We will explore the expressive potential of the "Cabinet of Curiosity," or "Wunderkammer" in making our own "cabinet," inspired by visits to mysterious and wondrous sites in Central Italy.

In creating our own cabinet of curiosities, we will explore the way that this enigmatic format conjures an evocative sense of place, through the inspiration of visits to remarkable places in Central Italy.  We will see enormous stone monsters from the 16th c., mummies, marble serpents devouring the souls of the damned, huge mosaic and glass sculptures - all the while collecting fragments of these experiences in order to make our own "memory - theatre"

                   

Places of Wonder:

Italy is steeped in history and legends. Myth and religion animate the land with endless places of wonder. Mountaintops host mysterious castles, bridges recall lost loves and battles won, and woodedglades conceal ancient temples. Across the Italian landscape, churches and shrines honor many saints and miracles, and monuments celebrate the beautiful as well as the grotesque. Mannerist gardens with grottos and statuary still evoke a liminal place between reality and dreams.Throughout time, travelers have visited Italy to enrich their faith, seek inspiration, and marvel at the wealth of wonders created by a people of limitless curiosity.

 

 

 

Cabinets of Wonder

Marco Polo returned from China and India with exotic tales and objects. Amerigo Vespucci described strange and marvelous creatures across the seas. Leonardo dissected thehuman body and marveled at its complexity. Galileo pondered the heavens with telescopes and other instruments. Travelers, explorers, artists, and scientists fostered new knowledge that overwhelmed. To understand an ever-expanding world, Italy established the first European museums. These earliest museums began with collectors acquiring oddities – natural and man-made – to be displayed in cabinets later known as Wunder Kammer. Emerging in the 16th c., these "wonder-rooms" or "wonder cabinets,' were filled with preserved animals, coral, tusks, skeletons, minerals, as well as exotic, man-made objects - "a wide variety of objects and artifacts, with a particular leaning towards the rare, eclectic and esoteric."  They "were regarded as a microcosm or theatre of the world - and a memory theatre."

Our Workshop

During the week, we will be inspired by visits to the Sacro Bosco also known as the Park of the Monsters  in Bomarzo, Etruscan tombs, the Teatrum Mundi, the Tarot Garden   and more.  We will also hunt for modestly -priced treasures at local shops and antique markets. At the studio in Monte Castello, participants will be encouraged to create their own Wunder Kammer by making a small shrine, box, or cabinet to contain venerated objects or display a personal collection of curiosities accumulated on our adventures or brought from home..

Throughout the workshop, participants will be housed in the remarkably well-preserved Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio. Your workshop package is all-inclusive, providing welcome and departure services and airport transfer from the Rome Fiumicino, Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO). Aboard our comfortable private bus, single occupancy accommodations with shared bath (a wide range of upgrades with private bath are available), 3 meals per day Monday-Thursday, Prosecco brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday (no meals are served on Friday, our excursion day. Your workshop includes one excursion per week and many additional options are available on weekends for an additional fee. Of course, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.

 

.

 

The study of human anatomy in Italy is a long and distinguished tradition. The extraordinary anatomical theatres in medical schools at the University of Padua and the University of Bologna bear witness to this history and were among the first of their kind in existence. Even today, we marvel at the accuracy and lifelike intensity of the 17 th c. wax anatomical models in the Specola Museum in Florence, which were made to allow medical students to observe venous, muscular, and skeletal systems without a cadaver. In this regard, the study of anatomy in Italy has profoundly impacted not only our understanding of the human body, but also the study of medicine in the western world.

Surprisingly, this history also reveals much about the significance of the role of visual art in furthering science and medicine. In his brilliant series of lectures at the Art Students League in New York, artist, anatomist, and scholar, Robert Beverly Hale once said: “science had actually sprung from art, that it had developed in those great periods when artists had looked at nature very closely and carefully, and had tried to record exactly what they saw. That, what we explained, was what scientists have been doing ever since.”

