Mangiamo! (Let's eat!)

After the show and portfolio exchange about 25 of us went for dinner at Hosteria del Bricco. Auguri!



Office gals Elena, Maddalena and Lucia:


My professor Vincenzo and me. Probably taken by Frankie. At this point I'm not remembering details. But I do remember the food was fabulous Tuscan fare, including salami, prosciutto, crostini, sformatini, farfalle, penne, vin santo with cantuccini, caffe, grappa (oh the head is starting to hurt now!)...


Tommaso drew a caricature of Manuel that's being passed over my head.


Still life featuring grappa. This is the bottle that we took away with us at the end of the evening. We walked back up the street to Rifrullo for one last caffe together as a group.

Mostra fine anno (End of year show)

Via S. Niccolo' decorated with Christmas lights and requisite scooter:


Smokers gather in front of the gallery:


Sissi's libro d'artista (artist's book). A masterpiece:


This photo's for my mom. (Thanks to my friend Melinda, for both the idea and photography!):


Me and my flatmate Francesca (and our friend Chia's back):


Matteo (Vincenzo's son and our mascot):


My fellow 'bisontino' Giorgio, my friend (and photographer for the evening) Melinda, our professor Manuel, and lab assistant Francesco:


I love these group photos:



After the gallery show we all walked to the studio and the professors handed us our cartelle (portfolios). Each student and professor printed an edition of 21 prints to create an edition of 21 portfolios, and each is a collection of one print from everyone we spent the year with.

Selected works

I took some quick photos after the finals of the prints in my cartellina (portfolio). I'll still need to shoot them in better lighting with a tripod for my digital portfolio and slides. (Note: the distorted lighting in the photos is a combination between a lens in need of repair and bad lighting in the studio.)

tempio di Apollo (etching, aquatint, pastel, sugar-lift, spit bite, white ground):


untitled (soft ground, sugar-lift, aquatint, pastel, spit-bite):


untitled (soft ground, sugar-lift, aquatint, pastel, spit-bite):


Calignaia (stone lithograpy):


habitat (stone lithograpy):


uccello (soft ground, etching):

Let me show you my book...

One requirement for our course was to create a libro d'artista (artist's book). This is a book I thought about for a while before I actually began working on it. The concept of the book is to explore the duality of the masculine and the feminine. The tool I used for this is the text written by Mark Twain in The Diaries of Adam and Eve: Translated by Mark Twain. I chose parts from the text that I was particularly drawn to on a personal level and created original prints inspired by the text.

The etchings are actually a combination of woodcut and etching, as woodcut creates bold shapes and strong lines (representing masculine) and with the etching I was able to create softer forms and textures (representing feminine). Additionally I printed the woodcuts onto Japanese paper and when I printed the etchings on top of the Japanese paper I pressed it into the German etching paper. I felt the use of these papers also conceptually added another type of duality representing east and west.

The Diaries are published in English so for this project Franka and I translated the selected passages into Italian. I decided to do the translation as the words are so important for this book, that I couldn't present it in English to an Italian audience.

I designed the text in the computer using two unique font treatments for Adam and Eve respectively. The text pages are printed on thin vellum paper, then pressed it into parchment to create a color similar to the Japanese/German paper combination. I crafted the book and sleeve by hand. In fact I've decided to make it an edition of three, so I'll be crafting two more books in the coming weeks.

Today during my presentation il direttore (director of the school) was particularly interested that the text was from Mark Twain and I explained to him that Twain actually wrote Eve's Diary while living in a villa in Settignano, just outside of Firenze. He didn't know that Twain lived here, so I shared with him that he actually lived here twice. I also told the jury that in my own way I felt that I was bringing Twain's work back to where he created it through my libro, which was a concept they seemed to appreciate. In the libro I also included a quote from Sam Clemens that I took from the afterword, from a letter he wrote to his wife before they were married. The jury asked who Sam Clemens was and I was able to share the fact that Mark Twain is a nom de plume.

Some of you know The Diaries are Don's labor of love, and I will continue to express to you that I am eternally grateful that you shared them with me!

Il mio libro d'artista, Adamo ed Eva (My artist's book, Adamo ed Eva):

Salute!

After the last student Giorgio finished his presentation, we celebrated with Prosecco in plastic cups and a bag of potato chips.

Strange couplings

After a busy few weeks in anticipation of our finals, today we finished our exams! Beginning at 9am each of the fifteen of us had to present our portfolios of prints to a jury from the region of Toscana. Between each presentation all the students had to leave the studio so the jury could discuss the works and come up with a score. I brought my camera with me today and the results of the impromptu photo sessions are quite strange. Here goes...

Finals week

I'm beginning finals week sleep-deprived, migraine-laden and a bit behind in my final projects. In spite of these things I'm sure all will go well. I'll return at the end of the week with an update.

