Little Interview

Over the last number of years, we have interviewed diverse members of the Glucksman community - artists, academics, staff members, guests, audiences and workshop participants. The responses are funny, inspiring, revealing and always a great read.

This month, we hear from Maria McNamara, Professor of Palaeontology at the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at University College Cork.

What are you reading?

Lots! I am a huge fan of all types of natural history so I’m always looking things up in our family reference books on wild plants, birds, lichens, insects, the night sky, cloud formations. Whenever I open those sorts of books I always get sucked in and end up reading about all sorts of other interesting things….it’s like I’m constantly filing away useful information about things to keep an eye out for “in the future”, with little mental notes like “we’ll see this plant in June” or “that star will be visible in autumn” and so on. For pleasure I love reading about space – I gobble up facts and figures about astronomy and the universe. Most recently I have been reading personal stories and perspectives from NASA and ESA astronauts about space travel. That’s real frontier stuff and I have such admiration for those men and women – they are basically incredibly brave polymaths working in very challenging conditions, and with such high risks. I really like fantasy fiction but I can’t really allow myself to read these books unless I’m on holidays as I will stay up all night guzzling them – I really struggle to put a good book down and say “now that’s enough for today”.

Favourite museum?

I have worked in natural history museums all over the world. My favourite ones are the ones where I’ve been allowed to borrow fossils or take samples for analysis! I think my favourite museums are the small hidden ones. I’ve been lucky to have been allowed to access some tiny museums in various countries in order to study the fossils in their collections, where the whole experience is so personal – one little museum in Spain comes to mind, located in a seminary, where this small collection of incredibly preserved fossils has been curated for almost one hundred years by a small group of priests, working with quiet care and without fanfare or any sort of online presence. It’s a real privilege to see these places, let alone work on their fossils, and when they allowed me to take samples of their precious fossils, I was really deeply touched by their trust in me and my work, even though I was such a young thing at the time! For pleasure, I love the National History Museum in Dublin. I could look at all the Celtic gold for hours – the really fine filigree work is incredible…I love tracing all the intricate details with my eyes. I also love the Museum of Country Life in Westport – a fabulous display of everything from clothing to furniture to walls and thatch, and lots that you can touch.

Best performance?

I love going to classical music concerts, especially works for choir or small vocal groups, as I played piano and sang for years in choirs. When I lived in Dublin as a student I used to go to the National Concert Hall all the time – they had great cheap student tickets! It’s hard to pick a single best performance, but I have been to some wonderful concerts by the Irish vocal group Anuna, and have also caught some incredible performances completely by accident. If I hear notes drifting on the air from a church I can’t resist – I can’t walk past and I have to go in, especially if it’s singing or the organ. But I also love rock and have really enjoyed some Metallica concerts – their music is really melodic and rhythm-driven and I think the lyrics are hilarious.

Most treasured possession?

This is a hard one. I don’t know if I really treasure any possession I have. I possess things that I like, and things that I need, but I think the only possessions that I might treasure are some beautiful stones I collected in a little river at the foot of the Comeragh Mountains, near my hometown of Clonmel, when I was a teenager. I love the feel of them and the patterns remind me of some of the planets and moons in our solar system. My most valued possessions are probably my yoga mat and my runners. These are like extensions of my body. I’ve run for years and now running feels like a natural state that I can just exist in. I love the simplicity of it. Yoga is another non-negotiable. I rely on it to prevent injury and stay flexible, and I love the feeling of calmness when I get a chance to have a longer session. I guess I would also have to add my climbing shoes here – I got back into bouldering (climbing with no ropes) a few years ago and it’s amazing – just you and the wall, and a way to move your body in three dimensions that feels very free.

Work(s) of art that inspire you?  

Oops! I can’t think of any – that’s embarrassing. I generally like round things and shiny things, so I love the metal hemispheres in Fitzgerald’s park (if they count as art?). I tend to like paintings that have lots of contrast – so I always will go look at a Caravaggio in an art museum for his use of light and shade. Ah, I also like Escher drawings for their reality-bending impossibility. I’m totally in love with the art in a series of children’s books – the Journey trilogy by Aaron Becker. They have no words and so the whole story is told through the illustrations, which is enthralling. My kids and I got really into the series and gave all the characters and things names – it’s amazing.

A lightbulb moment?

Hmm, there have been lots of these. As a researcher you have lightbulb moments all the time. For me, these might happen in conversations with members of my research team, while I’m in the lab, out running, in the shower….sometimes while writing research proposals. Anytime really.

Guilty pleasure?

Cooking dinner for myself, when everyone else is gone away or out. That’s the only time I can eat exactly what I want (beetroots, spinach, tofu, onions), how I want it (extremely spicy), and when I want it (10 pm-ish). I also love Jelly Tots and always keep a pack in the car that are officially “for emergencies”, but in reality I usually have one on my drive home from work – I suck it until it disappears.

What would you like to be doing right now?

Lying down in a sauna by myself, with nowhere to be or go. I would lie in there in butterfly pose until I fall asleep or my eyes get hot.