To support Hale’s observation one need look no further than Leonardo’s anatomical studies. These drawings are incredible not only for their accuracy and beauty as works of art, but also as a highly accurate analysis of function, of what anatomist George Bridgeman referred to as “the human machine.” Leonardo is perhaps unequalled in his analysis of the form of the human body as a manifestation of the interrelationship of functioning systems. It is known, for example that Leonardo once injected the heart of an ox with hot wax, then made a glass model of the casting. He then pumped the model with water to analyze the circulation of fluids in the human heart. Incredibly, Leonardo’s conclusions were not fully corroborated by cardiologists until the 1980’s.

The objective of our Human Anatomy intensive is to follow in this tradition. Thus, we will not only identify anatomical structures of the human body, but we will also analyze the function of those structures and their effect on its outward form. Throughout the workshop, we will reference functional systems in understanding their manifestation in surface anatomy of the figure.

Our focus will be on the skeletal and muscular systems, with some analysis of the major arteries of the venous system. We will work from a variety of sources, including real human skeletons as well as drawing from our collection of anatomical models and plaster casts. Our medium in the course will be various drawing media in large-format sketchbooks as a means of note taking for the course.

Our approach will be in the form of lectures and hands on drawing focusing first on the skeletal system. We will draw from real human skeletons as well as anatomical models. We will explore one area of the body at a time, first in analyzing the skeletal structure of the torso. Afterward, we will move on to the head, arms, and legs, as well as hands, and feet. Participants will produce life-sized drawings with charcoal on heavy paper as well as drawings in sketchbooks of details such as joint articulations.

Afterward, the course will focus on the muscular system first through lecture and note-taking then by drawing from anatomical models, plaster casts, and the live model, in the same order. However, we will in exploring the muscular system we will utilize tracing paper and colored pencil, in order to add layers of muscles over our previous skeletal drawings.

In addition to the intensive schedule of daily drawing and lecture, we will make an excursion to the famed Specola Museum in Florence where we will draw from their collection of 16 th to 18th c. wax anatomical sculptures. The incredibly lifelike flayed figures are shockingly lifelike - at once factual and at the same time, powerfully expressive. Here, the wax models will provide an overview of the skeletal and muscular systems as well as an introduction to the venous system.

 

Throughout the workshop, participants will be housed in the remarkably well-preserved Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio. Your workshop package is all-inclusive, providing welcome and departure services and airport transfer from the Rome Fiumicino, Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO). Aboard our comfortable private bus, single occupancy accommodations with shared bath (a wide range of upgrades with private bath are available), 3 meals per day Monday-Thursday, Prosecco brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday (no meals are served on Friday, our excursion day. Your workshop includes one excursion per week and many additional options are available on weekends for an additional fee. Of course, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.

Of Sibyls and Source: Performance in the Landscape is a two-week exploration of live art in geo-mythic sites in Umbria.

This residency aims to open space for research,inquiry, and connection through myth making and embodied presence in/with/of the land. We will spend 3 days hiking in the Parco Nacional di Sibilline, part of the Apennines named for the Sibyl, or prophetess of antiquity, who is believed to have lived there in a cave at the top of Monte Sibilla. We will experience sites of ritual and esoteric rites related to the myth of the Sibyl mentioned in literary sources as well as  living local folk traditions dating back thousands of years.

Our time together will also include day trips to the Nera river with Roman ruins whose source is the Monti Sibillini and entrance into the remarkable Frassasi cave.

Performances may take place at any or all of these locations including the impeccably maintained medieval town of Monte Castello di Vibio, our home base. At the conclusion of the residency we will hold a screening and live performance event in Monte Castello di Vibio.

Our group will include a videographer to help document our work.

Please note this residency includes physical complexities: moderate hiking up to an altitude of 7654 ft (2333 m), cold-water wild swimming and a cave visit. Applicants are responsible for their own physical wellbeing.

Please submit project proposals related to Parco Nacional di Sibilline, Nera river and Frassasi cave for consideration.

