{"id":9901,"date":"2010-02-08T07:00:07","date_gmt":"2010-02-08T11:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=9901"},"modified":"2011-05-31T12:43:04","modified_gmt":"2011-05-31T16:43:04","slug":"art-students-polish-their-skills-in-florence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2010\/02\/art-students-polish-their-skills-in-florence\/","title":{"rendered":"Art Students Polish Their Skills in Florence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<p>Art<\/a>
Art student Kerri Gaudelli at the Piazzale Michelangelo, overlooking the city of Florence. Photo by Anna Hughes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During the fall 2009 semester, 15 UConn art students fine-tuned their artistic skills in Florence, Italy, thanks to a new University of Connecticut Study Abroad<\/a> program at the Institute at Palazzo Rucellai.<\/p>\n

Florence, known as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, is one of the world\u2019s foremost cultural centers.<\/p>\n

Students who participated in the study abroad program say their memories of studying in a 14th-century studio, walking to class past a variety of famous frescos, and seeing the Duomo Cathedral daily will last a lifetime.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re never going to get this experience anywhere else,\u201d says Anna Hughes, a 2011 BFA candidate with a concentration in painting. \u201cIt is what you make of it and you learn so many things, but in the process, you can\u2019t help learning about yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samples of the artwork the students created during their study abroad experience are on display at the Jorgensen Gallery through March 5. The young artists were recognized at a special gallery reception on Feb. 5.<\/p>\n

\"<p>An<\/a>
An exhibit of artwork by students who participated in the Studio Arts Study Abroad program in Florence, Italy, on display at Jorgensen Gallery. Photo by Frank Dahlmeyer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Florence study abroad program was a first for the Department of Art and Art History<\/a>. Professor Ray DiCapua<\/a>, who led the cohort of students, would like to see the program continued in the future and eventually integrated into the curriculum for art majors.<\/p>\n

With a small group of students, the program was able to cater to each student\u2019s individual artistic needs, giving each of them the chance to leave behind <\/em><\/strong>the large classroom setting for a more personal and intimate atmosphere. The diverse work on display in the Jorgensen Gallery reflects each student’s experience.<\/p>\n

Subject matter for the drawing course included architecture, the human form, portraiture, and drapery and still-life studies. The artwork on display in the Jorgensen Gallery is mainly done in charcoal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis group of students was wonderful to work with,\u201d says DiCapua. \u201cThey seem to have embraced the opportunity fully. Their focus and enthusiasm for the course and their own development created some beautiful drawings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"<p>A<\/a>
A drawing by art and art history major Robyn Levine. Photo by Frank Dahlmeyer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While abroad, the students were enrolled in a curriculum that included a drawing course, \u201cHistorical and Contemporary Observation,\u201d taught by DiCapua. In addition, the students took an art history course taught by Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor Bette Talvacchia<\/a>, an art historian and Italian Renaissance specialist. They also took a digital photography course, and an Italian culture and language course, \u201cThe Florence Experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

DiCapua says taking students out of the typical university setting and placing them in a new country and environment \u201cleads to a focus outside their normal frames of reference and generates a heightened awareness, while suggesting that there are numerous ways to look at and visually respond to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kerri Gaudelli, a 2011 BFA candidate with a concentration in printmaking, describes the Florence experience as unique: \u201cWe were constantly influenced by our surroundings, cross-referencing what we learned in our classes,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

As part of their program, students were exposed to the Florentine culture, one that is steeped in tradition and is quite different from the American way of life. They say the overall quality of life in Florence and the \u201cpride and appreciation for life in general\u201d were unforgettable. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely not a culture obsessed with money,\u201d says Michael Levine, also a 2011 BFA candidate with a concentration in printmaking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Study Abroad studio arts program takes students to ‘the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[43],"class_list":["post-9901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 05:37:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9901"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37592,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9901\/revisions\/37592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9901"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=9901"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}