Saturday, June 11, 2011
Body Art
Yesterday, at Chiara's birthday party there was a facepainting table set up. Naturally, this meant that after 2 or 3 kids got their faces painted, the college students flocked to the art supplies and began drawing on each other. So here's a quick little glimpse of my new tat :) (courtesy of Kat)
We've Got Spirit- Yes We Do!!!
I just wanted to leave a quick selection of pictures from this week. Kelsey set us a whole spirit week for this week so I'll share some of our themes. Since a picture is worth a thousand words and these pictures are louder than most, I'll try to keep it short and sweet.
Monday: Dress like your roommate
Monday: Dress like your roommate
I did the typical Carly look - headband, bun and snuggie. She wore one of my dresses and stuffed not 1, not 2, but FOUR t-shirts into the top.
Andrew and Nick as each other
Megan and Kelsey as each other
Tuesday: School spirit - very limited participation
Wednesday: Mismatched clothes and funky hair
Becca and Aashley in the studio
Meghan
Kat and Cora
The picture caught me a bit off guard
Prof Doll dressed up specifically for chapter meeting. This deserved 2 pictures
Thursday: Dress like Prof. Doll day. We all wore dark button downs, and matching coral scarves. He ended up coming to lunch with us so that we could be an even bigger spectacle than normal.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Current Events
I realize it's been ages since I've posted (well, approximately 2 weeks which in the grand scheme of this blogging endeavor is slightly shameful) and while there have been plenty of fun events to write home about I thought it might be nice to just write about day to day things. As of today I have 10 days left in this country which is actually kind of frightening. I think we are all going through the panicked process of wondering whether we have fully utilized our time here, have we made enough art, will our grades be high enough for our scholarships, will our relationships to one another last, and, of course, how on earth am I going to get all this crap into my suitcase! (I live with 21 other women, that last question is MAJOR here. Also (Dad) I probably brought less than everyone else. I know this is hard to believe but it's true haha).
We've just finished the third week of our last class, which for me is Text and Image. Apparently the program directors believe in saving the best for last because while I have enjoyed all my other classes, this one is definitely the best, at least for my temperament. On the first day of class, our Professor (Botts, who immediately won us all over with his eclectic personality and appearence to match. I mean ponytail, jesus sandals, and a flute hung around his neck.) started us off by chopping down a thicket of bamboo in the courtyard with a hacksaw and teaching us how to make calligraphy pens out of the stalks. The second thing he did was delete/tear up the syllabus and tell us we'd be starting from scratch. We then got an introductory lesson on calligraphy and worked for about a week on developing our letters, and creating shapes and designs out of the letters in our names, which we then tiled together to make a kaleidoscope effect, and cut out out. Our final project will be creating backgrounds to place these cut outs on "like windows", which will, no doubt, be indicative of our personalities or some such notion.
Then, we were each assigned 3 letters to design and given a supply of linolium to carve them on. FINALLY!! I was so very very happy to be back in printmaking. When he handed out supplies and described our assignments it was like the homework version of Christmas. I was so happy to finally be working on something that I both liked (a lot) and felt competent at. I've found that printmaking is a different beast than drawing or painting, for while I like both of the latter quite a bit, they seriously stress me out with details and reworking. However, once you carve into the linoleum, there is nothing you can do to get rid of that mark. I really like the permanence of it all, you get a very clear idea of what kinds of marks you are able to make, how capable you are of details, what your personal carving style is. It's all very telling, and I like that you have to embrace what you can do and develop a confidence in your own work for any of it to work well at all.
