Art in Italy - Summer 2007

Birdman in Venice.....

2007-06-12T21:27:00.001+02:00

Here is a photo of Scott and I in Venice. Before this photo was taken I dared Kim to pick up a pigeon, and without hesitation she snached one off the ground. Following the intial pick up, she then did some type of bird sleeper hold that clamed down the bird so we could touch it. After the effort put in by Kim so that we could touch the "rats of the sky," Kaylee realized she had a package of crackers. We then put the crackers into our hand and let the mangy birds with their hot feet eat from our hands. It was a fun time. The piazza must have had thousands of birds. Other than the birds being nasty....it was an awesome sight.

Birdman.....

2007-06-12T21:22:00.000+02:00

From Rome to Venice

2007-05-31T10:01:00.000+02:00

We have not been able to blog since leaving La Romita because the hotel in Rome charged to use the internet and we were just too busy in the big city to find any free moments to look for Internet cafes or other means of communicating... but here we are in Venice and it is our last full day!

Everything has gone so quickly here at the end of the trip. In Rome we saw the Colliseum, the Pantheon, the Vatican, several musuems and churches, and many other sights along the way. We rode the Metro and ate lunch all over the city, but our dinners were at the hotel. I have no way to upload pictures now but I will add some to this entry when we return in two days.

After Rome we arrived in Venice and took a boat across to our hotel... we are staying on the island Ledo just off the coast of the main city. The island is nice, very vacation-like with small shops and a few larger stores. We went into Venice yesterday for the first time and saw the Accademia and the Guggenheim Collection! The Guggenheim was amazing... Picasso, Cornell, Tanguy, Dali, Ernst, Pollock... the list goes on and on as to the contemporary greats we saw yesterday. Personally, I was in awe.

I would write more but we are going out to find the church where Indiana Jones was filmed. Yesterday we saw where Casino Royale was shot... Venice is both culturally rich and very surreal. I keep using that word to describe the cities we visit... but this time it really applies. I mean, we are in a city that is on the water and the roads are made of water. It is pretty amazing. Tonight is our farewell dinner at the hotel, and then we are off to the airport in the morning. Flight from Venice to Atlanta, then from Atlanta to Indianapolis... and we will all have stories from our own unique experiences to share when we get back.

2007-05-25T23:58:00.000+02:00

Today we went to Todi, a nice little town that you actually have to ride in a glass case to take you up to the city. It was really cool, many of the towns here you have to use other forms of transportation to get into the main city area, like for instance in Perguia we rode up a series of escalators underground. The night before we went out to Terni. We took some group shots before we left and tried to get Marilynn in the photos, she does particularly like being photographed, so she kept hiding her face and closing her eyes...shes too cute. Leaving La Romita in the morning and heading off to Rome!!

2007-05-25T15:35:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we stayed at La Romita and worked in the studio. It was one of our last days to spend in the studio. Some of us went to Terni to do some shopping. Today is our last day at La Romita and then we are off to Rome!!! We went to a little hill town called Todi. We were only there a couple hours so we got to see the Duomo and went inside a church. We came back here and everyone is resting and getting ready to leave tomorrow. We have a 2 hour bus ride to Rome, then we are there for 3 days. We then proceed to Venice which is an 11 hour bus ride!! I am not looking forward to that at all. Before we know, we are going to be back home!

La Romita Tour!!

2007-05-24T15:47:00.000+02:00

Guess what!? I made you a quick little tour of La Romita so you can see where we have been staying for the past 2 weeks! Now you can get a better idea of this wonderful place. It ends a little abruptly because I ran out of memory space, but it is still fun! I hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

sempre pace! (pah-chay) <-peace out!

Italian Graffiti

2007-05-24T14:45:00.000+02:00

We're only a couple days away from Rome. When we get there, I'll be doing my presentation on graffiti in Italy. We prepared the presentations before leaving for the trip, including pictures we found online to go along with our topics.

Since arriving, I've found plenty of images to reference for extra material. I had yet to upload any of these pictures, but thought I'd go ahead and share some with everyone. The top two images are from Terni, the middle is from the waterfall, and the bottom two are from Orvieto. I'm fascinated with how many pop culture references are included in graffiti here... the Darkness and Maggie Simpson make quite a combination. I also found one that simply said "Coldplay Clocks."

Down in a hole!

2007-05-24T09:22:00.000+02:00

So as it turns out Orvieto has this huge well (248 steps down or 203 feet to be exact) into the ground that leads to a cool center and an impressive sight. It was pretty cold down there, but a lot of fun to explore. Here is a view from the bottom looking up, doesn't seem as tall, but believe me, we were down there a bit.

slide show, wine, family guy

2007-05-23T23:08:00.000+02:00

Tonight after dinner we watched a slide show of the history of La Romita, then an episode of Family Guy. The slide show told an interesting story about how this place has become a studio/school for artists. I am so apprechiative of all the efforts it took to create it. The Family Guy episode that followed made me feel back at home! I'm a little sad that we only have a couple nights left here at La Romita.

