{"id":146,"date":"2009-08-23T11:38:55","date_gmt":"2009-08-23T15:38:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.saradavidringlerart.com\/?p=146"},"modified":"2023-09-01T09:11:43","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T13:11:43","slug":"the-studio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.saradavidringlerart.com\/?p=146","title":{"rendered":"The studio in Florence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A

A lot of natural light and white walls………..<\/p><\/div>\n

I arrived in Florence and found my way to Santa Reparata International School of Art, after being welcomed graciously I was given a variety of keys which led me to the studio I would occupy for the next three months.\u00a0 My guides for all of this were Rebecca Olsen, the director and Carolina who was the studio assistant in printmaking.\u00a0 the studio was clean and large with a separate room for soaking paper.\u00a0 The press was ancient, and had an aura about it.\u00a0 We decided to move the press into the larger of the two spaces for easier access.\u00a0 This was and excellent idea and also gave rise to the need for a larger table somewhat higher to eliminate bending over the plates and prints.\u00a0 the studio was much larger than I had imagined from my discussions with Rebecca, the director.\u00a0 It also had really large windows onto a courtyard which made it delightful in the fall, although as I sooned learned later that ashes from nearby chimneys could float into my ink.<\/p>\n

This was my first time I could look around in this quiet empty space and imagine filling the walks with ideas and images.\u00a0 I purposely came with very little in terms of art supplies so I would be open to respond to my surroundings.\u00a0 I wanted the work I created to be a specific interaction with Firenze.\u00a0 Having been to Firenze twice before, I had memories of the sites and feel of the city and this is what I wanted to create in my own work.\u00a0\u00a0It was very important to me\u00a0not to\u00a0bring too much with me in terms of images that would be imposed on my experience.<\/p>\n

Over the first weekend I created several pastel drawings to put up on the white empty walls.\u00a0 There was some left over paper and I had some pastels with me so doing this made me feel much less alone in the space and added some much needed color to the white space.\u00a0 It is\u00a0an artist’s dream to have white empty walls, a pure space, uncluttered with thoughts and distractions in which to explore new creative possibilities.<\/p>\n

It took me three full months of activity to fill most of the space.\u00a0 It was extremely useful to be able to spread out and to let the progression of my work flow logically from visual image to the next sequence.\u00a0 Because of the nature of monotype printmaking I worked in a series, where each image\u00a0led to the next and so on.<\/p>\n

On the first Monday after I had my new studio in Florence, Carolina took me to the two closest art supply stores, which became my haunts.\u00a0I quickly found my favorite store and establish a friendly but limited relationship with the owner.\u00a0\u00a0His command of English was much superior to my Italian and when we were both at a loss his daughter would assist.\u00a0 I was in heaven with the choices of printmaking paper, book arts paper and general supplies at this little store and it was only a five minute walk from my studio. Once I learned\u00a0when they were closed for lunch I\u00a0was never in want of anything.\u00a0 I fell in love with Migani \u00a0printmaking paper.<\/p>\n

One of my greatest joys in learning about my new city, was how comfortable I became in knowing my way around.\u00a0 I remember the day that I no longer carried a map with me. I even gloated silently as I passed tourists standing on street corners with their maps in hand trying to match the intersection with the maps they held.\u00a0 Another\u00a0breakthrough was to actually be able to direct and help someone find a particular street or building.<\/p>\n

It is interesting how quickly one can get comfortable and form a routine for living and working.\u00a0 I did a lot of exploring, there was not a part of the city I dared miss.\u00a0 I felt incredible healthy from all of the walking I did, and for me this was a transition because I am a runner.\u00a0 And yet I felt it was satisfying to walk, I think I kept up a very good pace.\u00a0 I\u00a0split \u00a0my time between my studio and the main studio were all the classes were taught. \u00a0The main building held several fully equipped studios for printmaking, painting and photography.<\/p>\n

As and artist in residence I interacted with students, shared my work, did\u00a0a \u00a0printmaking demonstration and created an exhibition of my work.\u00a0 I had a wonderful experience working in the fully equipped brand new studio and then I had the complete privacy of\u00a0my separate space.\u00a0 The two studios were less that a block apart, so it was easy to go from one to the other.<\/p>\n

I felt very focused and complete with the work I created. Concentrating on the textures and colors of old walls and the surfaces that\u00a0created ancient\u00a0stories to me.\u00a0 The shapes of the arched doorways were beautiful and bold and held mysteries.\u00a0 I knew I had to select some of the things that had most meaning to me and focus on that.\u00a0 I began\u00a0by\u00a0sketching the doorways\u00a0and windows of\u00a0the buildings\u00a0which inspired by.\u00a0 There were archways everywhere I looked.\u00a0\u00a0I created a variety domes, doorways and arches, some of which I then combined with etchings of my photographs.\"Duomo<\/p>\n

\"Old

Old and new merge in this etching and monotype.<\/p><\/div>\n

Florence captivates you with history and art, it also seduces you with beauty of another kind, the world of fashion.\u00a0 I was constantly struck by the juxtaposition of old and new.\u00a0 I loved the way the antique merged with the modern.\u00a0 I took many photographs of the elegant shop windows to use for subject matter in my prints.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I arrived in Florence and found my way to Santa Reparata International School of Art, after being welcomed graciously I was given a variety of keys which led me to the studio I would occupy for the next three months.\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.saradavidringlerart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.saradavidringlerart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.saradavidringlerart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.saradavidringlerart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.saradavidringlerart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=146"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blog.saradavidringlerart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":445,"href":"https:\/\/blog.saradavidringlerart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions\/445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.saradavidringlerart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.saradavidringlerart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.saradavidringlerart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}