This week was slightly more difficult, with the move from linoleum to wood carving. Anyone who has heard me talk about printing know s that I don't particularly care for woodcarving, but somehow I'm actually learning to like it here in Orvieto. I think I've grown more patient with trying to understand the wood, how to cut across the grain, or tell if it will splinter. It's like I'm growing up, or maturing or something. Very strange. Anyway, our assignment for this week, which was also completely wonderful in my opinion, was to create 5 designs that could be used as prints OR 3-d molds. This means that you not only have to pay attention to what is left on the surface of the wood block, but need to carve in a careful way to establish different depths in the wood, interesting shapes, and designs that when inverted create interesting textures. So 4 days, 1 mildly bloody face off between a straight blade and my finger (spoiler alert: I lost), 12 sketches, 5 woodblocks, and one very swollen and slightly bruised hand later, I have my designs. And I am excited. Today, we created make-shift molds for them out of old corn-flake boxes and started pouring plaster. Prof Botts and Prof Doll (who, by the way are best friends from college, both supremely weird and hilarious to see together) bought us dyes from one of the hardware stores that are made to match the colors of the rocks in orvieto and we are dyeing our tiles different colors.If you don't quite understand what I mean, it would be like dying a sculpture the exact color of the formations in Garden of the Gods (for all of you at home.) The plaster versions are to be tiled on the floor of our art exhibition next thursday. It's very exciting. - In case it's not clear at all yet, I love this class.
I just wanted to give you all a glimpse of what life is looking like for all of us as we're nearing the end of the semester here. While it gets a little tense around the monastery every so often, my peers seem to be filled with encouragement from and for one another which helps more than anything, and the professors are doing their part to be understanding and involved in the community.
One of my favorite things that we've started doing are "artist talks." Professor Fretz was the first (painting professor from the last class), then Stevick (Poetry prof.), then our printing professor Botts, Josh (the R.A.'s husband who is finishing a novel and apparently raps on the side), and Karin Coonrod who teaches drama. We set up a 1-2 hour time slot where they either show us photos, videos or demonstrations of their work. It is a real blessing to see the things that our mentors are making, because it helps us to understand what we do in class and gives us a better comprehension of what they do in the real world. For example, our painting professor modeled the project we did after a gallery show of his own. Next week we will have our final artist talk which is very fittingly all about Prof. Doll's work. I, for one, am really excited to see it, because its like we've had sneak previews all semester. When we had dinner in his apartment we got to see a few of his paintings (one landscape in ochre and beige colors, one of Frederick Douglass, one of Johnny Cash), and a camel he made out of cherry colored resin, as well as the requisite "bag" (Read: MAN PURSE) that he carries literally everywhere with a picture of Johnny Cash silkscreened on it. Yes, the Johnny Cash thing borders on the obsessive, but it's rather funny really.
This weekend and the week to come are jam-packed. Tomorrow, we're having a lesson on how to cook tirimisu, and then Chiara Doll's bday party is happening in the courtyard. A note on the Doll kid's birthday parties: They rival county fairs. I'm not kidding. Prof Doll makes posters of the kids, develops a theme, decorates the courtyard and makes tshirts for the guests in some cases. Meanwhile, Sherona spends days cooking cakes, cupcakes, pastries, caramel corn, etc. We students are drafted then to man craft tables, game stations, group activities, decorate cupcakes, and generally keep the peace. It's an extravaganza. Chiara turned 4 in March or April (they don't believe in telling the kids when their real bdays are because this way they can plan the parties when they have time. definitely a sneaky parent trick) and that makes her officially old enough for her first party. I think part of it also had to do with the fact that there were 22 girls living upstairs. In fact, the way we were approached was this- "ladies, we're doing a Princess Extravaganza. And we really need help with....this whole, PINK thing." Naturally, this was followed by about 2 minutes of incoherent screaming and squealing by all of us mature college students. You get the idea. Anyway, we're all very excited and it should be a good time.
Then on Sunday, Nick, one of the students here, has written a murder mystery dinner for all of us to participate in! I'm so excited!! There's specific parts for all the people who can make it, and we all had personalized invitations slipped under our doors. Naturally, being art students, many of us responded with hand-made, over the top, RSVP cards which may have been a bit overwhelming, but all in good spirit.
I'm telling you all about these things, partially out of excitement, and partially so there will be something that pushes me to write to you all about them sooner rather than later haha. Sneaky, isn't it?
As always, I hope this finds you all well, happy, and healthy. For those of you at home, I will see you in a week and a half. For the rest of you, I cannot wait until we meet again!
