WOW. How can I catch you up on a month and ten days of packed experiences?? Offtah. I will do my best to summarize the big events as well as give an updates of my classes. All I can say is that I am SO glad that I lable all of my photo albums with dates. I know myself too well. haha.
= ) Ok, here it goes:
02/11/2009-02/19/2009
Erice/Trapani Sicily: visited with roommates Melissa, Lauren, Sarah and Catherine, as well as friends Jackie and Domenica.
Sicily was beautiful!! It was SUPER cold and rainy much of the time—but God definitely revealed His beauty through the seemingly gloomy weekend. I definitely needed time to absorb life—and I got it!! I learned that positivity is an absolutely essential tool when it comes to stressful ‘learning’ experiences, unexpected ‘surprises,’ and rainy weather. The rain in Sicily is so beautiful! It is soft and delicate, even when it downpours! I found joy amidst the cold and rain!
02/20/2009-02/24/2009
I visited the Boboli Gardens– GEORGEOUS!!! I love it!! It is an oasis away from the hustle and bustle of urban Florence. Bellisima!!
MIDTERMS—they came and they went. I have nothing to complain about: 2 studio classes, an art history, and an Italian language class. It was the least stressful midterm schedule that I have ever had – and will ever have!
02/27/2009-03/06/2009
SPRING BREAK Kara Came!!!
There is so MUCH to SAY!!! I love Kara. She is my best-est friend. I still can’t believe that she actually CAME to FLORENCE to visit ME!!! I am Waaay too blessed!! OK—so we had a great time in Florence seeing things; the Accademia, the Uffizi, the Central Market, around Florence. Kara met awesome people from all over Europe that were staying in her hostel (Melissa from Australia, Reineke from Holland, James from London, and Armondo—from the States—to name a few) and she shared them with me—we went out one night and had a TON of fun! = ) Unfortunately, my immune system couldn’t hold out for my entire 4 months abroad, and I got a bad cold and laryngitis—it happens. It didn’t deter us from doing things though—Kara and I packed up and went to Rome—having quite an interesting experience; seeing the Colosseum and Vatican City. Georgeous, huge, diverse, loud, crowded, and slightly scary. It was a good experience, but we were glad to return to Florence. Sadly, the week went too fast and I had to say goodbye to my other half the day after we got back. =’( It was SO wonderful to have Kara here, though!! It was the perfect spring break!!
03/08/2009-03/15/2009
Mom and Dad Came!!!
If I wasn’t blessed enough by having my best friend come—my PARENTS came!!! I still haven’t digested it all, but we had SUCH a great time together!! Many meals out—my parents loved the restaurant Dante. When I was in class they went on a bikeride to the Chianti countryside and saw a castle, did wine tasting, had a meal, and shares great conversation with their guides Mary and Andy. Hopefully I can go on the same tour in the near future with my roommates—my mom was raving about it the entire rest of the week! My parents and I took a day trip to Siena. It was a beautiful day; we ate wonderful food, saw beautiful sites within la Chiesa de San Caterina and the Duomo, and worked our glutes walkint up and down the sloping streets of Siena. We played cards, laughed, and talked. I love my parents.
Art History: Michelangelo to Bernini
We transitioned from the earlier Renaissance techniques of Raphael and Michelangelo, into mannerist painting of Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo, and Rosso Fiorentino. Currently, we are focusing on painters from Parma, Parmigianino and Correggio, as well as artists Giorgione and Titian, from Venice. It is interesting to compare and contrast the Florentine techniques of painting to the mannerist styles seen from later artists as well as artists from the Venitian school. The Venitian school focused much more on effects of light, atmosphere, and landscape as tools of expression, versus the Florentine focus on architecture and sculptural human form of the subjects in the composition.
Oil Painting
We had a male nude model come and sit for us for a class period. That was interesting—I have never painted (or drawn for that matter) from an actual human form. I found it much more beneficial to my struggle with proportion to work from an actual model than from a still statue. We have now begun a series of 2 urban landscapes. I am having fun experimenting with texture—using acrylic glue and sand as well as playing with gesso. It is quite enjoyable—and much more fun to create a composition that is more abstract! Next week we will be working from the nude model again and having a lecture on the specifics techniques of texture used in oil painting.
