New College Seal Narrative

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Unlike most institutions of higher learning, New College is located in an where the natural elements are forcefully apparent in their mildness. The wind, water, sun and tropical flora combine to produce a year-round and un-ending growth system. The full year's schedule of the Colleg e reflects this freedom from seasonal extremes. I t would be easy to apply traditional heraldic symbols to a new college seal. But meanings become diluted and there is an inherent fakery in their transposition. The result is likely to be indistinguishable from hundreds of other seals. However, it is proper and reasonable to base the devices of the College Seal on some timeless designs that have had meanin g since antiquity. Therefore we have gone beyond medieval heraldry to the Greek Islands and adjusted a beautiful design incised on a vase found in the Cyclades of the era 2,500 to 400 B.C. It has a single truth and an unsophisticated directness to nature that makes it v luable nd meaningful to New College. The sun dominates the landscape of New College. It therefore becomes the centra pivot and heart of the seal symbolizing the light of knowledge and the source of life and energy. The sea and the wind can be fe t in gentle and continuously moving lines around the sun. This controlled m ovement waxes and wanes in four equal periods indicating the four similar seasons of the year and the four compass points. This emphasizes the fact that New College is not an insular local or regional institution. Surrounding the design are the Latin words "NOVUM COLLEGIUM FLORIDAE N CMLXI." These letters placed in a circle rather than an heraldic s ield symb olize the world with the sun as its center and the sea and air moving continuously on its surface. These complete forms describe an awareness that education is a life-long process: a neverending search for knowledge of ourselves, our world and our universe. T .e symbology of a seal is important to those who are interested Of greater importance is the total visual effect on the many people who see it but are not necessarily looking for meanings. This design has n intricacy that provides interest and a simplicity that once seen and identified will be remembered and recognized. In other words, the meanings generated by the forms may add to the concept of the design but it can be enjoyed without this specific knowledge. It seems fitting that New College should have a mark with its beginnings in ancient Greece, modernized for present day use and which expresses the co mpleteness, the quality and the dynamic activity of this newest educational institution. NEW COLLEGE, SARASOTA, FLORIDA 33578 TELEPHONE: 8I3/3SS-7I3I