We've just finished the third week of our last class, which for me is Text and Image. Apparently the program directors believe in saving the best for last because while I have enjoyed all my other classes, this one is definitely the best, at least for my temperament. On the first day of class, our Professor (Botts, who immediately won us all over with his eclectic personality and appearence to match. I mean ponytail, jesus sandals, and a flute hung around his neck.) started us off by chopping down a thicket of bamboo in the courtyard with a hacksaw and teaching us how to make calligraphy pens out of the stalks. The second thing he did was delete/tear up the syllabus and tell us we'd be starting from scratch. We then got an introductory lesson on calligraphy and worked for about a week on developing our letters, and creating shapes and designs out of the letters in our names, which we then tiled together to make a kaleidoscope effect, and cut out out. Our final project will be creating backgrounds to place these cut outs on "like windows", which will, no doubt, be indicative of our personalities or some such notion.
Then, we were each assigned 3 letters to design and given a supply of linolium to carve them on. FINALLY!! I was so very very happy to be back in printmaking. When he handed out supplies and described our assignments it was like the homework version of Christmas. I was so happy to finally be working on something that I both liked (a lot) and felt competent at. I've found that printmaking is a different beast than drawing or painting, for while I like both of the latter quite a bit, they seriously stress me out with details and reworking. However, once you carve into the linoleum, there is nothing you can do to get rid of that mark. I really like the permanence of it all, you get a very clear idea of what kinds of marks you are able to make, how capable you are of details, what your personal carving style is. It's all very telling, and I like that you have to embrace what you can do and develop a confidence in your own work for any of it to work well at all.
This week was slightly more difficult, with the move from linoleum to wood carving. Anyone who has heard me talk about printing know s that I don't particularly care for woodcarving, but somehow I'm actually learning to like it here in Orvieto. I think I've grown more patient with trying to understand the wood, how to cut across the grain, or tell if it will splinter. It's like I'm growing up, or maturing or something. Very strange. Anyway, our assignment for this week, which was also completely wonderful in my opinion, was to create 5 designs that could be used as prints OR 3-d molds. This means that you not only have to pay attention to what is left on the surface of the wood block, but need to carve in a careful way to establish different depths in the wood, interesting shapes, and designs that when inverted create interesting textures. So 4 days, 1 mildly bloody face off between a straight blade and my finger (spoiler alert: I lost), 12 sketches, 5 woodblocks, and one very swollen and slightly bruised hand later, I have my designs. And I am excited. Today, we created make-shift molds for them out of old corn-flake boxes and started pouring plaster. Prof Botts and Prof Doll (who, by the way are best friends from college, both supremely weird and hilarious to see together) bought us dyes from one of the hardware stores that are made to match the colors of the rocks in orvieto and we are dyeing our tiles different colors.If you don't quite understand what I mean, it would be like dying a sculpture the exact color of the formations in Garden of the Gods (for all of you at home.) The plaster versions are to be tiled on the floor of our art exhibition next thursday. It's very exciting. - In case it's not clear at all yet, I love this class.
I just wanted to give you all a glimpse of what life is looking like for all of us as we're nearing the end of the semester here. While it gets a little tense around the monastery every so often, my peers seem to be filled with encouragement from and for one another which helps more than anything, and the professors are doing their part to be understanding and involved in the community.
One of my favorite things that we've started doing are "artist talks." Professor Fretz was the first (painting professor from the last class), then Stevick (Poetry prof.), then our printing professor Botts, Josh (the R.A.'s husband who is finishing a novel and apparently raps on the side), and Karin Coonrod who teaches drama. We set up a 1-2 hour time slot where they either show us photos, videos or demonstrations of their work. It is a real blessing to see the things that our mentors are making, because it helps us to understand what we do in class and gives us a better comprehension of what they do in the real world. For example, our painting professor modeled the project we did after a gallery show of his own. Next week we will have our final artist talk which is very fittingly all about Prof. Doll's work. I, for one, am really excited to see it, because its like we've had sneak previews all semester. When we had dinner in his apartment we got to see a few of his paintings (one landscape in ochre and beige colors, one of Frederick Douglass, one of Johnny Cash), and a camel he made out of cherry colored resin, as well as the requisite "bag" (Read: MAN PURSE) that he carries literally everywhere with a picture of Johnny Cash silkscreened on it. Yes, the Johnny Cash thing borders on the obsessive, but it's rather funny really.
