Summer Course

As promised some impressions of the FAA summer course I was teaching during the month of July with the wonderful Hege Haugen. Though it was incredibly hot in Florence, the students were really excited and motivated. On a daily base we were working with the live model and starting with a series of preparatory studies, we soon turned to the larger scale painting

To show how many possibilities you have in painting or subjects related to painting we held some small demonstrations along the course on stretching canvas, preparing the ground, grinding paints and making frames

Jordan Sokol organized a summer-show that was held in the main studio in Via delle Casine with some beautiful works on display

Instructors Tanvi Pathare and Hywel Pratley:

But to be honest, we also had quite some fun during these weeks. Here is our model Stefano explaining the students the pose and what to remember while not moving (which is definitely not an easy task...!)

All in all a great month and I had the pleasure to meet some really wonderful people

Via Luna: Open studio at the FAA Sculpture Department

Speaking of Open-studio events, I of course won't forget to mention the Open House of the Sculpture Department. It has been one of the highlights in the Florence Academy school calendar for years now and as expected also this time was great fun. Robert Bodem, Director of the Sculpture Department managed once again to set up this wonderful event in an relaxed and creative atmosphere. Visitors enjoyed the big buffet organized by the students, Tuscan wines and lots of artworks on display and Via Luna turned into a little hot spot that evening in the center of Florence.

Students have been working hard during the year and ended up with a more than convincing result. A large variety of different projects were shown and it was interesting to get an insight into the working progress. Starting with little "bozzetti", sketches in clay, students develop their ideas and composition that lead up to portraits, torso and figure studies and as final task a life size sculpture:

4th year student Chippie Kennedy (standing next to her life size sculpture with Program Directors Per Elof Nilsson Ricklund and Jordan Sokol) in her working space:

I just loved the little gesture studies as well as the fact that her life size figure has a special twist by holding a dead rabbit. Very impressive works (as usual) by instructor Eran Webber, it is always a pleasure seeing his studio and what he is working on:

Also my department, the Drawing in Sculpture, took part in the event and had some works on display:

Also here the range varied from quick 25-minute sketches and studies of anatomical features over portraiture to 5-week long pose drawings.

I would really like to thank my students and fellow teachers for an amazing year, lots of joy and fantastic results! Looking forward to October ; )