In the meantime I'd like to recommend the following blogs for stories of life in Italy:

> Living in Florence by Melinda Gallo - An American moves to Florence and this is what happens...
> bleeding espresso... - and other little-known side effects of moving to Italy.
> Ms. Adventures in Italy - a stomach's tour through the Bel Paese

It's December already? Time flies when you're printmaking...

Grazie Viola!

Every Monday and Tuesday we have a ritual for lunch. Tommaso, Manuel, Jun and I dine at Zoe, a restaurant about 50 meters from the studio. Our justification is that we need the strength during the week, so we start out well-nourished.

Today we were waiting for a table and our professor Manuel, who is a fan of calcio (soccer) pointed out three giocatori (players) dining. We know the players from Fiorentina often dine there and we've seen Marco Donadel before. Tommaso is our resident caricaturist and as we waited for a table to clear for us he grabbed a paper placemat and began drawing a caricature of the three of them: Riccardo Montolivo, Alessandro Gamberini and Massimo Gobbi. Tommaso finished the drawing as our plates arrived and handed it to Gobbi, who was really excited to receive it. As they left the restaurant they walked by our table and all three thanked Tommaso again. We enjoyed our pastas and salads and skipped the caffe as we take our after-lunch caffe in another bar with the other students. We walked up to the counter to pay and the barista told us that the players had already paid for our entire table! She told us they insisted and we didn't owe a penny. We thanked Tommaso for his talents and all four of us couldn't wait to share our story with the others.

Admittedly I'm for a different squadra (team) but today I feel like a Fiorentina (a fan of Fiorentina)! Grazie Viola!

Open letter to the US dollar

Dear US dollar,

Please take better care of yourself. Eat a can of spinach, drink a protein shake, go to the gym... whatever you need to do to gain some strength.

I am currently living abroad and I am quite aware that you're much too quickly headed for the 1.50 USD to 1 EUR mark.

Your humble servant,
Shannon

Brr... cold and rainy

It's raining today, which is fine as I'm resting. Here at the house we have a visitor with a puppy dog, which is fun. I call the puppy dog 'puppy' as he probably speaks Italian, so because he has no idea what it means, it's like a special nickname to him. He's very warm when he sits close to you.

This week I'm overwhelmed with projects at the studio, which is at times frustrating and at times invigorating. My method of maintaining sanity is to be in the present at all times. If I'm printing, that's what I need to do; if I'm etching, I need to only think about the etching. If I'm eating a turkey sandwich for Thanksgiving, I should be eating the sandwich and enjoying it.

Right now the count of what I need to finish is as follows:

Etching:
2 plates

Printing:
5 plates (at the very least two good proofs from each)
1 edition of 25 prints for the school archives

Artist's book (at least one copy of an edition of six):
8 plates - to be etched, carved
10 pages to be printed by hand
8 pages to be printed at the typographer
Bookbinding and boxmaking

All but the artist's book needs to be completed by the 4th. The artist's book I'll need completed by the 14th.

Our finals are scheduled for the 4th and 5th. A few officers from the region of Tuscany will administer the exams. We need to print for them in person an edition of three identical prints. During the process they will ask us questions about the steps we're doing and why we're doing each step. Additionally there's a written exam about techniques and the history of printmaking. The final part is a presentation of our works, where we explain our concepts and the techniques and materials we used for the prints.

On the 14th we'll have both our last day of studio and then in the evening the opening to our group exhibition in a gallery near the Duomo. The show will run for about a month. We are each exhibiting two etchings and then our works from the various seminars (mezzotint, woodcut, screenprinting, lithography, etc.)

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all my American family and friends! I'm thankful to have all of you in my life and for the support and encouragement you've given me this year. And I'm grateful for this opportunity I've been given to be an artist living and working in such an inspiring city, developing new friendships, and learning about life and love and that the world isn't so large. We are all much more similar than we are different.

I'm off to the kitchen to make up a snack of some sort. I know I have some eggplant from the alimentari (deli) and also salame spagnolo (a salame with a smoked flavor and a rind of herbs). Bread, not so sure. We shall see.

Please send requests for any items you'd like me to bring back to the states in December. Restricted food items include anything meat, fresh veggies and soft, runny cheeses. However, baked goods, chocolate, hard cheeses, pasta, dried porcini, coffee, spices and gifty items are a-ok.

Bon a tirer

Bon a tirer is a french term in printmaking for 'good to edition'. I've worked this plate and tested various inks and papers and today I have my bon a tirer. The title may be "erosione n.3", as it is part of a series based on eroded rock forms.


Here are two plates with about 8 different stages of acquaforte (line etching) on rame (copper). First thing tomorrow I'll print the proofs to see what they're looking like.