This weekend and the week to come are jam-packed. Tomorrow, we're having a lesson on how to cook tirimisu, and then Chiara Doll's bday party is happening in the courtyard. A note on the Doll kid's birthday parties: They rival county fairs. I'm not kidding. Prof Doll makes posters of the kids, develops a theme, decorates the courtyard and makes tshirts for the guests in some cases. Meanwhile, Sherona spends days cooking cakes, cupcakes, pastries, caramel corn, etc. We students are drafted then to man craft tables, game stations, group activities, decorate cupcakes, and generally keep the peace. It's an extravaganza. Chiara turned 4 in March or April (they don't believe in telling the kids when their real bdays are because this way they can plan the parties when they have time. definitely a sneaky parent trick) and that makes her officially old enough for her first party. I think part of it also had to do with the fact that there were 22 girls living upstairs. In fact, the way we were approached was this- "ladies, we're doing a Princess Extravaganza. And we really need help with....this whole, PINK thing." Naturally, this was followed by about 2 minutes of incoherent screaming and squealing by all of us mature college students. You get the idea. Anyway, we're all very excited and it should be a good time.
Then on Sunday, Nick, one of the students here, has written a murder mystery dinner for all of us to participate in! I'm so excited!! There's specific parts for all the people who can make it, and we all had personalized invitations slipped under our doors. Naturally, being art students, many of us responded with hand-made, over the top, RSVP cards which may have been a bit overwhelming, but all in good spirit.
I'm telling you all about these things, partially out of excitement, and partially so there will be something that pushes me to write to you all about them sooner rather than later haha. Sneaky, isn't it?
As always, I hope this finds you all well, happy, and healthy. For those of you at home, I will see you in a week and a half. For the rest of you, I cannot wait until we meet again!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Ravenna, Parte Due
Well I figure it's about time I got around to telling you about my trip to Ravenna.
Let's start with the city itself: Ravenna was once the capital of Italy (the pope moved the capital from Rome when it was being invaded) and remained one of the cultural capitals for years after Rome was re-established. Because of this, and the v arious rulers that took up residence there, Ravenna houses many of Italy's finest mosaics. It is also the place that Dante lived and died after he was banished from Florence. When he died, the Florentines pardoned him (after realizing he would probably be a pretty cool guy to take credit for) and requested that his remains be returned to them. The ravennans(?) refused, and actually hid Dante's bones in the city so noone would find them. Today, when you visit, there is a small tomb/shrine built to Dante (the white building in the photo from the last post) which houses the actual remains (or so I believe) and a small park behind that building has at least half a dozen other tombs, all of them labelled "Dante".
We got there on Friday afternoon (After some train delays left us stranded in Bologna for a few hours) and immediately headed for the center of town. I walked with Lauren and Nick to the museums they wanted to visit and left them there- while they explored the tombs, crypts, and churches I hit the streets to see the parks and people. It was wonderful to just have a few hours to walk around and see things at my own pace. I ended up wandering to Dante's tomb, and settled on a bench in front of San Francesco's right behind the rear wall of the tomb. I spent the afternoon sketching and people watching, and finally met up with Lauren and Nick for a take-out pizza dinner.
I discovered that I love Ravenna. It's known as one of the bicycle towns in Italy, and that is the main form of transportation there. They even paved the street in two different colors of stone: white in the middle is the bike and car lane, the black on the outsides is for pedestrians. The people are generally friendly, there are open gardens everywhere, bright mosaics on all the public benches and monuments, and plenty of open spaces to soak up some sun and fresh air.
After dinner we walked to our hostel, which turned out to be a bit of an ordeal. After a short mishap with reading the map we took a 35 minute walk across the traintracks through a few neighborhoods that we all admitted later, had made us feel rather uncomfortable. I must admit, I was dismayed when Lauren pointed to a rather unimpressive, beige building next to a sketchy public park, indicating our hostel. My opinion of the place did a complete 180 once we got inside. There were bright yellow and orange walls, draped in random tapestries and various kinds of art from all different countries and even a hookah-bar style room. The only word we could all agree upon to describe it was "groovy".
