Study Art Abroad in Spoleto, Italy
Location
Italy: Assisi, Florence, Orvieto and 5 other cities
Description
Spoleto Study Abroad Summer Session is an immersion program in the arts and humanities for high school students, ages 15-19, for students fascinated with visual art, photography, creative writing, drama, vocal music, instrumental music (strings), and exploring Italy. This is an experience that will attract high school students serious about art, humanities and gaining a worldly view. This program offers students who wish to grow academically, artistically and personally an avenue to step into the cultural and artistic heritage of the Italian Renaissance.
This is a unique opportunity to work closely with talented faculty one-on-one and in small groups of motivated peers from around the world. In addition to honing their artistic talent in the intensive hands-on studio workshops, students will take twice-weekly daytrips to cities in Umbria and Tuscany. Living and studying in an environment rich with history, art and natural beauty is profoundly transformative for a student of the arts.
Spoleto, a gorgeous town emblematic of Central Italy, will be your home throughout the program. Spoleto, the seat of a Lombard Duchy during the High Middle Ages, still preserves a vast array of artistic memories from its historic past. In an inspiring atmosphere of history and culture, the students live in a beautiful renovated 15th century residence inside the stone walls of ancient Spoleto.
Our curriculum is enhanced by our twice-weekly excursions. This in-depth program will take students from Roman time to the blooming of the Renaissance. Winding through cobblestone streets of historic towns with vistas of olive groves; exploring an Etruscan ruin; crossing a Roman aqueduct; and visiting the many museums and churches will magically put students in touch with many of the greatest minds of western civilization from Dante to Michelangelo, from Botticelli to Boccaccio.
The faculty members are distinguished artists and educators from universities and secondary schools in the United States and Italy. They are chosen for their extensive knowledge and enthusiasm, their dynamic teaching methods, and their ability and willingness to work closely with each student.
Highlights
Students have the opportunity to immerse them-self in their area of artistic interest, working closely with faculty. Students will live and work in an incredibly beautiful and artistically rich part of the world. Weekly excursions by charter coach to cultural centers such as Urbino, Florence, Siena, Assisi and other medieval hill towns throughout Umbria and Tuscany give the students an opportunity to experience and explore significant historic and artistic masterpieces first hand. This always resonates profoundly with the students and enhances their artistic and intellectual development.
Not mentioning the food would be remiss. The students dine together in a local family-run restaurant and get to enjoy the world famous cuisine of Umbria.
Program Offerings:
Visual Arts Students explore the philosophical, conceptual, and technical aspects of art through art history, studio workshops, and hands-on field trips. Courses include instruction and practice in drawing, painting and two-dimensional design. The theoretical aspects of the course are then illustrated with visits to and examinations of works of art found throughout the town and the region. Final projects are exhibited at the art show.
Instrumental/Chamber Music The chamber music program will accept talented piano and string (violin, viola, cello) players. The aim is to emphasize artistic and technical growth through private individual lessons, group chamber music sessions and performances. Students will work on some major works of the chamber repertoire with leading musicians in the field. Several concerts will be given throughout the session. Plenty of time will be afforded for individual and group practice.
Through an intensive Creative Writing curriculum, students develop writing skills while learning more advanced techniques of language and expression. Students participate in selected exercises designed to strengthen specific elements of writing. Journaling, a cornerstone of the course, serves as a foundation for an exploration of poetry, prose, prose-poems and lyrics.
Photography Students will study a selection of historical and contemporary photographers, while developing a personal style of their own. The course will focus on a variety of photographic techniques, such as portraiture, landscape, night photography, documentary photography and hand-coloring Polaroid dye transfers. Final projects are exhibited at the art show.
Vocal Music students are immersed in a wealth of musical offerings emphasizing artistic and technical development. The program offers private and group lessons covering a wide gamut of musical styles. Several concerts are given throughout the session.
Drama Students explore acting through vocal and physical techniques, character analysis, pantomime techniques and improvisational skills. They apply these skills to selecting, rehearsing and performing monologues and scenes during the course of their study. The final project is a forty to sixty minute performance.
Classes take place in beautiful buildings in the historic section of town. Students live together European collegial style in the Convento di Sant'Angelo, a gorgeous fifteenth century convent in the medieval section of Spoleto that has been renovated to combine the traditions of the past with all of the modern conveniences of today. It is only a short walk from the convent to the classrooms and the restaurant where the students have their meals.
Faculty members at Spoleto Study Abroad are distinguished artists and educators from colleges, universities and secondary schools in the United States and Italy. They are chosen for their extensive knowledge and enthusiasm, their dynamic teaching methods and their willingness and ability to work closely with students.