Participants will be housed in the remarkably well-preserved Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio.  Your workshop package is all-inclusive, providing welcome and departure services and airport transfer from the Rome Fiumicino, Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO), aboard our comfortable private bus; single occupancy accommodations with shared bath (a wide range of upgrades with private bath are available); 3 meals* per day, when on campus, Monday-Thursday; Prosecco brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday (when on campus) No meals are served on Friday - our excursion day - unless previously arranged. Your workshop includes the excursions below, however,  many additional options are available for an additional fee. Of course, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bilingual support are provided. *Meal service is provided while in Monte Castello only, unless otherwise noted. Meals on excursions and admissions are not included in the cost, unless specifically noted in the itinerary.

Please note: Due to logistical and locational considerations, a brief Project Proposal (of approximately 300 words) is required for this workshop. Please submit this, as well as a current CV and images of work (or link to a website) via email at: icarts.info@gmail.com  Responses will be issued within 48 hours.

The study of human anatomy in Italy is a long and distinguished tradition. The extraordinary anatomical theatres in medical schools at the University of Padua and the University of Bologna bear witness to this history and were among the first of their kind in existence. Even today, we marvel at the accuracy and lifelike intensity of the 17 th c. wax anatomical models in the Specola Museum in Florence, which were made to allow medical students to observe venous, muscular, and skeletal systems without a cadaver. In this regard, the study of anatomy in Italy has profoundly impacted not only our understanding of the human body, but also the study of medicine in the western world.

Surprisingly, this history also reveals much about the significance of the role of visual art in furthering science and medicine. In his brilliant series of lectures at the Art Students League in New York, artist, anatomist, and scholar, Robert Beverly Hale once said: “science had actually sprung from art, that it had developed in those great periods when artists had looked at nature very closely and carefully, and had tried to record exactly what they saw. That, what we explained, was what scientists have been doing ever since.”

To support Hale’s observation one need look no further than Leonardo’s anatomical studies. These drawings are incredible not only for their accuracy and beauty as works of art, but also as a highly accurate analysis of function, of what anatomist George Bridgeman referred to as “the human machine.” Leonardo is perhaps unequalled in his analysis of the form of the human body as a manifestation of the interrelationship of functioning systems. It is known, for example that Leonardo once injected the heart of an ox with hot wax, then made a glass model of the casting. He then pumped the model with water to analyze the circulation of fluids in the human heart. Incredibly, Leonardo’s conclusions were not fully corroborated by cardiologists until the 1980’s.

The objective of our Human Anatomy intensive is to follow in this tradition. Thus, we will not only identify anatomical structures of the human body, but we will also analyze the function of those structures and their effect on its outward form. Throughout the workshop, we will reference functional systems in understanding their manifestation in surface anatomy of the figure.

Our focus will be on the skeletal and muscular systems, with some analysis of the major arteries of the venous system. We will work from a variety of sources, including real human skeletons as well as drawing from our collection of anatomical models and plaster casts. Our medium in the course will be various drawing media in large-format sketchbooks as a means of note taking for the course.

Our approach will be in the form of lectures and hands on drawing focusing first on the skeletal system. We will draw from real human skeletons as well as anatomical models. We will explore one area of the body at a time, first in analyzing the skeletal structure of the torso. Afterward, we will move on to the head, arms, and legs, as well as hands, and feet. Participants will produce life-sized drawings with charcoal on heavy paper as well as drawings in sketchbooks of details such as joint articulations.

Afterward, the course will focus on the muscular system first through lecture and note-taking then by drawing from anatomical models, plaster casts, and the live model, in the same order. However, we will in exploring the muscular system we will utilize tracing paper and colored pencil, in order to add layers of muscles over our previous skeletal drawings.

In addition to the intensive schedule of daily drawing and lecture, we will make an excursion to the famed Specola Museum in Florence where we will draw from their collection of 16 th to 18th c. wax anatomical sculptures. The incredibly lifelike flayed figures are shockingly lifelike - at once factual and at the same time, powerfully expressive. Here, the wax models will provide an overview of the skeletal and muscular systems as well as an introduction to the venous system.

 

Throughout the workshop, participants will be housed in the remarkably well-preserved Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio. Your workshop package is all-inclusive, providing welcome and departure services and airport transfer from the Rome Fiumicino, Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO). Aboard our comfortable private bus, single occupancy accommodations with shared bath (a wide range of upgrades with private bath are available), 3 meals per day Monday-Thursday, Prosecco brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday (no meals are served on Friday, our excursion day. Your workshop includes one excursion per week and many additional options are available on weekends for an additional fee. Of course, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.