After far too many rounds of "go fish" we called it an early night. The next morning we headed back across the train tracks and wandered around. Nick and Lauren went to visit Dante, and I went into San Francesco. The neat thing about San Francesco is that the ground under it is unstable. This means that the buildings in the area are slowly sinking; San Francesco's original mosaic floor is now under a few feet of water. They built a new floor probably about 10 feet above the original, with steps leading down to an opening to the water, which is showcased under the new pulpit. Its really very poetic.
After our separate adventures, the three of us met up on the benches lining the piazza outside the Basilica. Since we didn't know what else to do with the few hours we had before our train left, we spent our time on the steps, playing cards and eating lunch. Then we said a quick goodbye to Ravenna and took our trains back to Orvieto. We were lucky in our travels because the next day there was a railway workers strike, leaving 4 or 5 other students stranded in other parts of Italy.
Ravenna was a wonderful trip, I'm learning that I love the smaller towns the best (the only exception being Rome, which is completely captivating)
Also, since my camera died the second day, here are some snapshots from Lauren's:
she snuck up on me painting while I was waiting for them.
THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY!! ITS AN ELEPHANT BUILT OUT OF LEGOS
Let's start with the city itself: Ravenna was once the capital of Italy (the pope moved the capital from Rome when it was being invaded) and remained one of the cultural capitals for years after Rome was re-established. Because of this, and the v arious rulers that took up residence there, Ravenna houses many of Italy's finest mosaics. It is also the place that Dante lived and died after he was banished from Florence. When he died, the Florentines pardoned him (after realizing he would probably be a pretty cool guy to take credit for) and requested that his remains be returned to them. The ravennans(?) refused, and actually hid Dante's bones in the city so noone would find them. Today, when you visit, there is a small tomb/shrine built to Dante (the white building in the photo from the last post) which houses the actual remains (or so I believe) and a small park behind that building has at least half a dozen other tombs, all of them labelled "Dante".
We got there on Friday afternoon (After some train delays left us stranded in Bologna for a few hours) and immediately headed for the center of town. I walked with Lauren and Nick to the museums they wanted to visit and left them there- while they explored the tombs, crypts, and churches I hit the streets to see the parks and people. It was wonderful to just have a few hours to walk around and see things at my own pace. I ended up wandering to Dante's tomb, and settled on a bench in front of San Francesco's right behind the rear wall of the tomb. I spent the afternoon sketching and people watching, and finally met up with Lauren and Nick for a take-out pizza dinner.
I discovered that I love Ravenna. It's known as one of the bicycle towns in Italy, and that is the main form of transportation there. They even paved the street in two different colors of stone: white in the middle is the bike and car lane, the black on the outsides is for pedestrians. The people are generally friendly, there are open gardens everywhere, bright mosaics on all the public benches and monuments, and plenty of open spaces to soak up some sun and fresh air.
After dinner we walked to our hostel, which turned out to be a bit of an ordeal. After a short mishap with reading the map we took a 35 minute walk across the traintracks through a few neighborhoods that we all admitted later, had made us feel rather uncomfortable. I must admit, I was dismayed when Lauren pointed to a rather unimpressive, beige building next to a sketchy public park, indicating our hostel. My opinion of the place did a complete 180 once we got inside. There were bright yellow and orange walls, draped in random tapestries and various kinds of art from all different countries and even a hookah-bar style room. The only word we could all agree upon to describe it was "groovy".
After far too many rounds of "go fish" we called it an early night. The next morning we headed back across the train tracks and wandered around. Nick and Lauren went to visit Dante, and I went into San Francesco. The neat thing about San Francesco is that the ground under it is unstable. This means that the buildings in the area are slowly sinking; San Francesco's original mosaic floor is now under a few feet of water. They built a new floor probably about 10 feet above the original, with steps leading down to an opening to the water, which is showcased under the new pulpit. Its really very poetic.
After our separate adventures, the three of us met up on the benches lining the piazza outside the Basilica. Since we didn't know what else to do with the few hours we had before our train left, we spent our time on the steps, playing cards and eating lunch. Then we said a quick goodbye to Ravenna and took our trains back to Orvieto. We were lucky in our travels because the next day there was a railway workers strike, leaving 4 or 5 other students stranded in other parts of Italy.
