The book

Ok, so I know that I havent written anything in quite some time, so sorry about that. Life here is just spectacular. it is a transforming experience that continues to surprise me. We just finished our first class and that is mind blowing to say the least. We went to Rome for 4 days over a week ago and just finished our final project for the designo class. We had to choose between creating a large scale drawing of a location here in town or make a book. I chose to make the book. It is definitely not the kind of book you would expect though. We had to write a 1001 or less character text based on the writing style in the book Invisible Cities by Calvino. We had to create a concept based on the city or a specific place and create a book that correlates with our text. We had to pick a specific part of the book to incorporate in our own text as well. So that is just the writing aspect. The book itself was made out of recycling our previous drawings (if we wanted to) and had to be 400 cm long folded accordion style creating 40 total squares, 20 on each side. We then had to go about the town and find naturally occurring letters. Meaning something that makes the letter A, B, C, D etc but was not meant to be read or seen as a letter. Those pictures (26 in total) were then scaled to be squares 1 inch by 1 inch. Next we transferred the image to pieces of linoleum (that we cut to size) and carved out the letters to make stamps. We had to decide how we wanted our text to appear in our book. It did not have to be ligible or seen (things could be put over top of them eventually) but we had to put them on somehow. We had to stamp our every letter to every work to every sentence... that is just part 1 and two basically. We then had to create a visual counterpart to our text that when you look at it hung, you can correlate what you read or hear from the text with the book. It was an exhausting project that just got more intense as you worked. It was the most obscure blank canvas I ever worked with but I am so excited that I did it and made a piece that has so much meaning. Here is my text
   "When you arrive at the city on a hill, it is hard to distinguish its form immediately. Its multiple layers shift from black and white to color. It takes time to get to know the city. A visitor who stays for a short time may only uncover the obvious attractions: the gardens, wine bars, architecture and ceramics. You have to be willing to explore, open hidden pockets, unfold the stop signs, and slide the broken door aside in the ally way to find the vibrant details that make up the city. The secret is that the forms within are black and white and will only be seen in color of one chooses to uncover what is beneath. It is the mood of the beholder which gives the city of Orvieto its form. Sometimes two people will look at the same unfolded sight and have two different perceptions of what they see. The beauty of the city will be revealed to those who are in the mood to discover it."
 I will post pictures soon of the final result. It was a long and tedious project but was so fun to create. I learned so much about myself and the city as I created it.

The Sense of the Ineffable yb A.J Heschel

The power of expression is not the monopoly of man. Expression and communication are, to some degree, something of which animals are capable. What characterizes man is not only his ability to develop words and symbols, but also his being compelled to draw a distinction between the utterable and the unutterable, to be stunned by that which is but cannot be put into words.
   It is the sense of the sublime that we have to regard as the root of man's creative activities in art, thought and noble living. Just as no flora has ever fully displayed the hidden vitality of the earth, so has no work of art ever brought to expression the depth of the unutterable, in the sight of which the souls of saints, poets and philosophers live. The attempt to convey what we see and cannot say is the everlasting theme of mankind;s unfinished symphony, a venture in which adequacy is never achieved. Only those who live on borrowed words believe in their gift of expression. A sensitive person knows that the intrinsic, the most essential, is never expressed. Most and often best of what foes on in us is our own secret; we have to wrestle with it ourselves. The stirring in our hearts when watching the star studded sky is something no language can declare. What smites us with unquenchable amazement is no that which we grasp and are able to convey but that which lies within our reach but beyond our grasp; not the quantitative aspect of nature but something qualitative; not what is beyond our range in time and space but the true meaning, source and end of being, in other words, the ineffable.

