Here’s the latest Art Workshop International application for the creative writing, visual arts, Italian language, and culinary arts tour courses for summer, 2009, our 29th year in Italy!
Just click on the link below to download the microsoft word document.
If you have any trouble, please contact director Chris Spencer, 866-341-2922 or info@artworkshopintl.com
Maxine Hong Kingston, alumni of Art Workshop International, receives a lifetime achievement award this next month. Those fortunate people who worked with her the summer of 2007 know what an insightful teacher she is. Her literary experience and expression, ranging from fiction to poetry, is only surpassed by her character - wise, kind, and endowed with a sense of quiet strength.
-Chris Spencer
The National Book Foundation announced today that Maxine Hong Kingston would receive its 2008 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and Barney Rosset the 2008 Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the Literary Community.
Both will be presented at the 2008 National Book Awards ceremony on Wednesday, November 19th. The Foundation also announced that writer and actor Eric Bogosian will host this year’s National Book Award Ceremony and Dinner.
Now in its 19th year, the recipient of the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters is a person who has enriched our literary heritage over a life of service, or a corpus of work. Past recipients include Norman Mailer, John Updike, Toni Morrison, Arthur Miller, Judy Blume, David McCullough, Ray Bradbury and Joan Didion. For more about these and other past honorees, please visit the Foundation’s website at http://www.nationalbook.org/amerletters.html.
The Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the Literary Community, created in 2005, honors an individual whose life and work exemplify the goals of the National Book Foundation to expand the audience for literature and enhance the cultural value of literature in America. Past recipients include Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Terry Gross.
Professional artist Marilyn Yanke surprised us all with the number of canvases that she brought along to Art Workshop International, all tucked into each other. I asked how she did it -and here’s what she told me:
I found a suitcase that would allow a 24″x20″ to lie flat in the bottom…. Inside the 24×20, I put a 20″x16″…. Inside the 20×16, I put a 16″x12″…… Inside the 16×12, I put a small one….. a 12″x8″ (you may have to get it made) or a 10″x8″ Basically, just put the largest one you can in the bottom of your bag, then substract 4″ from each measurement and you have your next size. I think I took 4–24″x20″….. so really I had a total of 16 canvases….. It took me most of a day to find a bag that would actually accept a 24×20 canvas. If you are young and strong, go for as big as you can handle and the airline will accept. Although, using several of the smaller canvases to make a larger one really worked well….. I still like the idea and can do diptychs or triptychs….or more.
I want to come next year, and I am going to talk to Jerry’s Artarama about direct shipment to the hotel of Turpenoid (truly oderless … oil brush cleaner).
You can see how Marilyn put some of these canvases to use in the picture below.
Another idea (and I have used this one) is to bring rolled up canvas in a mailing tube. You can mount them later.
Also, I have been painting on stiff, gessoed watercolor paper. It’s a very different surface to try.
There is no question that the setting for Art Workshop International dinners is magical. On the terrace overlooking the Umbrian valley with mountains and other hilltowns in the distance, we watch the evening sun light up the stone buildings, or hang gliders soar from the top of Mount Subasio, or a weather front march up the valley below. Then, add a four or five-course dinner! Our participants always rave about the food, and that was the impetus for starting our culinary course. It’s easy to see why “slow food” started in Italy - Umbrian cuisine always uses the freshest ingredients.
For an example of what you might experience, here’s a recipe for Strangozzi alla Norcina
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes
Serves: 6
INGREDIENTS
200gr. mushrooms
2 dl fresh cream
5 sausages
Black truffle
1 garlic
500 gr strangozzi fresh or dried
50 gr Parmigiano
INSTRUCTIONS
Cover bottom of saucepan in olive oil and sautè garlic until golden (do not burn it). Thinly shave the mushrooms and keep warm without frying. Take sausages meat out and crumble. Simmer a couple of minutes until sausages starts to brown. Add cream and simmer briefly. Meanwhile cook the pasta in plenty of water for 10-12 minutes (or less if the pasta is freshly made). Drain the pasta toss in the pan with the sauce and serve with a few shavings of the black truffle.
When you are in Italy, news reaches you at a distance. Now back in the USA, there’s a lot to catch up on and the blog will be back! First, kudos to author S.J. Rozan, who has more literary honors to tuck into her belt. First, her In This Rain, a mystery that is set in New York City, is a finalist for the Nero Wolfe award. Cross your fingers and we will await the decision to be announced at the Black Orchid banquet on December 6 in New York City. Second, S.J. Rozan’s, short story, “Hothouse” in Bronx Noir, a collection of short stories that she edited, has been chosen for the prestigious Best American Mystery Stories 2008. She also has a great daily blog.
Take a look at Lola Fiur’s spectacular photography on this link. She is at Art Workshop International in the drawing class - it will be interesting to see how her photography influences her drawing.
-Chris Spencer
We are in the midst of so much art. Three classes are going on simultaneously - art-making, drawing, and pastel portraiture. Our studio is divided into three sections so that the activities are adjacent, yet separate. Art isn’t just in the classes, though. Yesterday we looked at a DVD from Ellen Eagle of her work (on the TV in the hotel lobby), and today we looked at Edith Isaac-Rose’s art. Also yesterday, some of the participants went to Spello to look at Pintoricchio’s work. And, then there is art in other forms, such as music. Here’s a link to a review of the Pintoricchio exhibit in Perugia and Spello, and also to S.J. Rozan’s comments about a concert last night in Assisi, Italy.
-Chris Spencer
Our writing teacher S.J. Rozan is keeping a daily blog of Art Workhshop International in Assisi, too. And, I’m sure that hers will be much more erudite than mine! Here’s a link to her blog - today she’s talking about the opening of the Olympics in China.
In my opinion, Assisi takes world peace very seriously. So it’s no surprise that there was a “Free Tibet” spectacolo in the main piazza at the opening of the Olympic games in China with Tibetan dancing and singing. The city bells tolled for several minutes, followed by a speech from a local official.
-Chris Spencer
Archie and I grabbed a taxi for the train station (not enough time to take the bus). Our taxi driver tried to talk us out of going there - why not Gubbio, or Spoleto, Foligno doesn’t have anything! In fact the guidebook information was sparse. We were after the Pallazo Trinci and the restored frescoes. Virtually the whole building was open in a combination archeological museum, art museum, and the palazzo. So many nooks and crannies, and several places where you could see the cartoon underpaintings, or sinopia. The best perserved was the chapel, with the story of Jesus and Mother Mary covering every square inch. The stores looked interesting, but after we had a light lunch in the main piazza, they were closed for the siesta. Bicycles were everywhere (the town is on the plain and flat) and we could have rented one. Another time!
-Chris Spencer