Flickr Update

I've posted some of my studio shots from Florence over on Flickr. Enjoy!

Italy- Day 12 Florence/Cinque Terra

Giorgio De Chirico: Nostalgia of the Infinite

We had one more free morning in Florence, and I really wanted to see this Surrealism Exhibition that was up at the Palazzo Strozzi. I took a Dada and Surrealism class way back when I was an undergrad, which I enjoyed very much, so I was interested in seeing works by some of the artists we talked about in person.

I wasn't disappointed. This was a great exhibition. The novelty of seeing works in real life that I'd only seen in books before never wore off.

Max Ernst: Oedipus Rex

Rene Magritte: The Human Condition (this work actually belongs to our National Galleries)

Another reason I'm glad I went to this exhibition, was that I stumbled upon this tiny little exhibition off the side of the gift shop, titled I Journey With you Here, by Kate McBride. These were the most beautiful little prints taken from Polaroids, paired with the most lovely poetry:

I lit a candle for you
in a simple church
just off the main square
yours is the tallest
the nearest to christ on the cross
the flame burns bright
lights the stone walls
many candles burn around you
I hope to return here many times

I was so in love with these I can't even tell you. I had to buy the book. I think this was one of my most favorite things I saw the whole trip.

Then it was a train ride to Cinque Terra, along the Mediterranean. We had to haul our luggage quite a distance from the station, and then up seven flights of marble stairs to our room, but it was worth it, because this was the view from our balcony:


We had twenty minutes before dinner, so my friends and I threw on our suits and ran down to the beach. Sarah and Marissa got in the water.

I didn't make it past the rocks.

Florence- Day 11 Bargello and Shopping

I'm sure these are getting kind of stale, so I'll make this brief.

For our free day in Florence, my friends and I went to the Bargello Museum. The Bargello has a great collection of decorative objects, jewelry, enamel, ceramics and ivory works. Lots of small, beautiful things that could fit in the palm of your hand. They also have a great armory. One of my favorite things were the carved ivory stands for the leather hoods made for falcons. Of course, we went looking for a book on the collectios, but there were only a few. I picked up one on Scientific Instruments.

The Bargello was really great, but we were kind of burnt out on art by this time, so we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping. We headed to the leather district. We found Santa Croce, where Dante, Micheangelo and others are burried, but we didn't go in. Then the hunt was on for Vespa bags and a dress that we had seen in a window display our first night in Florence. We didn't find either (they must have changed the displays), but we did find a paper shop (finally!) and a flea market, which was really great. After that we hit the street market. I bought a sketchbook, since I thought I was going to fill the one I brought before the trip was over, and a dress, which, while not as cute as the one that got away, was more in my price range that the other one surely was.

Florence- Day 10 Studio Tours

We ventured to the other side of the Arno River, with Fabrizio Aquafresca, a well known Florentine silversmith who specializes in chasing and repousse, and a friend of Linda's.

First, Fabrizio took us to the Brandimarte store front. Brandimarte was started by Fabrizio's uncle, and how he got into silversmithing. I didn't take any photos here, because there's something about photographing someone else's work that just doesn't sit right with me some times. Not a hard and fast rule, but there you go. There was SO MUCH SILVER, all of it high polish, mostly large vessels. We hung out there for a little while, before us metals kids split off from the rest of the group.

And then the real fun began. I think the original plan had been to go to Fabrizio's studio, but we wound up going to a bunch of other places instead. The first was Fratelli Lisi, a silver studio that makes these incredible animals with silver fur. They developed a special machine to cut the silver, and then they solder it in such a way that it looks like fur or feathers.
A woman soldering overlapping pieces of "fur".

A silver beetle.

Soldering a parrot foot.

Hammering a crayfish/lobster.

It was this tiny little studio, making these incredible things. These Italian master craftsmen, humoring us young American girls. I have dozens of more photos, which I'll try to post on flickr later.
Some other amazing places we went to that I'm going to gloss over in interest of brevity:
a violin maker
a cobbler
a small jewelry/sculpture co-op

And then, Alchimia. Alchimia is a contemporary jewelry school in Florence. The likes of Arlene Fisch, Iris Echenburg, and Peter Bauhuis have lectured there. This was a huge deal for me. Seeing contemporary European art jewelry in Europe. I totally had a moment in front of the work on display. I can't even describe what this meant to me. It felt like the Universe was trying to speak to me. To tell me that my work, strange as it is, belongs somewhere. It was brief, but deffinately a moment.

