The reason I haven't posted on this blog in a while...

... is because I have spent the entire week in our studio working on a book making project.  Our class split up into two groups with half creating giant drawings of Orvieto and the other half writing and designing a book about the city.  The goal was to create a book that is accordian folded so it can be hung vertically and viewed on both sides.  For the text of the book, we used photos of 'letters' that we found outside in Orvieto to make tiny, linoleum print stamps which we printed individually by hand onto the pages of our book.  Our stories had to be 1,001 characters long, so stamping was a very long process. 

Last night, we had an art show with members of the Orvieto community to present our work.  Here I am with my book.  I wrote my story about the cliffs surrounding Orvieto so the one side looks like a giant vertical cliff while the other side has more abstract, layered elements.  It is impossible to get a picture of the whole thing because a) it is two sided and b) it is 400 cm from top to bottom.  

Because the majority of the other students here are art majors, their drawings and other works were absolutely incredible.  Here is a snapshot of just part of our studio with their drawings displayed.  

Since we only take one class per month, on Monday I'll be starting a totally new class -- Poetry and Ekphrasis.  This class focuses on writing poetry that responds to art which will be just as much of a new experience for me as a drawing class.  

Roma, part 2.

This post is way overdue and will in no way sum up the rest of the long weekend, but I'll try to do a highlights tour!

On Saturday, after a really really long day of walking around and seeing churches/sculptures/fountains, we ended up at the most ancient sections of Rome -- the forum and Palatine Hill.  Even though we didn't have time to go into most of the historic sites before they closed, this was probably my favorite part of Rome.  I loved the intersection of things that are so ancient with things that are so modern.  A major highway goes right past the Coliseum, so tons of people pass by this amazing place every single day on their commute to work.  Can you even imagine something like that happening in the United States?

In addition to the intersection of Ancient and Modern, Rome also had really interesting cultural contrasts.  There were so many pieces of Ancient Egyptian architecture that the Romans and later Italians took and transformed into their own symbols of power.  

Similarly, the Catholic Church transformed many pagan elements of the city into religious spaces.  The Pantheon is now a church of the martyrs, apparently.  


We spent a lot of time in the Vatican Museum (i don't even remember which day...) seeing famous art like THE SISTINE CHAPEL!  Sadly, there were a bunch of Italian guards in the room yelling at anyone who even attempted to take a picture, but you could probably google an image that's much better than my photography skills.  Seriously, though, the effect of the chapel in person is indescribable.  


One morning that we were in Rome, we each spent a few hours drawing at any site in the city.  I, of course, wanted to draw in the ruins near the Coliseum.  This picture below is the column that i ended up focusing on.  Now, we're working on turning those drawings into linoleum cuts and prints, and I'll try to post a picture of the finished prints soon!

I have lots more pictures and stories from Rome, but I don't want to inflict a terribly long blog post.  Also, soon I'll try to post something about our trip to Assisi today!  It was the total opposite of Rome but completely wonderful as well!

Roma, part 1.

Last week, the rest of my classmates and I had a great opportunity to spend four days in Roma!  We left our apartments at 6:15 am on Thursday and made it to the Eternal City by 8, and then we spent the next four days seeing nonstop art and history.  

First, we toured the National Museum which included tons of mosaics, sculpture, and other artifacts from Ancient Rome.  One of the most interesting pieces was a room with a fresco called Livia's Garden.  It originally hung in an underground dining room of one of the emperors.

Next, we went into more of the downtown part of the city and saw about a million sculptures, churches and other pieces of art.  One of my favorite places was called the Campo di Fiori.  It's an outdoor market that sells tons of flowers, fruit, pasta, and other cooking items.  

Also, I have discovered a new favorite combination of gelato flavors:  gianduia (chocolate hazlenut), nocciola (hazlenut), and caffe (coffee).  I truly believe that everyone should come to Italy, if only to try this wonderful combo.  

Today...

I found the sunniest spot in Orvieto and a few hours reading this ...

While looking at this view.

Dinner.

I ate all of this giant platter-sized pizza tonight.

I love Italy.

Via Postierla

This semester I'm living in an apartment with 8 other girls on Via Postierla (via is the Italian word for street), and this post is for my wonderful cousin Emilee Eshleman Chambers who requested to see where I am living.  Unfortunately my apartment is not quite as beautiful as the surrounding countryside..

Welcome to our apartment!

This is the entryway.  Off to the left is the kitchen and dining room and to the right is my bedroom and the bathrooms.

This is our kitchen.  It's pretty tiny but we eat almost all our meals in a local restaurant so this is just a place to make espresso :)

Here is my part of the bedroom that I share with two other girls.

And this was my view this afternoon!  I sat in a local park, read a great book, and watched the sunset.