After making 400 sheets of Washi

I just spent two jam packed weeks at the Paper and Book Intensive, at Oxbow, in Saugatuck, Michigan.  Seventy artists came together to make books, create origami, to write and to make paper.  The PBI was run smoothly and we enjoyed terrific instruction, great facilities, and creative healthy cuisine.  The participants shared what they accomplished and exchanged their ideas and techniques. I enjoyed the social aspects, of hiking, canoeing and sitting around the  fire-pit.  In the evening, it was great to be able to return to the studios for late night art making.   In the morning there was time to take a run along the Kalamazoo river.  The work I did while I was there will lead to further book and paper making.  The Japanese paper we made is part of  a total of 400 sheets my class made collectively under comprehensive  instruction by Paul Denhoed who came in from Japna to teach at PBI.  I am impressed and inspired by these past two weeks.  It was such a great experience to be with so many talented and motivated artists.  Looking forward to the next PBI.  ( I will be posting pictures and video of the PBI to share with you)

Over two months have passed since I have returned from Florence.  I am left with inspiration and vivid memories, a few thousand photographs and video footage to edit.   All my artwork arrived safely, and has been photographed and organized.  In Spring, 2010 I will  have an exhibition documenting my year long sabbatical.  I have framed some of the prints created in Florence, and one of them has just received an honorable mention in a jured exhibition at the Lynn Arts Center in the  “The Art of the Unique Print”.

Since returning, I have caught up with friends and colleagues and I have enjoyed sharing  stories of my adventures living in Florence.  It has been delightful to hear enthusiastic questions about my journey and what is was like to actually live in another country. It seems that many people share the same desire to stay and experience living somewhere else, and particularly in Italy.  I was surprised how comfortable I felt learning the streets, the markets and I was elated when I could leave my map at home.

Ghibertti’s Doors

Walking to my studio each day was a continuing delight, as I passed by the Duomo, Campanile, Baptistry, the Gates of Paradise, San Lorenzo Cathedral, the Mercato Centrale, charming lanes and squares……………it was not as if I was lost, I just preferred to travel a different path each day.

Right out my door San Lorenzo Cathedral and market place………

My apartment was centrally located, I had a terrific landlady who helped me in so many ways, it was easy to get pretty much anywhere.  I was also a five minute walk from the train station and bus stations which was a great way to get to Rome, Sienna, Tuscany and Cinque Terre.

When I returned to the Cape, I picked up where I left off and continued to do my woodcuts.  I am also doing solar etching and using the image-on technique I explored in Italy.  I have a great deal of visual material to use in my artwork.  In addition I am finishing a number of book projects I began in Firenze.

On returning from Florence I began planning my trip to Japan to study papermaking.  I selected an itinerary which turned out to perfect.  One week in Kyoto and one week on the island of Shikoku making paper.  The trip to Japan was planned for two weeks, and now in retrospect I wish it had been longer.  I did however have an introduction to Japan and a very in depth paper making experience.  I will elaborate with commentary, photos and video shortly.

Since I have returned, those whom I have come in contact with, and some are people I just know casually have shared a genuine sense of pleasure in my journey and what I have done.  I really have appreciated all of your enthusiastic, questions, comments and responses.

More to follow………………….sara

Artist Statement:

Passages / Prints, Books and Drawings

I am an abstract artist in a city filled with realism.

I came to Firenze to experience, to learn, to see art and to make art.  I am on sabbatical from teaching at Cape Cod Community College in Massachusetts.  My goal in coming to Firenze is to study printmaking and book arts from a traditional western perspective and to integrate new ideas into my studio art classes.  I have been fortunate to have been invited to be an artist in residence for the fall 2008 semester at Santa Reparata International School of Art.   The studio I am working in is spacious, bright and airy. Print makers from all over the world have created art in this space. 

I came to Firenze with no preconceived ideas; rather, I purposely chose to come here with little in the way of art supplies or reference materials.  In that way I would remain open and respond to what I would see and experience.  

Finding connections

I am primarily an abstract artist, influenced by space, color, texture and shapes.  This is my language; this is how I express what I feel.   Firenze has been a full visual experience for me of warm colors, rich textures, fading surfaces and weathered stone.   The past is revealed in uneven layers and fragments of past civilizations.  The art of the past speaks.   There is beauty and grand architecture everywhere you turn.  I am struck by the scale of the large doors, the inviting passages and the shadowy allies; there are magnificent sculptures and carvings adorning the facades of buildings and stones echoing the past.  The arches encompass and surround. The doors enclose and protect.

The art of Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Botticelli, da Vinci,  Ghiberti and Giotto provide sacred spaces and stories of the past.  I am in awe as I walk up the stairway to the library designed by Michelangelo, or climb the winding stairway to the top of the Duomo.  I am surrounded by balance and harmony, classical proportions, symmetry and perspective which together forms a solid architectural cohesiveness.  As an abstract artist I have created prints which echo fragments of the past contrasted with aspects of the present. The prints are not of a particular place but rather a synthesis of observations.  They create their own architectural spaces of time and place and form a visual montage of my experience.   

Art represents the best virtues of mankind and inspires great hope within me.

I would like to thank Rebecca Olsen for arranging my residency, it has been an extraordinary experience to live in Florence for three months and to work in wonderful studio spaces.  A special thanks to Patricia Silva for her guidance and inspiration in making books and collaborative projects.  Thank you to Suzanna for her support and watching over me. Thank you also to Marta and Carolina for showing me around in the early days and making sure that the studio was set up for me. I could not have been as comfortable without their continued help. In addition thanks to Brahim for all of his help.  I would also like to thank the other students and faculty who gave friendship and encouragement during my residency. 

Entrance to my studio………

Taking all of Firenze home to Cape Cod

It was a daunting task to pack for three months; what to wear and what to take for making art. There were additional electronic needs; cameras, both video and still, computer and all of the assorted batteries, chargers, adapters and connectors.  In this regard, I had a lot of technical assistance from my children and husband.  In addition I asked Alyssa to label all the power cords so I would not get them mixed up.  This turned out to me a very helpful idea.

Along with packing clothes for all possible weather, I needed art some art supplies.  I did not take many art supplies, because I was looking forward to trying new inks and printmaking papers.  I was able to get pretty much anything I wanted at the two art supplie stores near my studio.  Salvini and Raggaci provided great choices in paper for book arts and printmaking.  In addtion there were many other specialized stores for book cloth , marbleized paper and what ever else I needed.  SRISA provided me with all the tools, inks and equipment that I needed.  I am in love with Mingani paper, and I am wondering how much it will cost me here.

I basically took a totally empty studio and completely filled it up.  That takes me to last week when I looked around trying to figure out how to get all of this stuff home.  I ended up building two large portfolios for my prints and purchasing a tube which was cut in half.  I bought  a lot of bubble wrap and tape and three large suitcases.  We borrowed a scale to stay within the alloted weight of 23 kilograms.

And then I made good friends with the shipper down the street.  Everthing arrived safely on the plane with us.  We were happy we paid the extra 18 euros for the shrink wrapping of two of the duffles.  Two more boxes are on their way.  Some things got left behind.

I wanted to take all of Italy back with me……..maybe we did.