The Affect of Study Abroad

Overview

Researcher: Amy Bach

I am an American studying abroad; what affect is this having on me? I am refining my familiar craft in a foreign country; how is this impacting my music-making? Who are the others who have come before me, what influences did they absorb, and how are our experiences similar?

In the 1920s, dozens of American painters, writers, musicians, and all kinds of artists gathered in Paris to study in and absorb that city’s cultural atmosphere. Where they came from, who they interacted with, what slices of Parisian life they experienced – all of this changed who they were and how they approached their art. As one who is also studying my art form in a foreign country, I find these similarities, differences, influences, and effects fascinating. And so I seek to explore this common stage in a creative life through the experiences of these 1920s artists. 

Perhaps these students gathered one evening to reflect on their common experiences, discuss what they missed from home, or describe a new custom they observed. Perhaps each one shared their current project or an art piece they discovered. My project aims to recreate this event as I imagine it might have been. Continued research will explore further stages of these artists’ transformational process even as I experience them myself.

Image: by Amy Bach, Paris, 2021