But what really blows my mind is that they don't do any enameling there.

Some studio shots:


After we looked around the studio a bit, Lucia, one of the founders and directors, took us down the block to where Alchimia is moving this fall. We were such dorks, getting so excited over this empty building. I've decided to spare you the pics.

After that was lunch where I tried rabbit for the first time, and after lunch we walked around the city some more, with Fabrizio as our tour guide. We went into Orsanmichele, a church that had once been a granary, where I took half a dozen pictures of the roof beams, and none of the art.

And then it was time for a beer! Fabrizio took us to his local hangout, an Irish pub next to the Doumo that played American music and was also full of Americans. This was the view from the bar:

I couldn't believe I was sitting there, drinking a beer, looking at this. I seriously couldn't stop staring at Doumo. I never did get to tour the inside though.

Group photo! One of the only ones I have from the whole trip. That's me on the far left in the hat, two guys we'd just met from Kansas City, Tara, Fabrizio, Marissa and Sarah.

Florence- Day 9 The Uffitzi

*All of these images were pulled off line, since you can't take any pictures in the Uffizi Gallery. *

Botticelli: The Birth of Venus

What can I say about the Uffizi Gallery? It was huge. It was mind blowing. It was overwhelming. It was absolutely incredible. We had an amazing tour guide who took us through and showed us some of the highlights in about three hours.

Botticelli: La Primavera

Piero della Francesca: Battista Sforza and Frederico da Montefeltro (front)

Piero della Francesca: Battista Sforza and Frederico da Montefeltro (back)


Titian: Venus of Urbino

Parmigianina: Madonna with the Long Neck

This painting has always creeped me out, but now I can say that I've seen it in person.

Some of us decided to have lunch at the cafe in the gallery, so that we could stay longer and wound up spending another hour and a half there. We really wanted to go through the special Carvaggio exhibit where this was the only actual Carvaggio:


But they had Artemisa Gentileschi's Judith Beheading Holofernes:

We figured it wasn't so much an exhibit of Carvaggio's works, but more of an exhibit on the style of Carvaggio.

After that, we spent quite awhile in the gift shop, where I picked up two books on Saints. We had a few hours before dinner, so we decided to head to the little laundromat down the street from the hostel and do a few loads. With wine and beer and snacks of course!

Florence- Day 8

After a few days in Certaldo, we took a quick train to Florence. After checking into our hostel, Linda gave us a quick walking tour to get us oriented. This of course included the Baptistery and the Doumo.
Ghiberti's doors to the baptistery.

Duomo.

Bell Tower.

I feel really bad, but I can't remember the name of this church.

We went to the Academia, to see Michelangelo's "David". It was pretty spectacular. For some reason everyone was surprised at how big it is in real life, but it was pretty much the size I expected it to be. We saw some other cool things at the Academia, including unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo, an amazing huge tapestry, and small, hand painted Russian icons.

This is the copy of the David. Not quite as cool as the real thing, but still pretty neat.

We walked around a bit more until it was time for dinner. I don't have any photos (because they weren't allowed), but this dinner was so spectacular, I just have to tell you about it.

We walked into the dining room, which was full of small tables, most for about four people, and theater type chairs. You could see into the kitchen, where there was chicken roasting over a spit. The first thing they set out were about five or six different dishes and some bread. These were always available through out the whole meal. I'm not really sure what they all were, but my favorite was some kind of vegetable dish.

When a new dish was about to be served, the cook would stick his head out of the kitchen and start yelling in Italian, and everyone would run up to where the food was being served. And because the whole event was in Italian, we never knew what we were going to get next! But we knew it was going to be delicious. A few of the things we ate that I could identify:

some kind of sardines
cold beet and potato salad
pasta with meat sauce
eggplant
fish soup
mussels
something that had squid in it
clams in some kind of broth that I am still thinking about. I kid you not. I don't even eat clams. Still thinking about them.
a giant prawn
roast chicken and potatoes
real whipped cream and some type of Italian cookie for dessert

This is only a fraction of what we ate. The dinner lasted for about two hours, and this is only the stuff I remember, or again, could identify. After dessert, they took away the tables, turned the chairs around and had a jazz concert. It could not have been a better first night in Florence.