Hi all! I’m writing to you after another wonderful busy week in Italy. This week, I had classes, a few field trips, and a weekend trip to Venice for Carnevale!
In art history on Monday, our class met at Piazza Santa Croce and walked over to Casa Buonarroti. The building was once owned by Michelangelo, who we’re studying right now. Michelangelo left the estate to his nephew Lionardo Buonarroti, and his great nephew Michelangelo Buonarroti made it into a museum. We were lucky enough to see two of Michelangelo’s earliest sculptures: Madonna of the Steps and Battle of the Centaurs.
On Wednesday, we had a field trip to the Accademia Gallery. I went on my own to the museum earlier this semester, but it was great to have my professor’s explanations of the pieces and of course have another chance to look at that handsome David! 🙂 Afterwards, we walked over a few blocks to the Opera del Duomo, the museum behind the Duomo of the Florence Cathedral, which holds many beautiful works from the cathedral. This includes the original Gates of Paradise, a pair of gilded doors from the Cathedral Baptistery. We were lucky to go to this museum when we did, because it’s going to close for a few years for renovations soon!
In photography, we learned how to print on the school’s printers as well as some new photoshop techniques. We also watched a film by an Italian filmmaker, Federico Fellini, called Amarcord, a sort of coming-of-age, self portrait film about the filmmaker’s hometown. It was ridiculous, silly, and funny, but also beautifully filmed and written. The colors in the movie were incredible.
During painting on Monday, I continued work on my painting and drawing of the same subject. On Wednesday, instead of having a day in the studio, we each hung up what we have so far of our projects and had a discussion. It was the first sort of critique I’ve had here at SACI, so it was nice to get a feel for how they’re going to be. It was also more relaxed than usual because it was more of a work-in-progress critique than a final critique. Everyone got some feedback and suggestions from the professor and classmates on their project and now we still have some time to work on them.
We had a very different style of drawing class this week- surreal and abstract drawing. Our professor gave a quick introduction on what he wanted us to accomplish and we got to work. Everyone set up their paper on the floor and used whatever combination of mediums we wanted and draw whatever we felt like. We worked on two drawings: one that we drew with an idea of a subject in mind (like a landscape or a portrait), and one with a completely open connotation. Drawing with no subject or purpose was daunting at first, but after the first few minutes I started to really enjoy it. For my drawings, I used pencil, ink, charcoal, conté crayon, and cut pieces out of the paper and glued them back!
Keeping up with my tradition of traveling every weekend, this weekend I was in the city of Venice for Carnevale! The Carnival of Venice is annual festival throughout the city to celebrate Fat Tuesday, and it is best known for its elaborate costumes and masks. SACI had a group trip planned for the whole weekend, but a group of us planned our own trip for just Saturday night and Sunday. All day Saturday it poured rain while we wandered through the winding streets (and canals!) of Venice. Although it rained, I still got to take in some of the beauty of the city! After exploring, I went to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, home to some Picasso, Pollock, and a beautiful temporary exhibit of Giuseppe Capogrossi’s paintings. We had a delicious lunch at the Guggenheim cafe and managed to find some cheap rain boots so that we could enjoy the city with dry feet! We went to a restaurant near San Marco square and had a fantastic dinner (fish risotto and rosemary chicken!) before going to a Carnevale dance party. 🙂
Sunday in Venice felt like being in a different city. It was sunny and beautiful outside all day! After breakfast, we went to San Marco square, which was the heart of the Carnevale celebration. At noon, a Venetian “angel” came down from the bell tower on a wire to show the start of the Carnevale celebrations. The square was full of people, some in simple masks and some in amazingly elaborate costumes! I feel so lucky to have visited Venice during such a beautiful and lively time, it was a truly unforgettable trip.
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