Student Reviews in Visual Arts and Creative Writing in new Spoleto

Students continue to work on their self portraits and landscapes of Spoleto in Visual Arts class. In addition, students constructively review classmates' work and provide suggestions for how to improve details within the artwork. Raul Miyar, instructor of Visual Arts, has been taking photos of students' progress at the end of each day. When students present at performance classes, the process of developing artwork into a more realistic piece is shown. What these students have accomplished is impressive! Please stay posted for the presentation of final pieces.  

Creative Writing for 29-30 July:  New Spoleto.  Our venture into the  “lower,” or “newer” Spoleto turned into a two-day journey instead of the anticipated one-day journey.   As we walked along a busy street, looking at a quasi-industrial portion of the lower city, we searched for a path which would connect us to the commercial district, which we could see from our present location, but couldn’t quite determine the best way to get there.  Then we discovered a small bridge over a dry river bed, and took it.  Walden was leading the way, and just when he arrived at the opposite side of the bridge and began to descend the steps, disaster, in the form of angry wasps, which stung him wildly and send him dancing in pain down the steps onto the street.

            We quickly determined the location of a pharmacy, arrived there momentarily only to discover an extra-long waiting line of customers.  Walden was in such pain, we decided to try to find a nearby café where we could get him some ice.  The woman running the café advised us that if there were five or more stings, we should consult a physician immediately, and luckily, there was just such a physician next door to her café (in the rear of the pharmacy was a  doctor who saw patients on an emergency basis.  As the pictures will show, she knew exactly what to give him, determined that there was no danger of an allergic reaction, dressed both ankles for him and sent us on our way.  Our day was over, as it was time for dinner.

We resumed our walk today, after some initial confusion about where we were starting from, but we eventually made it to our destination, the areas largest super market, where the students split up, examined the store for how the Italians present their foodstuffs, including everything from fresh-baked pastries, to meats, to cheeses, to produce, etc.  They eventually convened in the café attached to the supermarket and journaled for about 30 minutes, then to dinner and our second performance class.

Stargazing in Spoleto

Before bedtime, students laid down in the convent courtyard to gaze up at the stars. We enjoyed watching them bond........but they did not enjoy our camera flash :)

We had to capture them in this moment to remind them later of what happens when they put down technology, and start living in the present. We have thoroughly enjoyed watching many new friendships bloom.

Embracing Local Life

Every school day since the start of the program, students have been attending an Italian Language course with Spoleto native and instructor, Andrea Muti. In three weeks, the course is intended to cover the main Italian verbs in the present indicative and present perfect tenses, articles, common nouns and adjectives, numbers, days of the week, and, overall, as much vocabulary as possible. Andrea's primary goal is to encourage and enable students to communicate and interact with the local people, the Spoletini. When they go to the vendors to buy frutta, or to the gelateria to get their daily gelato, they are encouraged to use the Italian that they learn in class to really establish an authentic connection with Italy and its culture.

We also wanted to include some pictures from recent Photography classes! Have you gotten a chance to check out some of the student work in the class online gallery? Check it out here: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0ActGrZy2aOWzlY

Students visit the Spoleto Contemporary Art Museum to see an exhibition by photographer Giuseppe Ripa.

Taylor and Carlisle take notes as they observe photos on display.

Sara Howard shares one of her photos during a class session.

Danielle discusses her vision in capturing the juxtaposition of this home.

A great group shot of the photographers!

Accompanied by instructors and staff, students in Photography and Creative Writing journeyed out of Spoleto one afternoon to neighboring sunflower fields. The beauty and serenity of this setting was inspiring and breathtaking!

Some exciting things are on tap this week as the program winds down! This evening we are looking forward to our third presentation night where students will perform, read, and exhibit their work from their disciplines of study. Tomorrow will be a busy day as we head to Orvieto for half the day and then finish the night with a pool party and cook out! Thursday students will have the opportunity to join faculty for dinner at different restaurants in town, and then Friday will be our second and final Faculty Performance night.

Second Night of Student Performances

It was such a joy to again see the students that we know from interacting at meals and at the convent stand before the crowd and open themselves in a whole new way to us. The talent here is incredible, and each performance was unique and engaging and literally brought tears to the eyes of the audience.  As Jan Guffin, our Creative Writing instructor, said, "This is why you come here. It affirms everything once you see the performance classes."

Tomorrow we will see a third group of students perform or share their visuals with us, but until then we hope you enjoy a few clips and shots from the evening performances.

Lindsay McAuliffe

Kelsey Woody

Evan Margerum

Avery Jonas

Molly Murphy

Aislinn Tucker

Essence Jones

Nate VanDeVelde

Austin Hall

Karen Jiang

Roshni Patel

Additionally, check out our photography students letting loose with some "selfies". Enjoy some of their work in this gallery: share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0ActGrZy2aOWzlY

Rome Photos

Again, our Visual Arts instructor, Raul Miyar, provided some terrific images from our day excursion to Rome. Enjoy!