Fresco
We finished our first wall fresco and then began the process of pulling out fresco off the wall. It is quite an interesting, delicate process—as everything is with fresco. My professor, Tiziano, prepared the glue for us, which consisted of ox glue (basically ox cartilage) melted in hot water. We cut 3 pieces of thin canvas slightly larger than the size of our fresco. Carefully, (and trying hard not to breathe in the toxic fumes) we applied the glue to our fresco, covering the surface completely in a thin layer. We had to work quickly because the glue dried promptly. Once the ox glue was sufficiently spread, we took one piece of canvas and spread it on top of the ox glue-covered surface. When smoothing the canvas to the surface of our fresco, we had to be extremely careful not to leave any wrinkles or pockets, because these imperfections would cause the glue to not adhere to the fresco correctly, resulting in patches of fresco that refuse to remove from the wall. We let this sit and dry for the following day and removed the canvas, and consequently, our fresco from the wall. It was fascinating because only a thin layer of the frescoed surface was transferred from the wall onto the canvas. This technique is effective due to the fantastic nature of fresco painting. If you recall, when creating a fresco, the oxidation process that evaporates the water and, in turn, pulls the pigment inside the plaster, causes the color to rest deep inside the surface. Therefore, when we remove merely the surface of our completed fresco, there is not only enough pigment to be removed onto the glue-covered canvas—but also enough pigment to leave a light impression of the fresco intact on the wall.
After removing our fresco from the wall, we were left with a reverse impression of our original fresco. This being said, we needed to begin the process of ‘flipping,’ or transferring, the fresco from one canvas to the other, in order to view it in the manner that we had originally created it. First, we scraped the back of canvas with small trowels, removing any extra mortar and rough texture that may have been removed with the fresco. Next, we prepared a second glue mixture, consisting of one part lime and one part acrylic glue. We needed to be even more attentive to spreading the second canvas on top of the glue than with the first removal. It was much more difficult to prevent wrinkles and air pockets from forming due to the mobility of the canvases. Let’s just say that virtually everyone in the class ended up hating the word ‘wrinkle’ by the end of the class.
Lastly, we applied a thin layer of acrylic glue on top of the second glue-covered canvas in order to secure adhesion of the two canvases. Finally, we covered the third piece of canvas with a plastic sheet and weighed it down with a board. Cross your fingers, because, come Monday, we will see the results of our first attempt at removing our fresco!! In addition, we will be starting our next fresco, which we will have a month to complete. We were free to choose the subject of this composition, and because we were all working from personal photographs, transferred our picture onto a larger sized sheet of drawing paper using the grid method. Once we had drawn our subject to a larger scale, we traced the image onto vellum, or tracing paper, and poked holes in the reverse side, as previously described. I am all ready to go for creating my next fresco! What an adventure of a class!
03/18/2009
V-Day—Creative Campus Event
The Creative Campus group that I have been a part of with Italian and American students broke up into group initiatives- and mine was focused on raising awareness for violence against women through different art media. A group of students and I (representing 4 different institutes here in Florence) had been planning for this night for the entire semester. It consisted of a gallery of artwork pertinent to experiences in Italy and violence against WOMEN –and then we decorated the whole upstairs and downstairs with Italian and English stats about violence against women. There was spoken word poetry, music, singing, a video of interviews of Italians and Americans about perspectives on 'a night out in Italy,’ and letter signing for addressed to president of the Congo calling on movement to stop sexual violence. There was an optional aperitivo with a % of the proceeds donated to the causes. It was a lot of work, but was a fantastic turnout!! It was so wonderful to be a part of something truly beneficial here in Florence!!
This weekend I am SO excited to relax and catch up on my academics (from what I missed the previous weeks of family, friends, and fun) and do something fun on Saturday the 21st. Well, it IS my golden birthday, so I SHOULD do something fun to celebrate, but I have no idea what I will be doing. I will be staying in Firenze due to the cost of train tickets to Venice, but **shrug** it will be fun to not HAVE to do anything at all—just get people together, have fun, and celebrate our togetherness. I am Goin’ against the grain of ‘traditional American 21st birthdays’ and I am proud of it!! haha. = ) Regardless of what I do, being here in Florence, experiencing the culture and life of this city, and having Kara and my parents here to visit me is above and beyond the best golden birthday present I could ever receive!!!
I apologize for this novel full of such brief information.
I will try and be more diligent with my blog and post info sooner.
Thanks for reading!
Ciao! A presto!
Mollie
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