A whirlwind week

I did find some time to take a few studio photos this week. This was my workstation on Monday:


And I took this photo yesterday. If you look closely you can see how the prints have progressed:


Elisa's workstation featuring her handmade felt tool holder:


Guiseppe's rolling out some color. Forza viola!:

Chestnut season

In autumn castagne (chestnuts) can be found roasted and sold on street corners and in the open markets.

We have a daily post-lunch tradition, where the professors and students go to a local bar to take a caffe together. Even if we all do different things for lunch we meet in the courtyard afterwards to walk to the bar together. The professors are kind enough to pay for our caffe and in fact two days ago the barista said that we're so pleasant and friendly everyday that he himself would pay for us that day.

That same day as we walked back to the scuola there was a woman on a bicycle in front of us who stopped suddenly. My professor saw a fresh castagna on the ground in the middle of the road and shouted to her "Le castagne?" and she replied "Si!". The basket of her bicycle had broken somehow and her freshly picked castagne were scattered about, so we picked them up for her. I picked up about six myself and they were beautiful. She was quite grateful and as she rode away with the castagne we continued our walk back to the studio.

Truffle season

I usually leave my romantic life out of the blog, but this is sweet. It's a short story.

I went on a date last night and my date had a bag with him and he asked me if I wanted to see what was inside. Of course I said yes and he pulled out a jar with a really nice black truffle (tartufo) in it, a good size. He said he bought it earlier in the day for 20 euro. I'm no expert but I'm guessing in the states it would go for 150 dollars. He opened the lid and it smelled heavenly.

He drove me home after dinner and said if I wanted to I could take some of the truffle with me. I said I like truffles very much but no thanks, as most of you know I'm not much of a whiz in the kitchen. So he said that this week he'll make a dinner with it for his mamma. As we ended the evening I was invited to dine with them this week on something truffle-infused and I must say I'm quite looking forward to it!

Seeing Red

In Roma, someone threw red dye in the fontana di Trevi. Then ran away. Which resulted a bit of a photo opportunity until they drained and refilled the fountain. You can read about it in English or Italian. Each article gives a different reason, but both articles state there's no permanent damage, which is the important thing.

It's Friday (finalmente!)

It's Friday (finally!) and I'm home for the night. Today I etched 4 states of the two aquaforte (line etching) copper plates and worked on the sugar-lift for the large zinc plate. On Monday I need to etch more aquatint into the large plate to make the darkest areas so they will print velvety black. I apologize for the lack of photos but in my everyday morning rush I keep forgetting to charge the camera battery.

My professor approached me with the opportunity to do another stage (internship) here in Firenze. I would be able to work on conserving works of art on paper in a studio that specializes in restoring fine art prints. On Monday I'll learn more about where and when, but I'm glad they chose me for this, as I think I could learn a lot. My professor said they need someone who's work is precisa, precisa. I'm not sure here if that's a compliment or not. I'll take it as an, er, observation.

After working in the studio I took the #12 bus home and was welcomed by a dog who hugs and a note on the kitchen table. The flatmates were out of town car shopping and they asked if I could walk the dog. With pleasure! So we donned the leash and went for a walk along Viale Volta towards Piazza alle Cure. I walked while Buska peed on all the cars, which is regular behaviour for him. He met two dogs along the way and stayed away from the biciclette (bicycles), which made my job easier. We came home, drank our respective water and made comfy on the divano (sofa). I made a peanut butter sandwich, which always piques his curiosity, demonstrated by a pricked ear and tilted head, and I explained that it is a 'panino americano'. He had a taste and I enjoyed watching him lick his mouth endlessly. A simple pleasure.

So the flatmates returned home and we discussed cars and the prices of assicurazione (insurance) and how it differs based on the driver's gender, age, power of the car and such.

I'm excited to have a weekend with no plans (and more importantly, no high fever). I could just sleep or I may head into il centro to see what kind of trouble I can get into there. Vediamo (Let's see)!

Dirty hands and lots to do

My hands haven't been clean in weeks. Don't get me wrong, I wash them about 30 times a day. But it's the inks, varnishes, chalks, pastels, kerosene, etc. And I'm a bit afraid I'm eating this stuff. And if so, in what quantities?

Today I did a sugar-lift technique to two plates, prepared three additional plates (two quite large). I also did a ceramolle (soft ground) technique to one of the larger plates and placed it in the acid for 50 minutes. Tomorrow I will do aquatinta (solid tone) on the sugar-lift plates and print proofs of everything to see where I'm at.

I just finished some aquaforte (line etching) on a copper plate here at home tonight which I'll also etch it in the ferric chloride tomorrow. I've done the math and we have 245 studio hours left in the program, so I'm in overdrive to get everything done.

Yesterday we had a revisione (review) with the director and I'm pleased because he was quite happy with how my lithography prints turned out. They're the most ambitious works I've done at the school and I was glad to get some positive feedback on them.

