It is hard to believe that I have almost been living in Florence, Italy for 2 months! I arrived in Florence on October 8th following a month in France where I had the great fortune to participate in an artist and writers residency, La Muse (http://lamuseinn.com/), in a tiny town in the south of France called Labastide Esparbairenque. Along the way both before and after the residency, I was able to visit other places in France like Nice, Carcassonne, Sete, Marseilles, and of course Paris.
The beautiful coastline of Nice, France
City of Nice, France
The Walls of Carcassonne, France
Medieval City of Carcassonne
The outdoor eating area at La Muse
Ohh just another glorious view from the residency at La Muse
Art show at La Muse!
Sete, France. It is suppose to be the mini Venice of France only because it has one canal- ha!
Marseilles!
Ugg, such a tourist, you know what, you know where
More Paris!
Orangerie at Versailles
Inside the Orangerie at Versailles. Notice the trash. There apparently was a big gala event the night before.
The room that Van Gogh spent his last 70 days of his life in Aversois, France.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…When I arrived in Florence on Monday night, October 8th from Paris I went straight to work! On October 9th I had to go to Venice for 2 days to register with one of my affiliation schools, the Università IUAV di Venezia. I was able to sit in a couple of classes to get a sense of the and I loved it!
IUAV!! One of the Campuses
When I returned to Florence, the rest of the week into the next week was spent doing paperwork like applying for my Permesso di Soggiorno and opening an Italian bank account. The week of the 14th– 20th I spent familiarizing myself with Florence and beginning to collect orange peels from local restaurants after they made freshly squeezed orange juice. It was surprisingly challenging collecting orange peels after the restaurants made freshly squeezed orange juice. In San Francisco and Albuquerque, it was so much easier! People tend to be more snobby here about collecting orange peels (I understand- it is not the classiest thing to do in the world and why would any restaurant worker help some girl that wants to collect trash when there is an gawking tourist in the back of me waiting to throw euros out of their eye sockets) but I luckily have been killing them with my kindness and I have been able to collect some. I have found that the train station makes a lot of orange juice- it’s the best place to collect. That same week I met with my affiliation in Florence, the Art Studio Fuji, where I talked with the owner about the logistics of teaching free textile workshops that involve using castoff materials to create something new and interesting.
The week of the 21st-30th was a long week of travel wherein I traveled from Florence to Venice to Rome and back to Venice and then back to Florence on the 30th. The world is small: on the 21st-23rd I was in Venice and I still hadn’t met one of my main mentors at the IUAV, and I ended up meeting one of her teaching assistants who let me know that she would be in Rome when I was in Rome. I also was able to sit in the class about curatorial studies that my mentor is teaching. I had the pleasure of hearing a lecture by Invernomuto (http://www.invernomuto.info/), a collaborative pair of artists both named Simone. It was all in Italian, luckily, so I can improve my language skills. Then the 23rd-28th I was in Rome for the Fulbright conference which was held both at the American Academy in Rome and also the Centro Studi Americani. What a great experience. All of the scholars has such interesting projects! On the final day of the orientation, I met my mentor from the IUAV and we discussed what we were going to accomplish this year and then she took me to an art show. Then for the rest of the weekend, I wandered around Rome and went to a couple of museums; the MAXXI was by far my favorite. Then on Sunday I went back to Venice for the IUAV. On Monday we visited the Prada Foundation and then we met with Punto Croce (http://puntocroce.wix.com/sito), an alternative art space in Venice that is amazing! AND FINALLY…home again in Florence! Fortunately at long last I was able to move into my long term apartment on the 30th. (My landlord had a little mix-up of dates and I stayed at another apartment for the month of October). The rest of the weekend was spent at home– as exciting as traveling was, I was feeling sick from it
Nice to be at home working on my art again!
The week of the 4th-10th, I spent Monday and Tuesday in Venice going to class (it was election week and I was nervous, but luckily Obama won!). The 7th was Questura day! I had to go to the Questura to get fingerprinted for my permesso di soggiorno. On the 8th and 9th, I finally met with the tanning school, The Polo Tecnologico Conciario with whom I am working. I am so lucky to have an affiliation like this. They really take my project seriously and everyone is very nice and helpful. The week of the 11th-17th I went to Venice, back to the IUAV, and my poor mentor had just been in New Jersey gathering her water-damaged archives of art and publications that were living in her sister’s house. The detrimental storm had left her sister’s house in pieces and my mentor salvaged what she could of the archives. Her class and I helped her dry them out. Then later in the evening there was an event at Punto Croce, where the talented photographer David Baumbach gave an interesting lecture about portraiture followed by an experimental musical performance by some local musicians. Then on Wednesday I went back to the tannery school to do more tests. On Thursday I went to Rome to study with my mentor. She had a dinner party where I cooked New Mexican food for the guests. On Friday- Monday, I went to the country in Sabina, where my mentor also lives. I was so excited that I got to visit the real Italy, away from all the tourists. I collected oranges and made orange juice and I harvested olives for fun to make olive oil! That weekend was such a memorable one, thanks to my mentor and her partner!!
Some of the water logged archives…
David’s talk at Punto Croce
Experimental Music at Punto Croce
Tests at PO.TE.CO
Sabina!
Olive Oil Production!
More production…..
Olive Oil!!!!
Making Orange Juice
AND FINALLY AGAIN back in Florence on Monday night!!!!!
Back in Florence!!
I went to the tannery school on Tuesday and Wednesday to do more tests. Then on Thursday I celebrated Thanksgiving with my Fulbright friends.
Thanksgiving in Florence with Fulbright Tuscany peeps!!!
Then I went back to the tannery school on Friday for more tests! The weekend was spent exploring Florence more. The week afterwards (25th-1st) was mainly spent at the PO.TE.CO. doing yet again even more tests! I am so excited we have done enough experiments to make the orange peels supple at all times! This week we focused on trying to make them water proof–which was a huge success! Barely one month into my research at the PO.TE.CO and my hopes and plans are coming together wondrously, which makes everything so much easier and exciting. I love studying at the PO.TE.CO. I am so fortunate to have the help of the geniuses Dott. Domenico Castiello, Dott. Maurizio Salvadori, and Dott. Valerio Talarico. I can’t wait to make something out of the orange peels!
Waterproofing the peels worked!
Alright Then- I think that is enough THENs for now and enough writing for the longest blog ever.. Until next time!
Florence Gearing up for the Holidays
Temporary Holiday Shops in Piazza Santa Croce
Ciak Italia 