

    There is a massive storm pelting the tin roof of the SIM apartment. My roof is slanted, so the rivulets of ice and

  • Black Sand, Bright Skies

    Black Sand, Bright Skies

    Iceland. Land of Fire and Ice, a landscape of stark contradictions somehow rendered harmonious by the capable hands of Nature herself. This is