Hot Italian Day

2007-05-23T22:23:00.001+02:00

Today, it was truely a summer day and Orviteo and a city on top of a mesa was our destination. While exploring the city we had the opportunity to duck the summer heat by going to Pozzo di San Patrizio. This sight was a well commisioned by Pope Clement VII in 1527 in fear of a drought if attacked. Working as a double helix (not intersecting) we went done the 248 steps to a cool and dark place. 203 ft in length it provided a cool haven at the bottom as well as a nice hike once we went back up. Also in the city it is interesting to see the local school children take day trips into the city because the classes seem to be always dressed in brightly colored t-shirts in order to keep track of the many children wandering about. Tomarrow is a studio day with a day trip to Terni to grab the regular art supplies and snacks to keep us energized. Ciao from La Romita!

Orvieto or Bust

2007-05-23T22:23:00.000+02:00

...seems like every day we spend going to a town or a city, I end up exhausted by the time we return to La Romita. There's just so much to see and I can't keep myself from exploring. We spent all of today in Orvieto. Our first stop was an area of Etruscan tombs... which was both creepy and cool. Just to see where the Etruscans buried their dead and to see how weathered yet preserved these tombs were was amazing. [group photo of almost everyone at the Etruscan tombs... where was Megan?]

Once we arrived inside Orvieto, our first stop was the Duomo. The zebra stripes were reminiscent of Duomo in Siena, but the frescoes inside this one were much more captivating. Portraying the events of the Last Judgment, these paintings by Signorelli wrapped around an entire room in the Duomo.

After the Duomo we had some time to explore the city and eat lunch. We found a nice pizzeria that wasn't too expensive, more of a hole-in-the-wall, but it was under five Euros so it was worth it. Later there was gelato as usual, and Sarah and I tried these really weird Spider-Man jelly sticks. Think gelatin in popsicle form. We then went on a journey to an old well near the edge of the city... there were four-hundred some steps and Sarah, Megan and I went all the way to the bottom and came back up. [image from the bottom of the well looking up] We encountered Jamie along the way, but because of the way the well was designed we could only find her on the way back up. The staircases were stacked one on top of the other so that people going down would not encounter people going up. Once back at the top, I got a picture of the group that had gone down before us while they were still recuperating from the climb [last image].

The bus ride back to La Romita was a quiet one. Or at least it was for me, as I slept the whole way. Dinner was great, as always, and then we watched a slide show about the history of the school and monastery here. It's so surreal to be in a country with so much history. Most of these buildings have existed in some form longer than the United States. It's going to be interesting to see how I look at our architecture when I return.

Beneath the waterfall

2007-05-22T23:43:00.000+02:00

We like to play this game called, "Let's see how many faces we can fit into the picture!" It's a lot of fun and is something that we will continue to perfect.

As you know if you have read the other blogs, we visited the tallest waterfall in Europe. It was made by the Romans a long time ago and can actually be shut off by a valve. There was a tunnel that lead to a little balcony type thing that was really wet and you could see the top part from below. it was really neat but we couldn't stay out there long because we got really wet and cold. But it was worth it!!

Stay tuned!

@ the end of the rainbow...

2007-05-22T22:41:00.000+02:00

Ciao to everyone!!! :D
There is soo much to try and explain on this wonderful blog site. haha!
We have been seeing soo many wonderful towns and art, so this week we were allowed to be a little more relaxed. There was a planned day where we visited two different BEACHes and we all had fun in the sun. It was a really refreshing day for everyone to just kick back and relax. Claire, Valerie, and I had a little time to layout, chill, and paint each other's toes!!! YAY 4 girl time!
We also got to visit the biggest waterful in Europe, which just so happened to be created by the Romans many many years ago.... The waterfall climb was exhausting, but AMAZING and this is where we found the end of all rainbows (in ITALY)!!!!!!
Now we are back in the studio working our little butts off creating images about our exciting and inspiring experiences.

Yesterday at the Mediterranean and today at the gallery!

2007-05-22T22:30:00.000+02:00

So as you all probably know by now, I'm not much of a writer. I love to sit and think by myself most of the time, especially when I'm out alone with nature. In fact, alone time may be starting to be a need for some people. The group dynamic is great and we all have been experiencing many artworks and sights together. However, yesterdays visit to the Mediterranean was awesome! We all socialized together, smiled, and took a short breather. We also stopped by Lake Bolsena.
Today was wonderful since we visited an art show of a famous Italian painter who lived from 1920-1990. I bought my first book, since we got a deal and I was truely inspired by his work. I better get off the internet for now... Everyone take care!