Drawing

So we have begun our class which is technically a drawing class but involves so much more than just drawing. Our first assignment was to "go draw something." At first I felt like I was missing something but Prof. Doll did not give any more instructions than that which I fount exciting. It was so wonderful to see everyone's interpretation of that assignment. Some used charcoal, pastel, pen, conte and pencil. From realistic to gestural. Everyone one of us has so many things that we are bringing to the table. We have different personalities, styles, temperaments, experience. Diversity is so beautiful. And that's just here within ourselves in our program!! Now are living in this new foreign city all together through ups and downs. Both in and our of the studio we are here together and have to push through and push each other. I want to think about the phrase "wake up" for the next few days... I'll be back with the results. Peace and love

Infine - finally

I am finally going to write a bit about the adventures I have been having and now the life I am living here in Orvieto, Italy. I did not write anything the week that my mom was here with me so those stories will come in time. I had such an amazing time with her exploring Rome and seeing almost every huge monument/attraction in the city. It is relieving to know that I will be returning to Rome with my class because I did not process each site as much as I needed to. I was definitely viewing them mostly from a tourist eye and I am excited to now learn more about each site and spend time as an artist in each space.

I definitely started off my time here comparing things to what I am familiar with back home and even from my time spent in Ecuador. Comparing Ecuador and home was in a way easier because we used the same currency so it was easier to tell how different the prices were from each other, but also, Ecuador is a third world country so I knew that life was going to be very different from what I am used to in the states. I did not really know what to expect when I came here because I have nothing to compare it to.

SOoooo this is it! I am here. Finally. Here in the program with my piers, in our new home. I knoew I have been here for a week already but now that everyone has arrived it seems more real. Every time I fall asleep I forget where I am. Just as adjusting to the time has been a chance in reality, so is every day life. Sleeping seems more of a reality sometimes than my daily activities here in this wonderful place. When everyone arrived last night it was just so great to be all together finally. The little I know about this incredible city blows me away. Here even compared to Rome is so different. Rome is a typical city with drives of people and cars but around every corner is an ancient site or old building, older than our countries existence. But here in Orvieto it is different in so many ways. We are literally a city on a hill oberlooking the glorious rolling hilss of the Italian countryside with farm after farm in view creating a quilt of land scapes as far as you can see. 9/2 Today we woke up early and went on a small tour of the town. We walked down to one of the side walls and talked about how the organic and the man made work in harmony here. There are underground caves and tunnels under almost every home. The rock is dug up to create the house above it and in turn is then used as a cellar of sorts. I took a tour with my mom and we went to a few of the caves that were found that link together. Some were used for oil presses and others were used for dove coves. The small winding stone carved stairs with low ceilings were so incredible to me. The tufo rock that makes up the caves  is very easy to carve and crumbles away easily because it is volcanic rick. There is so much to even think about that I find it hard to write because seeing and feeling and tasting and smelling all of this is so hard to translate into words.

So walking around these little streets is like a dream. It seems like a movie set or something from Epcot, but it is a million times better because it is the real deal. Every meal is fantastic and even the instant coffee the one morning was good. So our meal plan is set up with a local restaurant called Locanda del Lupo. We will eat lunch (pranzo) and dinner (cena) there except for on the weekends when a lovely local named Mimma will cook. Her first meal that she made us was this amazing egplant parm dish and tirimisu (which means pick me up). Wow. SO amazing. I am skipping some things to share at another time but a few more words...if you're still with me, bravo, thank you for reading.

This is going to be such an amazing time to learn, slow down, and become engulfed by new exciting things. This town is still so connected to its medieval roots so it's almost like stepping back in time. Life is at a slower pace and I am loving it. I had my first experience drawing in public here and it certainly was an interesting one. I don't mind the glances from onlookers and people watching but this dude was all up in my grill. Too close for comfort. Then his friend took a picture of us. Really odd. Thankfully he didn't stay too long but if it had been longer I was going to move and glare at him. I am excited to dive into getting to know every nook and cranny of this place and get to know locals and even the other students here! So many things. So many things and thoughts and prayers.

One final thing to share for now, just one of the beautiful sights I saw and wrote down was noticing the older men in town strolling along with their hands behind their backs, walking, thinking, taking life as it comes. Life is beautiful.