Dinner with friends

The night before I headed to Rome for my flight I made dinner for my friends from the studio. I cooked up some pasta with peperoni (bell peppers) and Franka made a chocolate cake. I'm so grateful for everyone who came over in the rain. We had a great time. Much love to all of you and I hope to return soon!

Today

Today I'm moving out of my home and I'll be leaving my beloved town for an undetermined time. I'm a bit melancholy as I haven't yet planned my return trip, but I'm hopeful I'll return sooner rather than later.

Much love to all,
Shannon

An impromptu party

Monday evening Sissi and I met at the studio and we decided to have a dinner party at her house that evening. We walked along the Arno, enjoying the sunset, and called some people and invited them all to her house for dinner. We were both exhausted from the studio, but had fun listening to music and singing songs. Giuseppe made crostini for starters and Sissi made a delicious pasta.

Rome: Easter Monday

Pasquetta (Easter Monday) is a holiday in Italy. Traditionally it's the day people go to the countryside for picnics and such fun. Usually the art museums are closed on Mondays, but the city made a good decision to open them on Easter Monday for the tourists who are visiting and we reserved tickets for the Galleria Borghese in the park. This is a museum I highly recommend particularly for its Bernini marble sculptures and Caravaggio paintings.

Anna and I had a plan to meet for afternoon tea near the Colosseum, so I decided to walk through the city center to get there. From Galleria Borghese I walked through the park to Piazza del Popolo.




From there I wandered through the city center to the Pantheon where I ordered a granita at my favorite coffee shop.



I eventually arrived at the Colosseum.


This is an everyday nothing photo. But I just love the colors.

Rome: Easter Sunday

On Easter Sunday I took a train to Rome in the morning. Upon arrival at the station it was raining so I took the metro to San Giovanni to attend mass at the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano. It was my first time there, so I checked the city map in the metro station and hoped the basilica was easy enough to find. When I walked up to the street it was raining quite hard, but there was what appeared as a river of umbrellas pouring into a large building facade. In following the crowds I found it was the basilica and the mass had begun. It was a beautiful high mass led by a bishop and about thirty priests. There were processions and a choir with organ accompaniment. After the mass I wandered through the basilica to view the chapels and works of art. The next mass began but it was given by only one priest with no choir. I'm so glad I arrived earlier and was able to see the high mass.

After the mass the crowds braved the thunderstorms to the metro station and myself in the direction of the Spagna stop to check into the hotel. It was charming and very close to the Spanish Steps. Here are the views from the room, straight out, looking left, looking right and down to the street:

Aperitivo

Last Friday my friend Sang and I went for aperitivo after a long day at the studio. This is a place by Santa Croce and sometimes it's just nice to relax with a friend, traditional American cocktails and all the parmaggiano one can eat.

Here's the view walking along the Arno, from the studio to Santa Croce:

Whirlwind-ing

Since the last post I went to Rome for Easter and Milan for a job interview. Later this week I'll post these events with photos.

Friday I'm headed to Ferrara for the Miro exhibit and on Tuesday I'll train over to Slovenia, where my great-grandparents lived many years ago.

(I'll need to start winding down at the studio as my last day will be Monday...)

My first interview in Italian

Strange things happen at strange times... I just had my first phone interview in Italian for a contract project (for a 'large entertainment industry leader') in Milan.

I think I held up well for the first 15 minutes, but my Italian started to crack after that. But maybe it didn't crack terribly, as I now have an in-person interview on Thursday in Milan. Yay!

Il primo giorno della primavera (First day of spring)

It's the first day of spring... but looking out the window you'd never know it!

I haven't been attentive to my blog. Sometimes actual life gets in the way of documenting about life. I have some things coming up that I'm excited about so hopefully I'll ramp up again.

I've been working daily at the studio since early February, overwhelming myself a bit as I'm concurrently working on 9 unique works. I'm in etching/plate mode and I'll need to start printing soon to get some editions completed before my flight to the states later in April. I'm loving being in the studio everyday, but I'm tired. The work is labor intensive and after doing this daily for over a year I'd like to give my mind and my body a short break.

Additionally he economic situation of the world is a bit, er... let's just say difficult for US folks living abroad. I've been searching for work opportunities that pay in euro but getting much more response regarding jobs that pay in dollars.

Through all this, each day I fall more in love with Florence and my friends and I'm doing exactly what I want to be doing. Tomorrow we have a fun aperitivo (evening cocktails) planned with friends. Then on Sunday I'm headed to Rome for Easter and some fun!

Buona Pasqua a tutti! (Happy Easter to all of you!)

The simple water drain in the center of our courtyard is visually quite lovely:


Filing the borders of a plate:


This one's for Colin. There was a seminario di xilografia (woodcut workshop) at the school and the professors brought out some examples of the woodcuts that prior students had done. This is Colin's self portrait. You can leave the stamperia (printshop), but your presence stays long after:

Site redesigned

I've redesigned and relaunched my printmaking site.

The next step is that I'll be taking more photos of my prints and adding them to the prints section. It'll be an ongoing project, keeping it up to date.

Have a look... shannonmilar.com

Shiny, pretty things

This weekend a friend and I went to Ravenna. A smallish town with uninspiring building exteriors that surprisingly hold bright, shiny gemlike interiors! In fact Ravenna's city center is the host of eight (8) UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites. I was inspired by the marble works and the city is known for it's byzantine mosaics.




All is well at the studio. It took me a couple of days to find my rhythm and get readjusted to the physical labor and toxicity. I'm working on a mixed-technique print of underwater barnacles, and another abstracted rock form acquaforte (line etching). I have two more prints in the queue to begin next week. One of the iron framed Florence windows and the other of the cobblestones in Padova.

After too many days of jet lag I've also reentered the social scene. Last week I had an exquisite Tuscan dinner with friends at a restaurant called Boccanegra. And on Friday I attended the fashion show of a designer friend who attends Accademia. Guiseppe, Vito and I went together and the DJ played Guiseppe's music everytime a new model made an appearance. It was a blast.

I'm going to try to get a good night's rest so tomorrow I can finish off my first full week at the studio with a flourish (i.e. get s**t done!).

A couple of January days

I've returned to life in Italy. I actually was able to sleep on the flights over, as they weren't very full so I had an extra seat or two next to me.

January is one of my favorite months in Florence, so I'm glad I'm at least getting a couple of days of it this year. During these winter months it's like you have the city to yourself. No lines for museums, fewer tourists in the streets. And when the sun is out the sky is bright blue.

Flatmates are well. The dog's nose appears to have turned a shade of pink (formerly brown). We don't know why. I thought it was my imagination, but then Franka asked Buska if he showed zia (aunt) his pink nose. He seems proud of it.

I'm hoping to be more social this weekend, and I'll check in at the studio next week.

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.