I'm really just making art right now. No travel, fewer social activities. But I'm happy and very much in love with my citta (city) and my friends here.

Sunday morning

I slept for nine hours, and for the first time in weeks I feel rested. For breakfast I munched on some biscottini (little cookies) and caffé.

This week I printed the litho, reground the stone and made a second drawing on the same stone (pictured here) which I will print tomorrow at the studio. The imagery I've used is underwater barnacles. I love this process, but I have so much more to learn and two weeks is much too short of a time to learn such a complex, chemical technique.



Tamarind Institute in New Mexico is the mecca of lithography. I'm researching their programs for further study.

Yesterday on the bus I saw a construction area in il centro (city center) with a port-a-potty for the workers. To make my point I really need to go back and take a photo to insert here, which I will do tomorrow. The entire thing is covered with a reproduction of Botticelli's Birth of Venus, featuring a life-sized Venus on the door. I think the intention is chic, but my reaction was something like a chuckle. Florence carts are constantly hocking boxer shorts featuring David's private parts, but I think the port-a-potty wins a 'tacky usage of Renaissance art' award hands down.

Yes, the euro/dollar exchange is brutal. I just bought some autumn clothing, Nike pants and long-sleeved tops and a similar Italian brand of jacket, and it ran me 220 euro (about 300 USD). For what it's worth, they're really good quality clothes, tailored designs, perfect fit. I needed something comfortable and relatively chic (as I live in Florence), but I wish I would have bought these pieces or similar in California as it would have been 2/3 the price at least. It turned out to be an investment, but I've found that I'd rather buy better quality clothes and wear them everyday than buy less expensive clothes that don't keep their warmth and shape very well.

Besides this particular much-needed purchase, at this time I'm only buying food, coffee and bus tickets. I do need a new borsa (purse), but I'm waiting until the Tuesday market to buy a fake leather bag. I know a stand in particular where I should be able to find what I'm looking for for 10-15 euro. Luckily I'm well-stocked on art supplies at this time, as I purchased a lot of paper prior to the summer break and also brought some paper and additional materials from Daniel Smith in Seattle.

Even our neighborhood pizzeria, Casa della Pizza, has raised their prices. In July you could get a margherita (tomato and cheese) for 3,50 and now it's 4,00.

Friday night I went to my professor Vincenzo's house for dinner. The caffé was amazing and I asked about it. It is called Quarta Caffé Rossa and they buy it in Puglia in large quantities when they visit, but you can also buy it online.

We've been a sickly household over the past couple of weeks. I had a vicious migraine, then influenza with a febbre alta (high fever). My flatmates have respectively had a cold and pidocchi (lice) from visiting a young nipotina (niece). Even the dog has a tosse (cough) and is on antibiotics. But we're all getting better, just in the past two days. I attribute most of it to the change of season.

Autumn is new for me in Italy, Toscana is overflowing with grapes and there's some briskness in the air. There are still tourists in il centro, mostly British and German. We're spending more evenings in houses and pubs rather than the piazzas where we spent our summer evenings. The pompelmo (grapefruit) in the courtyard is ripening. It's the size of a canteloupe now. Looking forward to picking it soon.

Permesso di soggiorno

To live here as a foreigner requires first a visto (visa) for entry, which I obtained last year from the Italian consulate. This document is necessary for anyone staying in Italy longer than 90 days. My visa is a student visa and it's good for one year, expiring on January 7, 2008. Secondly, upon arrival you need to submit your visa and all the supporting documentation (including the signed acceptance letter from your school, proof of adequate funds for the duration of the stay, proof of housing and medical insurance) to your city's questura (police station). This is to process your permesso di soggiorno (permit to stay). This permesso process has been notoriously difficult and time consuming, involving long queues and multiple requests for additional documentation. This process historically took about 2 months in total. However before I arrived they changed the process. Now the stranieri (foreigners) apply for the permessi at a designated window at the poste (post office). The post office sends the documents to the questura and the questura eventually contacts you with a day and time to arrive for fingerprinting and to receive your permesso. Now, as brief backstory, the Italian poste is a bit, er, how shall I put it, disorganized. So what they've done is take a difficult process involving one large institution (questura) and placed another large institution (poste) in the mix, which has created utter chaos. As my segretaria at the school puts it in English, "It's a mess for the whole of Italy."

So I checked the status of my permesso application online, and I have an update. (Keep in mind I applied on January 16, 2007.) On December 12th I have an appointment for fingerprinting and to receive my permesso. My flight to return to the states for Christmas is on December 19th. The permesso will expire January 7th. You do the math. Hilarious!

Two weeks of lithography

Yesterday we began the lithography seminar. I have much to share about this class but I'm too burnt out to write tonight. Here are some photos of my drawing, and how it's coming along on the stone.