2007-05-22T07:53:00.000+02:00

Once again I can't stop talking about how amazing Italy is! There are so many different cultural exchanges it is difficult to know where to begin. Whether from the art to the food, to the people, or just the atmosphere of breathing the Italian open air. It is fantastic! Yesterday I swam in the Mediterranean sea It was quite beautiful, and extensive. There is an intense feeling of fulfillment one receives when they can say that they have swam in Italy.

With all these experiences I have been having, they are feeding themselves into my art work here at La Romita School of Art. The interactions with the Italians has made me focus my artwork in a direction of conceptual boundaries and how one must overcome communication barriers in order to get what one wants. One thing that I notice is that a language may be foreign to you, but you may have more difficulty communicating a language that is not foreign than comprehending one that is. These observation that I interpret daily are working themselves into my art in order to try and transcend the language barriers, while communicating with visual imagery, instead of dialectic.

~Geoff Smith~

Aqueducts!

2007-05-21T22:39:00.000+02:00

In traveling from place to place either by foot or by bus, our group has gotten to experience and enjoy the Roman Aqueducts placed around Italy. A true innovation of its time (and not surpassed for thousand of years), an aqueducts purpose is to get large amounts of water from one place to another over long distances. We had a chance to see a huge one stretching over a valley at Spoleto and saw several through the rolling plains on our way to the beach. The Roman aqueducts stretched from Germany to Africa and had a total of at least 260 miles. It is amazing to see such a site still standing today.

2007-05-21T22:31:00.000+02:00

2007-05-21T22:15:00.000+02:00

On Friday, some students here in Italy came to La Romita to visit. There was about 6 students and 6 faculty. It was a good time. We had wine and cheese with them first, then we made some art with then and showed then new techniques. Megan and I were paired up with Christiano and showed him how to make pours on watercolor paper. He seemed to enjoy it and at the end wanted to draw dinosaurs with me. So I have this very interesting drawing that him and I made.
Yesterday we went and saw the largest waterfall in Europe. Jared, Kaylee, Brian and I climbed to the top. I was very exhausting. We got to see a beautiful rainbow too!!
Today we got to go to the beach! It was amazing! I got so burnt and so did half of the other people. the sand is much different from out sand. It's black! The water felt pretty good also. We got to go to a lake after that and made some sketches.
We only have 5 more days here at La Romita, then we are off to Rome!

Last week at La Romita!

2007-05-21T21:27:00.000+02:00

We only have one more week at La Romita, and then we leave for Rome! I am very excited to visit Rome because it is the city that I have been wanting to visit the most from the beginning. Even though I am really excited for Rome, I am sad to leave Terni on Saturday this week. We all have been fairly productive while we have been here, and this week is going to be very busy while we try to finish(or start) projects. Yesterday, four of us students went to church with Marilynn and Scott to experience a Catholic service here in Italian. I am Catholic, so I could follow along with the service just like I do at home, even though I couldn't really understand what the priest was saying...haha. Most of the church service was conducted the same way as my church at home besides different little things, as well as the communion part of mass at the end. After church, we came back to La Romita for the day. I worked some on a painting, and then painted my tootsies and Claire's and Tori's outside in the sun. Yesterday afternoon we visited the largest waterfall in Europe. We all took a hike to the top of the waterfall. We had some ice cream at the top of the hill and took some beautiful pictures. On the way down the hill, Tori, Jamie, and I all walked through a cave tunnel to see the waterfall up close. We all got soaked when we got to the other side of the tunnel because it was almost underneath the waterfall. Last night we had dinner and worked on art in the studio, then went to bed. Today we finally got to see a body of water when we went to the ocean and a lake. We all got a little too much sun and look like bruchetta tomatoes..hehe. Later we came back to La Romita for dinner and now we are finishing up some work for our critique tomorrow in the studio.
*Here's me painting by the lake today...suprise! I was working!
*This picture is the view from the hill next to the waterfall
*Jamie, Tori, and I on the bus ride to Terni the other night

Not Just a Day at the Beach

2007-05-21T19:11:00.000+02:00

After yesterday's waterfall adventure [I climbed all the way to the top and also went through a tunnel about midway up to feel the spray... and we saw a rainbow] I didn't expect today to be so amazing. But... we went to the beach! We started our day in a small town hoping to see a museum, but Mondays are a day when things aren't always open in Italy, kind of like Sundays in the U.S. and the museum we were planning to go see just happened to be closed... so we went to the beach. I didn't have my camera with me, but I got some pictures at a lake we went to later in the day... and while we were at the beach I did get to swim in the Mediterranean! I didn't have swim trunks, nor did I have a change of clothes with me... but this may be the only chance I have to swim in the Mediterranean Sea, so I made my way in.