Ravenna was a wonderful trip, I'm learning that I love the smaller towns the best (the only exception being Rome, which is completely captivating)
Also, since my camera died the second day, here are some snapshots from Lauren's:
above and below are both of the original floor of San Francesco
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Ravenna, Part 1
This past weekend, Lauren O., Nick and I took a trip to Ravenna, which ended up being a perfectly lovely city. I will post more about it soon, but wanted to put up a few pictures for now. Enjoy.
Dante's Tomb
Lauren and Yoda
A few of my favorite mosaics:
(above and below) A random ruin we stumbled upon that had a room of old mosaics in the tower
A neat nativity scene
tower of the duomo
Who doesn't love marigolds?
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Gratification
There are many things I want to catch you all up on: National events, group parties, and random joyful occurrences from daily life which I have neglected to post due to an overload of painting in order to finish my final on time, and a side dish of laziness. However, for now, I am going to just tell you about today. Today, I finished all three paintings for class (which ends tomorrow) and the poetry class simultaneously finished their last assignment. They each wrote poems about our paintings, and we just had a reading of them, and a viewing of photos of the paintings (A few of which are still not finished) this afternoon.
Somewhere between the companionship, the words, the fatigue, and the wine that we were all sipping as we listened to the works of our peers, I decided that the only thing that is important enough to share today is art. So i took a few, poor snapshots of my work, and have pasted in the poem that my friend Lauren wrote about my picture.
Somewhere between the companionship, the words, the fatigue, and the wine that we were all sipping as we listened to the works of our peers, I decided that the only thing that is important enough to share today is art. So i took a few, poor snapshots of my work, and have pasted in the poem that my friend Lauren wrote about my picture.
close up of self portrait
close up of carly's portrait, which doesn't really look like her
The whole thing
Lauren Owen
Ode to Roxanne
She floats above my cliff-top realm,
Oblivious to any puff of wind
That otherwise might cause a shift
In the meditations of my pensive girl.
She, alone, with delicate petals
Fights for me the central battle
And when she rises, victorious,
She hovers again on her throne of guidance.
If a flower so small can do so much,
What would happen if a multitude
Thrived together on only a few
Vibrant stalks, strong and lush?
For by day, she descends from her place on high
To join her company at my tableside
As I wander through the castle my thoughts have built—
She’ll be here still, though she may wilt.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Antiquing in Arezzo
We learned while we were travelling around with our Renaissance History class that on the first Sunday of every month there is an antique fair in Arezzo. So this past weekend, when the monastery was tense with gloom and recklessness, a group of us trekked down the hill and hopped on a train. Just a block from the train station there were tents set up as far as the road would permit, and under each was some new treasure. There was jewelry, furniture, old books, vintage postcards and linens. As we turned each corner, there would be 3 new roads of tents for every one that we had traversed. Naturally, with so many different things to look at, we got separated into small groups and wandered aimlessly for the entirety of the morning. Everyone had a different idea of what they wanted: old jewelry, sturdy old books to re-bind into sketchbooks, and I was looking for an old steamer trunk. It was fun to browse through the wares (I actually found several trunks in quite good conditions, but the idea of having to travel with it for the rest of the semester, get it home, and the price tag of over 100 euros for each one- the best ones were 250-350- were all deterrents. Que cera cera). Not much had captured our attention until Kat, Caitlyn and I stumbled upon the stall with a giant ring of vintage keys. Then we were all lost. They were all of different shapes, sizes, and ages bound together on a long loop of wire.
Double whammy- old keys on the new scarf
After finding this stand, we wandered for quite some time, ran into friends, and settled in a plaza to find lunch. People watching afforded great amusement for some time, and a surprising number of English-speakers wandered by. On our trek back to the train station, we wandered by a used clothing booth, which meant a long stop and definite purchases for all. After some celebratory gelato, we hurried to the station just in time for our train to arrive. All in all it was a grand time, and a much needed break from wandering the Monastery.
An awesome chair covered in cartoon strips
A Pic for dad :)
My lovely travelling companions
I also ought to mention, that this weekend was joyfully ridden with birthdays both here and at home. We had one each day:
Lauren turned 20 on Saturday
And Emily turned 20 on Sunday
Not to mention 2 very dear individuals who were celebrated at home, neither of whom are 20 J
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