Four weeks in Florence, 24 MIAD students, three instructors and one international
programs administrator. The best of all possible worlds – great art, great
food, history and human pageantry.
“Discovering Florence, Then and Now,” was a six-credit course intended
to immerse students in both the history of Florence and its contemporary adaptations.
Through the four-week stay, we looked for “Then and Now” moments,
things like 16th century buildings with last week’s graffiti nearby or
the Accademia, which was the first art school in Florence founded in the early
1500s which is still used as an art school today.
We kept asking ourselves how the rich history of the Renaissance remains a
vital force in contemporary Florence: A cell phone rings as the monks chant
“vespers” at San Miniato, a 14th century church, on the hills above
the city, joining a living past with living present. The sound of an opera singer
rehearsing “La Traviata” seeps from a second story window punctuating
the constant roar of vespas and compact cars on streets too narrow to comfortably
accommodate them. These moments were continuous and delightfully unexpected.
For four weeks, students lived in a recently renovated part of a former 16th
century convent, which had functioned as a hayloft. A block away was the Piazza
Santo Spirito, a public square with fountain that serves as a courtyard to the
architect Brunelleschi’s unfinished, famous church. Two blocks away was
the Arno River, with its graceful series of arched bridges spanning the two
sides of the city. Students stayed on the left bank, or “Oltrano,”
the “other” side of the river, characterized by small workshops,
less expensive restaurants and the “real” life of Florence.
Each weekday would begin with students meeting faculty on the street in front
of their “loft.” We would proceed to a church, museum or other site
for class. All of the learning was done on-site (no classrooms), standing in
front of the masterpieces: Masaccio’s famous early Renaissance frescoes,
Michelangelo’s sculptures, the Botticelli’s at the Uffizi museum.
Several road trips took us to the Arena Chapel in Padua, the site of Giotto’s
groundbreaking frescoes; the beach for a day of relaxation; and Fiesole, site
of ancient Etruscan and Roman ruins.
Students had three day weekends to travel anywhere they wanted to go. They
took advantage of this freedom, heading to Pompeii, Spain, Rome, Budapest and
Vienna, as well as several southern Italian beach towns. We would re-group on
Mondays with many stories to share.
Once a week, the students hosted “art openings” in their loft,
where they presented weekly visual art assignments. We also gathered together
once a week for group dinners at various restaurants and enjoyed several “pot
lucks” at the loft, graciously hosted by the students.
The course required that everyone kept an active sketchbook, completed a body
of work influenced by the trip and wrote a paper addressing the “Then
and Now” focus. An exhibition of the student’s work opened on Oct.
27 at MIAD.
2006 Florence Faculty & Staff Instructors
Natanya Blanck
Debra Brehmer
Steve Horvath Coordinator
Kurt Meinke
Summer Programs - 2007
There will be informational meetings in December to announce the Florence and
Ireland Summer Programs for 2007.
For further information on MIAD's International Programs, please contact
.
“Discovering Florence, Then and Now,” was a six-credit course intended
to immerse students in both the history of Florence and its contemporary adaptations.
Through the four-week stay, we looked for “Then and Now” moments,
things like 16th century buildings with last week’s graffiti nearby or
the Accademia, which was the first art school in Florence founded in the early
1500s which is still used as an art school today.