Last night after dinner we all went up to the olive grove and did night drawings with our flashlights, then Marilynn did a demo on egg tempura. Looking around the studio, it is obvious that we are all being inspired by what we're doing during our day trips to cities and towns. This week's shaping up to be full of new experiences, and I'm both excited and exhausted just thinking about it. It feels like we're doing a week's worth of sight-seeing each day but at the same time it feels like we just got here.

2007-05-21T01:01:00.000+02:00

Thus far this trip has been an amazing experience, there is nothing that I have ever experienced that can have any comparison to this transcendental trip of influential inspiration. This is truly the home of religious iconography and amazing tempera paints. It is absolutely gorgeous here, from the intense blue sky which contrast with the facades of decomposing architecture to the beautiful arches that encompass your ever step leading you into a new adventure in every city whether that city is Terni, Trevi, Montefalco (wine capital Italy), or the small little village of San Marino.

The only problem that I have had is there is just so much to write about that I can only hint at the experience as a whole. Everything is beautiful.

~Geoff Smith~

Last few days in pictures

2007-05-21T00:08:00.000+02:00

On Friday we went to Spoletto, I think. It's getting really hard to remember when we did what. But we saw a Roman theater and an aquaduct, which was pretty cool. Saturday we went to Montefalco and Trevi. They're both fairly small, quiet hill towns. The playground in Trevi was a lot of fun... Apparantly back in the states ziplines are 'too dangerous' for small children, but not here. Sunday we went to the biggest waterfall in Europe. It was made by the Romans and is used for hydroelectricity now. It was really pretty. Monday was beach day! We went to the Mediterranean Sea and to a lake near Terni. It was soooo much fun. I love the water. I bought an inflatable duck floaty and swam around on that for awhile. I also threw in a picture of one of the amazing sunsets at La Romita.

Giant Fake Waterfall!!

2007-05-20T23:36:00.000+02:00

Hey all, so today we went to a 2000 year old man-made (Roman) Waterfall. They built it to irrigate the surrounding Terni farmland and it is HUGE. It doesn't look fake at all, in fact I got close to it through this cave and got a little (a lot) wet. It is really bizarre to me that the Romans just decided to build a waterfall of this scale just because they could; very impressive. There is actually a valve that turns this thing off, weird right? I don't have any pictures because I forgot my camera, but I am sure someone will post for your viewing pleasure. Later all.

Trevi and Montefalco

2007-05-20T14:45:00.000+02:00

So our trip to Trevi didn't meet up to the expectations of the other cities. I did see a cool contemporary piece. There was a video with it. All the bottles in the picture represent people. I couldn't read too much into it since there was no english artist statement. Although seeing this piece was the most exciting thing I did in Trevi. Montefalco was a nice little city, though.

Italy News

2007-05-20T13:44:00.000+02:00

Italia - that's where its at - the history of civilization is etched on the walls of Italy through the passage of time - and the Art in Italy group is certainly experiencing it. We are having a terrific time!!!

We examined churches and museums containing masterpiece we studied in art history. How amazing to see David or Botticelli's Birth of Venus and much, much more. We wandered through ancient towns and villages that provided a unique opportunity to reflect on our usual lives at Ball State University and recognize major differences. In Siena, the town of the famous Palio (horse race), we saw the colorful flags for the various Sienese regions as a constant reminder of medieval life. Similar pagentry was seen on the Duomo piazza in Spoletto as a group of drummers and flag bearers amazed us with flag twirls, tosses and synchronization.

Often as I roamed, I spotted a wall with terrific texture and maybe even some old posters that appealed to my aesthetic sensibilities as an artist.

The students are totally immersed in the Italian cultural experience. They learned some Italian words, and are enjoying Italian food and fashion. Jared even treated himself to an Italian haircut. Last night Jared was found ironing his shirt before some Saturday night fun in Terni. I guess he hoped to wow an Italian girl and I bet he did.

But the most emersive experience occurred at La Romita a few afternoons ago when some Italian students from the Terni Art Academy met our students for appetizers and art. BSU students showed the Italian students some of the drawing and painting techniques they used in their work. I think it was a huge success because the Italian students said they wanted to return next week.

Scott loves Italy and is doing a terrific job of mentoring BSU students. As he focuses on his own drawings and paintings, he inspire students with enthusiasm for capturing the spirit of Italy, Italia. We're discovering and responding to its richness.