Menrva, the Etruscan goddess of creativity, was also known as the ‘Goddess of a Thousand Works” – an aspirational goal for writers and academics if there ever was one. There is no better place, then, to channel the spirit of Menrva and focus on your writing than in Umbria, the heart of Etruria, the land of the Etruscans, and the Green Heart of Italy!

The Second Annual Menrva Writing Retreat at the International Center for the Arts in Monte Castello di Vibio provides a week of glorious time and space to write, while also enjoying the beauty of Umbria, the hospitality of an Italian hill town, great conversation, and delicious food and wine!

Open to writers of all kinds, the Menrva retreat will offer the opportunity to engage with yourwork in a supportive community of writers and artists in a beautiful medieval hill town. Communal and individual writing spaces will be available to participants, and daily group writing sessions using a modified Pomodoro Writing Technique (45 minutes of writing followed by a 15-minute break) will be offered. Days are largely unstructured, save for the delicious meals, and opportunities for group discussion and presentation of your work are available for those who wish to do so.

Participants will be housed in the remarkably well-preserved Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio. Your workshop package is all-inclusive, providing welcome and departure services and airport transfer from the Rome Fiumicino, Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO). Aboard our comfortable private bus, single occupancy accommodations with shared bath (a wide range of upgrades with private bath are available), 3 meals per day Monday-Thursday, Prosecco brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday (no meals are served on Friday, our excursion day. Your workshop includes one excursion per week and many additional options are available on weekends for an additional fee. Of course, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.

For academics, a letter of invitation which you can present to your university or institution, can be provided, if needed.

Please contact Dana Zartner at dana.zartner@gmail.com with any questions.

The Music Expression and Performance course is an intensive solo and chamber music workshop for vocalists, instrumentalists, pianists, and composers. The course will focus on non-traditional practice approaches, musicality, interpretation, improvisation, movement, creativity, and performance. Students will have the opportunity to perform on the campus of the International Center for the Arts. The class will focus especially on repertoire of Italian composers and will also take field trips to attend music performances.

For more information, contact us.

After the defeat of Napoleon, English tourists and artists flocked back to the healing warmth and creative inspiration of Italy. English Romantic authors Lord Byron, John Keats, Percy Shelley, and Mary Shelley spent artistically fruitful years there, with Keats and Percy resting there still. This course will study works by these authors that were composed, conceived, and/or set in Italy.

For more information, contact us.

Menrva, the Etruscan goddess of creativity, was also known as the ‘Goddess of a Thousand Works” – an aspirational goal for writers and academics if there ever was one! What better place, therefore, to channel the spirit of Menrva and focus on your writing than in Umbria, the heart of Etruria, the land of the Etruscans!

The Menrva Writing Retreat at the International Center for the Arts in Monte Castello di Vibio provides up to two weeks of glorious time and space to write, while also enjoying the beauty of Umbria, the hospitality of an Italian hill town, great conversation, and delicious food and wine!

Led by Dana Zartner, Professor in the International Studies Department at the University of San Francisco, the retreat is geared towards academic writers, but open to all. The Menrva retreat will offer the opportunity to engage with your work in a supportive community with other writers in a beautiful Italian setting. Communal and individual writing spaces will be available to participants. Days are unstructured, save for the delicious meals, and opportunities for group discussion and presentation of your work are available for those who wish to do so.

 There will also be the opportunity to explore the region through field trips and events (additional costs apply), including trips to Assisi, Perugia, or Lago Trasimeno, and wine, cheese, and olive oil tastings. Participants will have the opportunity to indicate their interests when registering for the retreat.

ica italy

Keep Up With ICA & Village of Monte Castello di Vibio

Enter your details to the right to receive updates about our upcoming retreats & workshop.
ica italy

    Photography Credit: Sarah Slade
    2021© International Center for the Arts - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
    shopping-cart
    linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram