Workshops | International Center for the Arts

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.

June 14 - June 21

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.

Italy is synonymous in many minds with olive oil and it has traditionally produced some of the finest in the world! Here, in Umbria - the region called the Green Heart of Italy - a land of olive trees, grape vines, wheat fields, and rich in ancient traditions - we are very fortunate to produce some of the finest oils in Italy. Our little village is surrounded by olive orchards in every direction and their yield has claimed numerous regional and national awards. This Green-Gold as it is sometimes called, is the pride of our region and our locality. Those who have never experienced the flavor of freshly-pressed Umbrian pure virgin olive oil will be amazed by the complex flavor: smelling of the green of freshly cut grass, then rich and buttery, and finally - a spicy finish - it is among the most complex oils in the world!

From our mountain castle village, we are fortunate to be within a mornings walk of Passo del Palomba, a farm estate owned by Alessandro Gilotti and his wife, Claudia. Sandro is an internationally renowned expert on olive oil, and owner of one of the most highly-regarded producers in the region. The couples passion for this land as well as for the oil and wine they produce, is infectious and participants will soon be won over by their enthusiasm for the health benefits of his oil and his vast knowledge of cultivation and production.

The course is designed for all levels of interest, those with a general interest in simply learning more about quality olive oil in spectacularly beautiful setting will be equally enriched by the workshop as those with careers in the culinary arts, seeking to enhance their expertise and credentials. The week-long workshop, will consist of four, three-hour classes, held on the farm of the Passo del Palomba estate from Monday to Thursday. Day-five will be held at our Asilo facility, where we will do a tasting paired with dinner, accompanied by local wines of note. Afternoons will be spent in Monte Castello with excursions to local wineries, food and wine tastings, and a truffle hunt.

Topics to be addressed in our time at Passo della Palomba:

The history of olives and oil starting from the ancient Phoenicians, Romans, up to the present day.
The production of olive oil in the world and the notion to understand the cultivated varieties (Cultivars)
Classification of olive oils according to international rules
How to read the labels trying to avoid misleading advertising until understanding how to select the best quality.
How to use EVOO in the kitchen and eliminate the potential associated risks (Smoke Point)
Specific tasting session of EVOO from various parts of Italy during which the participants are introduced to the tasting techniques aimed at appreciating the qualities of a good Extra Virgin Olive Oil and how to combine it with dishes whether they are gourmet or of all days
Visit to one of our neighboring olive groves with explanations of the various Cultivars and cultivation techniques
Visit to our modern two-phase company oil mill to understand the various processing steps to produce a high quality EVOO by comparing them with old and now obsolete extraction techniques.

During your stay, you will be housed at a beautiful and grand, 17th c. villa, located on a forested mountain overlooking Tiber valley.

Surrounded on all-sides by olive groves, carefully kept lawns and grand cypress trees, hedges of lavender and rosemary grace the landscape, with a vegetable garden for guest use - the setting is idyllic. The stately villa itself is completely gated and fenced and features unique architectural elements, such as beautifully painted beamed and brick domed ceilings, terracotta tiled floors, stone walls, unique fireplaces, arched doorways and wooden-shuttered windows, all complemented by the stylish furnishing and decor throughout. The designer kitchen features the most elegant contemporary appliances and features.The main house sleeps ten (four bedrooms, all en-suite). In addition, a stone cottage and sleeps 4 in 2 bedrooms, with a separate bathrooms, and provides several sitting and relaxation areas in addition to a very comfortable main lounge. A large upper terrace includes a shaded area, perfect for dining and appreciating spectacular sunsets and mountain views. The lower patio surrounds a magnificent infinity pool. The villa is a stunning property that will provide unforgettable experiences and memories that will last a lifetime.

For those interested in a full gastronomic immersion in traditions of food and wine of Italy, this week-long workshop is ideal! Set in the geographic center of Italy - the region of Umbria, is known as the "green heart" of Italy. Here in a small medieval village set among the verdant hills of the Todi valley, a full immersion in ancient knowledge and traditional flavors will take place. Oenophiles interested in discovering the wines of the region will not be disappointed - surrounded by by world-class vineyards in every direction, there will be plenty of opportunities for discovering the excellent wines of the region!

Intended for experts or enthusiasts in the food and wine sector interested in improving their skills, those interested in learning about Italian foodand wine for personal pleasure, or simply for enthusiasts of good living - the pleasures of the Umbrian table provide for an unforgettable experience in Italy.

The duration of the workshop is one week, from 4 to 11 May 2024. (There is also a possibility of personalized dates on request, if an already formed group of 6 - 12 presents itself with different time needs.)

During your stay, you will be housed at a beautiful and grand, 17th c. villa, located on a forested mountain overlooking Tiber valley. Surrounded on all-sides by olive groves, carefully kept lawns and grand cypress trees, hedges of lavender and rosemary grace the landscape, with a vegetable garden for guest use - the setting is idyllic. The stately villa itself is completely gated and fenced and features unique architectural elements, such as beautifully painted beamed and brick domed ceilings, terracotta tiled floors, stone walls, unique fireplaces, arched doorways and wooden-shuttered windows, all complemented by the stylish furnishing and decor throughout. The designer kitchen features the most elegant contemporary appliances and features.The main house sleeps ten (four bedrooms, all en-suite). In addition, a stone cottage and sleeps 4 in 2 bedrooms, with a separate bathrooms, and provides several sitting and relaxation areas in addition to a very comfortable main lounge. A large upper terrace includes a shaded area, perfect for dining and appreciating spectacular sunsets and mountain views. The lower patio surrounds a magnificent infinity pool. The villa is a stunning property that will provide unforgettable experiences and memories that will last a lifetime.

Daily cooking classes will be held by a local chef in English or Italian (if requested), with years of experience in the food and wine sector. Wine tastings add appreciation will be directed by a 3rd level sommelier, and the farms and woodlands will enrich the palette of event the most knowledgable connoisseurs of cheeses along with - the green gold of Umbria - its wondrously rich and flavorful olive oil for which the region is famous - and 0f course, the black and white truffles of Norcia, which will be used in many of the traditional recipies and preparations, we will explore. Guided by typical recipes of Umbrian cuisine, peasant traditions, and ancient flavors will be enriched by the backdrop castles and ancient village set among the verdant woodlands of the region. The workshop presents a full immersion in the food and wine culture of Italy, which will mark your way of knowing food, tasting it, and experiencing it!

If you would like to spend two weeks with us, combine this course with the previous week, at the promotional cost of €8000, contact us for further information

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. Thus, due to the unique, 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.

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.

About our Videographer

Born in Puerto Rico (1986) and based in Miami, misael soto’s practice interrogates and subverts contextually associated everyday objects and systemic roles, disrupting and manipulating space, systems, and frameworks. The publicly accessible, time-based, and ephemeral work involves interventions made upon existing objects, performative activations, institutional mediations, and is often a combination of these elements. misael received their MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2018) and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor's Degree in Art History from Florida Atlantic University (2008). misael was the first ever Art in Public Life Resident with the City of Miami Beach's Department of Environment and Sustainability and Oolite Arts, where they founded the Department of Reflection. Beyond their public artworks which they have shown extensively for many years, misael has exhibited at MCA Chicago, Open Engagement 2015, the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, Material Art Fair in Mexico City, David Castillo Gallery in Miami, and Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, amongst others.

Living in the Play: Nido Residency,

Living in the Play: nido, brings together an international consortium of artists to Monte Castello di Vibio, Italy, for a two-week artist residency that culminates in an exhibition of artworks and performances. During the residency, we individually and collectively explore the relationships between the social historical landscape, use of land resources, and the narratives of Monte Castello di Vibio and the surrounding region. Our explorations inform and guide our conversations as a group while contributing to the making practices of each individual artist Living in the Play.

During the residency, your goal individually and collectively is to explore the social historical landscape, use of land resources, and the hidden histories of Monte Castello di Vibio and the surrounding region. This will inform and guide our conversations and contribute to the making practices of each artist amongst Living in the Play: nido.

This residency is in partnership with The Poor Farm Experiment in rural Wisconsin, USA, which has hosted Living In the Play since 2018. We are invested in creating spaces that uplift and connect fellow artists. Our goal is to gather artists through intentional actions that foster community. With a focus on inviting multi-generational and diverse pools of artists, we aim to offer art practitioners ways of engaging their practice with a focused depth of ideas around site, play, and community.

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. Please consult the Participant Guide for valuable, practical information before travel. (https://icaitaly.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Participant_guide-2019.pdf )

This Fall Immerse yourself in the Umbrian countryside with the bountiful harvest of olives and wine while painting and exploring artistic treasures with Jill. The all-inclusive experience, features: Saturday and Sunday Brunch with Prosecco; painting on Saturday with instruction from Jill, dinner off the grill on the terrace with regional wine Saturday Night, Sunday Morning Art Conversation, Tour of Assisi after Sunday Brunch, Transfer to Fiumicino airport (FCO) after breakfast Monday.

Participants will be housed in the remarkably well-preserved Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio. Again, your workshop package is all-inclusive and worry-free, providing departure services and airport transfer to 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), lunch and dinner on Friday, Prosecco brunch and grilled dinner on Saturday and Sunday. 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.

In the 14th c. Sicilian painter, Antonello di Messina brought the new medium of oil painting to Italy. In his travels, he brought the medium to Venice, where artists such as Giovanni Bellini, adopted, and expanded the expressive potential of the medium. Perhaps one of the most influential painting teachers in history, Bellini’s pupils included some of the greatest figures in the history of the medium: Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese. Their often huge, operatic paintings mark a kind of crowning achievement for the medium, and the processes they developed consequently influenced other great artists and schools of art that included Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Velazquez and countless others who have followed in their path.

This workshop will follow the oil painting methods of the great Venetian masters. Working from reproductions, participants will reproduce easel-sized works of the Venetian school of the 16th-18th c. They may also choose to copy a detail from larger Venetian masterworks. To as great an extent possible, students will use the same materials of 15th and 16th c. Venetian artists, many of which will be prepared by hand in class, according to traditional recipes.

Beginning on a uniquely coarse, stretched canvas (approximately 36” x 30”) prepared with rabbit skin glue and white lead, participants will apply a colored ground. This rich, colored surface establishes an overall, atmospheric tonality, that also functions as a very useful neutral color. This then, serves as the basis for the serendipitous approach to color and the remarkable atmospheric effects that are unique to this school of painting.

On this rich surface, participants will transfer perforated drawings with charcoal and a pounce as was done in this time. Afterward, earth colors, carbon black, and white lead ground in oil will be prepared by the class. With these basic colors, an underpainting will be developed using alternating layers of washes and thick impasto areas of white lead. Afterward, rich layers of transparent colors made primarily from pigments produced in in our Pigments and Paint Workshop will be applied. In the process, students will develop an understanding of the important terms, glaze (a dark, thinned color over a lighter surface) and scumble (a thin layer of white lead) as they seek to reproduce the sumptuous color and dramatic brushwork characteristic of the Venetian School.

During the class participants will have the unique opportunity to see remarkable examples of work by the Venetian masters in person during our excursion to the Pitti Palace in Florence.

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 an excursion to Florence. Of course, throughout your stay, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.

Price of the workshop includes all materials needed to produce the painting described above, except brushes, which will be available for sale at ICA in Italy. While it is unlikely that the painting will be completed in the timeframe allowed by the workshop, our goal is to give participants a sufficient understanding of the Venetian process in order to complete the painting at home. As part of the course fee, participants will be issued a unique folding stretcher that allows the painting itself to be folded into a carry-on luggage-sized parcel, even if not fully dry.

This intensive workshop will be a hands-on immersion into the art and science of taxidermy for conservation and public education. Students will create taxidermy birds and mammals with techniques used in museums, utilizing custom forms and advanced methods for accuracy of any specimen they may work on in the future.

Students will learn to skin animals, prepare skins, read reference materials, create custom forms/armatures, pose animals, assemble specimens, groom and finish the pieces for realism. We will also be teaching advanced techniques such as creating death-masks and molding & casting head forms in order to make both 3D reference and provide an incredibly accurate facial structure.

Our goal is that students leave with both finished work and the ability to practice the craft of taxidermy themselves.

All specimens will be by products from other uses; hunting for food or non-native pest control.

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.

This is a 2 week class covering both birds and mammals.

Birds Class (Week 1)

Bird taxidermy is its own unique craft requiring anatomical knowledge, technical skill and an artistic sensibility. In this intensive workshop, we will be teaching students all of these fundamentals utilizing museum techniques. This class is recommended for both beginners and those with taxidermy experience looking to learn Allis Markham’s museum techniques. Birds are also a perfect way to start learning taxidermy because students can go from frozen to finished all in one course. We will be working on Magpies and Crows locally collected as part of abatement / pest control; their deaths are not exclusively for this course. These species also lend themselves well to learning taxidermy and can create beautiful results with a lot of character. In fact, Allis has had the pleasure of creating and displaying both species for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

We will begin with a discussion of Avian anatomy, how to obtain legal specimens and general techniques for working on birds. Students will be learning the skills of: skinning, fleshing, wiring, wrapped body creation, mounting, posing and grooming. All supplies, tools and specimens will be provided for your class. After the end of this course, students will be able to take their own Crow or Magpie home on a base. After the course ends, every student will receive a list of documents, including a list of steps, supplies, tools and video resources all to assist in gaining the knowledge to start their own projects at home.

The ICArts team will also assist students with the logistics of getting their final pieces home safely.

Mammals Class (Week 2)

The nature of Mammal taxidermy is far different from that of birds. Students will find this course to be more sculpting-centered with a large attention to muscle detail. This class is recommended for both beginners and those with taxidermy experience looking for a way to learn mammal taxidermy and the art of creating custom-made mammal mounts utilizing museum techniques.

While these specimens are native to the US, we have taken great care to make sure our materials are all commonly available in Europe and around the world. For instance, we will be learning the very custom technique of wrapping the bodies of the animals instead of ordering commercial forms which may not be available outside of the US, and are not nearly as accurate as creating a form for your specific specimen. This technique is used often for more exotic museum specimens due to the lack of commercial forms for them and the ability to create a more accurate form when custom-made.

We will begin with a discussion of each animal’s anatomy, how to obtain legal specimens and general techniques for working on mammals. Students will start with tanned specimens (due to the process of tanning which requires weeks) but will be given a tutorial and documents on skinning and tanning.

In class, students will learn the skills of: measuring and wrapping forms, posing the forms for behavior and anatomical accuracy, custom-carving heads, Earliner-creation, skin fitting, creating/setting paws, sewing, facial details, and grooming/finishing work. We will also perform a demonstration on how to mold & cast for the creation death masks in order to create incredibly accurate headforms. All supplies, tools and specimens will be provided for your class. By the end of the class, students will take home their own Grey Fox or Skunk on a base. After the course ends, every student will receive a list of documents, including a list of steps, supplies, tools, formula for tanning, and video resources all to assist in gaining the knowledge to start their own projects at home.

The ICArts team will also assist students with the logistics of getting their final pieces home safely.

This intensive workshop will be a hands-on immersion into the art and science of taxidermy for conservation and public education. Students will create taxidermy Mammals with techniques used in museums, utilizing custom forms and advanced methods for accuracy of any specimen they may work on in the future.

Our goal is that students leave with both finished work and the ability to practice the craft of taxidermy themselves.

In this class, we will be focusing on the taxidermy of two common North American mammals, the Grey Fox and the Striped Skunk. These were collected in the United States as part of abatement / pest control; their deaths are not exclusively for this course. While these specimens are native to the US, we have taken great care to make sure our materials are all commonly available in Europe and around the world. For instance, we will be learning the very custom technique of wrapping the bodies of the animals instead of ordering commercial forms which may not be available outside of the US, and are not nearly as accurate as creating a form for your specific specimen. This technique is used often for more exotic museum specimens due to the lack of commercial forms for them and the ability to create a more accurate form when custom-made.

The ICArts team will also assist students with the logistics of getting their final pieces home safely.

This intensive workshop will be a hands-on immersion into the art and science of taxidermy for conservation and public education. Students will create taxidermy birds with techniques used in museums, utilizing custom forms and advanced methods for accuracy of any specimen they may work on in the future.

Our goal is that students leave with both finished work and the ability to practice the craft of taxidermy themselves.

The ICArts team will also assist students with the logistics of getting their final pieces home safely.

Oil painting developed in Northern Europe early in the 15th c. and Italian painters of the next generation quickly adopted the medium to their own unique vocabulary. Antonello di Messina is generally credited with the introduction of oil painting to Italy and more specifically, to Venice. Artists such as Giovanni Bellini, as well as Leonardo further expanded the expressive potential of the medium. The processes that these artists developed consequently influenced the whole history of Western Art.

This workshop will follow their methods. Working from reproductions participants will use materials of the time, prepared by hand in a traditional way. Beginning on a wooden panel, prepared with rabbit skin glue and chalk gesso, participants will transfer their perforated drawings with charcoal and a pounce, then develop a wash drawing with genuine sepia ink, followed by an imprimatura – a colored “veil” - that establishes a tonality and a very useful neutral color. From here, oil paint ground in class will be used to develop the underpainting. Afterwards, rich glazes of transparent colors made primarily from pigments produced in in our Pigments and Paint Workshop.

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 an excursion to Perugia. Of course, throughout your stay, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.

Price of the workshop includes all materials needed to produce the painting described above, except brushes, which will be available for sale at ICA in Italy. While it is unlikely that the painting will be completed in the timeframe allowed by the workshop, our goal is to give participants a sufficient understanding of the Northern Renaissance process in order to complete the painting at home. As part of the course fee, participants will be issued a unique case for the painting that allows the painting itself to be folded into a carry-on luggage-sized parcel even if not fully dry.

In a world leaning towards the virtual and on-line, there is a need for artists to come together to share their experiences of using tangible materials. The knowledge of the body and use of ‘haptic’ skills are being lost and now is the time for reconnecting with these materials in order to re connect with ourselves, each other and with the environment we live in.

Ceramic sculptor Sharon Griffin aims to use her work to express how we can connect with ourselves and each other using clay as a tool of experiencing the body. Within this short course, Sharon will demonstrate her knowledge of working with clay as an expressive material, one which will release the innate stories of the maker, acting as a mirror to the artist.

Sharon explains that...’ the clay acts as a mirror to our own experiences. Learning how to listen to the clay helps us have a truer understanding of ourselves... we can tell all of our secrets to the clay. It is our truest friend!'

The course content

You will learn to let go of preconceived ideas of what a sculpture ‘should’ be through a series of fast and furious making techniques. Gestural mark-making using found clays, slips and oxides taken from the local landscape will enable you to truly find your freedom and capture expression within the clay material.

Using a combination of found objects and resources such as images, reference photos and books, you will have fun exploring and making a series of playful clay faces and bodies. These playful experiments will provide more in-depth opportunities to explore surfaces and patterns within a unique piece or series of works made within the course.

Sharon will guide you in your personal journey of studying the human form and face to create a unique sculpture, one which explores 3 D formal elements such as weight, shape, form, composition, and texture; all of which will help you tell a story.

We will visit Rome and explore the work of the ancient Greeks, drawing inspiration from the ancients and stories told through artefacts and sculptures. Sketching, photographing, and journaling will help inform your own ideas, not just within the course, but in your future developments as an artist if you so desire.

At the end of the course, you will have the opportunity to take home a unique hand-built sculpture which is individual to you. It may need to be sent out at a later date and can be negotiated as your work develops. You will have learned about the processes of clay, where to dig it, sieve it and use it to create your own piece of work- expressing your own unique story.

Drawing, sketches, and experiments within clay are used to capture feeling and express emotion, captivating your audience with a shared human experience.

Through taking part in this course, Sharon Griffin hopes that you will come away from it with a renewed sense of connectivity, one which connects you to history, the people around you and the landscape you live in.

Aims: How to capture expression and emotion using clay within figurative sculpture

Objectives: At the end of the course you will

Have learned to PLAY, reconnecting your haptic knowledge and connectivity with the earth and with your own self.
discover how to use individual and unique to you expressive mark-making to capture emotion and feeling within figurative ceramics

Be inspired by and understand how shape, form and composition can help to tell a story

Techniques we will cover:

Hand-building using the slab technique to make large scale figures, heads and busts
Throwing and coiling to capture fluidity and freedom
Clay digging within the local area of Italy finding and using local materials
Simple glazing and slip techniques such as sgraffito and brushwork
‘raw firing’ to achieve desired surfaces to inform larger sculptural works
Refining work using step by step processes (wet, leather hard and fired work)

Participants in the workshop 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.

This course is suitable for beginners, intermediate and advanced levels but some knowledge of clay is beneficial. Please do feel free to bring sketchbooks and previous drawings to work from but this is not a necessity. For more details, please contact Sharon Griffin at the ICA

When we think of Italian wine regions, most often, we think about Tuscany and Piedmont but instead, this boot-shaped country has so much varied landscapes and oenological culture to discover. One of the least-known regions but with outstanding wines is Campania, the region of Naples where the tradition of gastronomy is supremely important.

It’s a volcanic territory where the mighty Mount Vesuvius reigns but little do we know that there’s a super volcano sleeping quietly very close to it, underneath the ground, sandwiching Naples in between. The locals are actually living on top of the underground volcano! Referred to as a super volcano, Campi Flegrei or Phlegraean Fields in English (also known as burning fields), is comprised of 24 craters and edifices, many of which are underwater in Pozzouli Bay. Rocks, pozzolans and lapilli born from fire are scattered about which make the soil for viticulture extremely special. The wines are born with great personalities, imprinted with deep expressions of minerality, marked salinity and bright acidity influenced by the composition of the soil where they are planted. The white variety Falanghina and the red variety Piedirosso express excellently in this territory.

Then there are the 10 to 20-meter high old vines of Asprinio d’Aversa. These are vines climbing around tall poplars or elm trees which act as guardians. On their full vegetative cycle, you find yourself in-between tall green walls of grapevines with treetops poking out like at regular intervals. The wines produced from Aprinio d’Aversa has its own peculiarity with its crispy acidity and refreshingly dry character giving out aromas of white jasmine and fresh herbs.

Campania has lot of indigenous grapes that thrive well in its characteristic soils. Coda di Volpe, Coda di Pecora, Casavecchia, Falanghina, Biancolella, Greco, Fiano, Aglianico, Piedirosso, and more. These are excellent wines to drink and when they are aged, they evolve deeper with beautiful complexity, but they are not as diffused outside the region as we would want them to be. This is a great reason to see and taste Campania on your next visit!

Autochthonous refers to a variety of grape from a specific terroir. In other words, a particular type of grape adapted to a specific soil and geography, as well as to tradition. Italy is one of the countries with the most autochthonous grapes in the world - and there are 545 registered varieties for making wine! Each one has its distinguishing quality and story. The Italian producers have started to revive these vines, some of which were almost extinct, and produce wines from them, just like the old times.

In this workshop, we will learn about some of these grapes, and their traditions – we will taste the wines, and meet the producers who make them. Printouts will be handed to help facilitate learning during lessons, wine will be tasted and there will be visits to wineries. Let’s dive into the wine world of Italy and see and taste why this country is so special!

Additionally, our workshop dates coincide with the annual Cantine Aperte festival, which is one of the most important wine events of the year! At the festival, the seasons new wines are unveiled and vineyards open their doors to all who are eager to taste the new vintage. It is the good fortune of this workshop that the event falls of the first day of our activities – and we will attend the event! It is an amazing celebration and will be a great way to kick off the workshop.

Throughout the week-long experience, participants will be housed in the remarkably well-preserved Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio. The workshop package is all-inclusive, providing welcome and departure services and airport transfer from the Rome Fiumicino, Leonardo daVinci Airport (FCO). Aboard our comfortable private bus, single occupancy accommodations with spectacular views, 3 meals per day Monday-Thursday, Prosecco brunch and dinner on Saturday.

The workshop includes daily tastings and winery visits as well as lunch at a Michelin-recommended restaurant, Il Frantoio, in Assisi and other meals at noteworthy vineyards. Finally, our “off-campus” meals will include a dinner at the renowned Torre a Cona vineyard, where we will be treated to a tasting of their wines and an extraordinary 6-course dinner!

Of course, throughout your stay, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.

Those who have time might also consider the adding the additional 4-day tour: Little-known Wines of Campania, June 4 – 7, which will commence at the end of this workshop.

August 9 - August 23

Living In The Play: nido is a sister-residency program to The Poor Farm Experiment in rural Wisconsin, USA. Founded in 2008, The Poor Farm is a site for non-commercial, experimental art exhibition, and artist residency, Living in the Play. The Poor Farm brings this spirit of experimentation and intentional community-building to the Umbrian hilltown, Monte Castello di Vibio, Italy.

This year, Living In the Play: nido celebrates its fifth annual artist residency bringing together an international consortium of artists to Monte Castello di Vibio. During this two-week residency, we individually and collectively explore the relationships between the social historical landscape, use of land resources, and the narratives of Monte Castello di Vibio and the surrounding region. Our explorations inform and guide our conversations as a group while contributing to the making practices of each individual artist “living in the play”, culminating in an exhibition of artworks and performances.

Participants are housed inside the village of Monte Castello di Vibio overlooking the Tiber River valley. Your residency package is all-inclusive, providing welcome and departure services with airport transfer from the Rome Fiumicino, Leonardo Da Vinci Airport (FCO) aboard our private bus, single occupancy accommodations with shared bath (a wide range of upgrades with private bath are available), studio space, 3 meals per day, Prosecco brunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday (no meals are served on our excursion days). This residency includes three excursion days in the first week. Of course, 24/7 access to facilities and 24/7 bi-lingual support are provided.

This year we celebrate a dialogue of vision and attention across centuries with the inaugural Poor Farm Biennale in Monte Castello di Vibio (MCV) and the Jubilee Year of St. Francis, eight centuries since his death.

The Poor Farm Biennale in MCV features the work of artist Kay Rosen installed throughout the village. Through painting, wall works, drawing and collage, Rosen’s work explores and subverts the potential of linguistic form, revealing the slippage of meaning with acts of reading, misreading, and rereading. This exhibition is in regional conversation with the work and environments initiated by two preceding American conceptualists who developed visual vocabularies influenced by the tradition of Umbrian frescoes, cultural history, and the physical environment of the region: artists Sol LeWitt and Brian O’Doherty.

Reflecting on and extending this conversation of intentional practice between centuries, Living in The Play: nido V will visit sites in the nearby towns of Spoleto and Todi, where LeWitt and O’Doherty developed their site-responsive practices respectively. We will pilgrimage to the frescoes in the Basilica di San Francesco in Assisi, including Giotto’s influential murals depicting the story of St. Francis, narrating his acts of care and devotion. We will spend time with the sanctuary caves and grottoes on the forest walk at Eremo delle Carceri and view the infirmary inside the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli where St. Francis passed in 1226. We will visit the meandering grounds of Parco dei Mostri at Sacro Basco, occupied by monstrous sculptures carved with love from the bedrock in the mannerist style of the 16th century. From there, we journey to Il Giardino dei Tarocchi, a life work by the artist Niki de Saint Phalle, a pioneering female voice in 20th century art.

Unlock your imagination and develop coil-building and figure modeling skills in this two week human and animal hybrid ceramic sculpture workshop. Much of ancient Italian art is rich in mythological creatures and transformation that continue to speak to us, often on a visceral level. During this course, we’ll delve into the stories behind some of these beings, and create contemporary interpretations and invent new amalgamations that possess compelling personal narratives.

Through live demonstrations, slide presentations, and time lapsed videos, Adrian will impart a wealth of technical information based on 40 years of working with clay. Human and animal anatomy will be covered, with special attention to heads and faces. We will create medium size pieces, approx. 18” tall; the techniques covered will be useful for building large scale sculpture in the future. This includes sectioning, internal supports and the use of a base and rod for tall sculptures. In addition, we’ll make small sprig molds for surface texture and embellishment. Presentations on contemporary ceramic sculpture, as well as mythology will also be shown as time allows. Each Friday we’ll venture out of the studio to nearby sites, cities and museums for a full-immersion experience.

*Participants are encouraged to take good documenting photos of the process of building their piece and the final sculpture. Arrangements can be made to have work fired after the workshop. Packing and shipping will be at participants expense.

June 25, 2023 - July 2, 2023

A hands-on workshop on producing painting and drawing materials according to historical methods. The intensive, week-long workshop is ideal for painters interested in gaining greater familiarity with their materials, academics and teachers interested in curricular development, art historians, and people interested in developing a deeper understanding of traditional works.

Born in 1360, painter Cennino d’Andrea Cennini, left a remarkable legacy, beyond that of his surviving works.

A student, of a student, of Giotto, Cennino left of us a remarkable and intimate record of the life and working processes of a painter in his time. His book is called, il Libro del’Arte, simply, “The Book of Art.” It provides insights into the training of the artists of his time, as well as that of the next generations of artists in Italy. Incredibly, this included some of the greatest figures in the history of Western painting: Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Leonardo, Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Raphael among others. To the reader of today, Cennini’s text provides the remarkable opportunity to participate in this legacy.

On a practical level, Cennini’s book is also a very useful guide to the production of pigments, paints, painting surfaces, and other materials of the medieval and Renaissance artist. In this however, it also reveals something larger than that of a recipe book. It speaks to a very special connection between artists and the materials they choose. Often, that connection resulted from artists making their materials themselves, by hand. Indeed, Cennini refers lovingly to the rare, almost spiritual beauty of, ultramarine blue to the easy, sensual qualities of a charcoal black as well as to their sometimes, tempestuous personalities of materials like, dragon’s blood!

What is revealed is a unique connection to the materials of the artist, in which all elements have significance. As translator, Daniel Thompson describes, “A very choice black was, and still is, made from peach stones; and almond shells were sometimes charred to produce another sort. To the outsider all these blacks would seem very much alike; indeed, they would probably be quite indistinguishable. But a painter of the medieval kind becomes familiar with the little quirks of personality in his pigments, and is affected by small subtleties which it is hopeless to try to define, subtleties not so much of color as of working quality, how the pigment feels, how it mixes, whether it tends to settle out of a color mixture, or stays nicely in suspension, and little things like that.” These “little things” can indeed have big effect to the artist who remains sensitive to the qualities of their materials, creating a bond that becomes a language of its own.

We will use Cennini’s book as a basis for our exploration of making pigments and paints. Guided by the experience of our staff, in collaboration with our long-time supplier, Kremer Pigmente, and the advantage of modern chemistry and production methods, we will embark on a historical overview of pigments used by artists throughout the ages - actually, making many pigments from raw ingredients. We will observe sometimes miraculous transformations in color, creating beautiful and luscious pigments that will last …forever. We will then turn these colored particles into a variety of paints, pastels, and charcoal. Our goal will be to produce the following materials which participants will take home with them at the end of the workshop:

20 g. Jars of pigment as follows:

- 3 natural iron oxide (earth colors)
- 3 calcined (burnt) native earths
- Carbon black

3 ml. Jars of pigment as follows:

- Dye colors: carmine, sap green, madder red, and indigo

Inks as follow:

- - Sumi ink sticks, Bistre ink, Sepia Ink, Iron gall ink, Walnut ink
  - Also: Quill and reed pens

50 ml tubes of oil colors as follows:

- Titanium white
- Yellow ochre
- Red ochre
- Green umber
- Prussian blue
- Lamp black

20 ml jar of

- Copper-resinate green

Watercolors in natural mussel shell, as follows:

- Gamboge
- Carmine
- Madder Red
- Ultramarine blue
- Sap green
- Pastels as follow:
- Titanium white
- Yellow ochre
- Red ochre
- Greenish umber
- Ultramarine blue

Pastels as follow:

- Titanium White
- Yellow ochre
- Red ochre
- Greenish umber
- Ultramarine blue

In doing so, we will understand the processes of levigation, grading for optimal particle size, grinding, precipitation of lake colors, and many other processes. We will also make surfaces to be used in a variety of aqueous, solvent-based, and dry applications. At the end of the workshop, an excursion to the National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia, will provide real examples from Cennini’s time and later, which will illustrate both the beauty and the permanence of these materials.

All materials for the class and the excursion are included in the cost of the workshop.

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The class will focus on what are perhaps the two most expressive parts of the body: the head and hand. In this two-week workshop, students will learn various techniques to create a series of life-sized bust and hands. Both hollow and solid construction methods will be taught as we work from a live model. Participants will gain understanding of the underling anatomical structures that allow these body parts to be so communicative while learning new techniques to achieve life-like sculptures with clay.

With this objective in mind, it is appropriate that the class should take place in one of the great centers of world sculpture! Indeed, through drawing sessions at the Medici Chapel and Academia Museum in Florence and the Vatican Museum in Rome, students will have the direct influence of the masters!

The class will start with a clay skull and add layers of muscle, culminating in a solid finished bust that will be hollowed out. This will allow us to learn about each muscle and its function in creating expression. Various techniques to hair, eyes, and ears will be covered, as well how to utilize the rules for proportion in your own work.

Students will also learn my hollow construction method used for creating instinctive, fast, and stable forms. Numerous presentations, discussions, and demonstrations will cover topics such as: conceptual considerations, how to measure models for reference work, professional development, impactful contemporary figurative artist, portfolio strategies, and any other topics that students might be interested in. Students will have an opportunity to exhibit their work at the end of the workshop. Open to all skill levels.

Materials to bring from home:
Xiem, clay tools recommended, Towel, wire tool, paddle (or flat wood), Water spray bottle, small mirror, fabric tape measure

This two-week workshop is divided between two interrelated disciplines: papermaking and printmaking.

In the first week, renowned Italian American paper artist and educator, Roberto Mannino, will introduce the basics of hand papermaking.

In the first week, participants will learn how to create unique papers from virgin, high quality fibers like cotton, linen, and abaca. Color laminations, transparencies and pulp painting effects will support your creativity in composing sheets up to A3 size. Since these papers will be internally sized, they will be rewetted to better retain inks and embossing under the etching press.

In the second week, several alternative printmaking methods will be introduced, with the central focus of first developing imagery with paper as the substrate, then further printing over it:

direct monotype with Akua and Calico water-based inks
relief printmaking from thin plexiglass plates with Dremel electric engraving and texture marks, and various methods to make a Collagraph plate
The above will be printed both as an Intaglio plate and as a relief

Two single-day excursions through the amazing countryside of Central Italy will enrich this experience:

In week-one, we will visit the city of Fabriano. In the medieval city, we will visit the Fabriano Paper and Watermark Museum, which houses a working medieval papermaking press. We will also visit the nearby Civic Art Collection, Bruno Molajoli, and the Istocarta, with the impressive Fedrigoni Paper arkive hosted in the Historical Milani Papermill.

In week-two, we will visit Perugia to visit an important collection of medieval manuscripts at the Bibilioteca Augusta and then we will visit the extraordinary, National Museum of Umbria, for a tour of the collections.

Participants in the program 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.

Imagine a week in which you are able to totally absorb yourself in workshop activities, away from the stresses of your daily lives and the pressures of the modern world. Consider an opportunity to dive into yourself and become present, focusing on expression and creativity. There is perhaps no place better for this than our little mountain village overlooking the Tiber Valley in the region of Umbria – known to Italians as “the green heart of Italy.” Here you will explore the body and mind through Yoga, painting, and drawing in a series of experimental workshops.

Basic Hatha yoga practice will allow participants to slow down, tune into oneself and ones breathing and let the body guide you through simple movements such as Surya Namaskar. Through meditation we will seek to find thoughtless awareness. Through drawing exercises such as mindful observation, we will use our senses to raise awareness and explore imagination through taste, touch and sound.

Students will aim to create a harmonious balance from a mix of structure and improvisation working on heavy grade watercolor paper. Using ink and watercolor, students will create non- objective drawings and paintings. We will be using a variety of techniques gained from studies in both European and Indian processes. We will grind pigments in binders, creating luscious water- based paints of exceptional richness and depth of color. We will prepare paper, underpaint with grids filled with basic algorithms of color over painted and layered with shapes and forms which are sanded, burnished, washed, reworked and detailed to give a final result. The objective is a wholistic approach that considers all elements as meaningful.

As an integral capstone to the experience, we will visit the beautiful city of Florence, where we will research historic designs found in art and architecture. In this, we will take a somewhat different perspective from that of art historical tours. Guided by Emma's background in anthropology we will explore new opportunities provided our own creative work. We will seek to expand our awareness of the mysterious world that the ageless city presents, as well as opportunities that typically unobserved objects and landscapes present.

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.

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.

Sketching a Pig is a hands-on exploration of traditional butchery and charcuterie methods, flavors, and foodways of central Italy, centered around the full utilization of the animal - nose to tail!

Join Nathan Gilmour and Chef Rece Hogerheide in Umbria for a week-long deep dive into the traditions and foodways of Umbria with a focus on handcrafted salumi, fire cookery, and the bounty of the land. Participants should be ready to assist in the butchering of a thoughtfully sourced pig and wild boar as well as with many traditional preparations that come with the early spring harvest. During this week, we will experience a full nose-to-tail processing of a hog, from breaking down the carcass, to salting, to tying, and of course, tasting as much salumi and product as we can. This is one of the top places in the world to experience all these amazing traditions

and products in one place - Umbria is truly home to some of the best salumi, wines, cheeses, and forageable plants in the world. Expect this week to be very hands-on with lots ofopportunity for participation and ample time to discuss methods and practices in the ideal setting.

The stately villa itself is completely gated and fenced and features unique architectural elements, such as beautifully painted beamed and brick domed ceilings, terracotta tiled floors, stone walls, unique fireplaces, arched doorways and wooden-shuttered windows, all complemented by the stylish furnishing and decor throughout. The designer kitchen features the most elegant contemporary appliances and features. The main house sleeps ten (four bedrooms, all en-suite). In addition, a stone cottage and sleeps 4 in 2 bedrooms, with a separate bathrooms, and provides several sitting and relaxation areas in addition to a very comfortable main lounge. A large upper terrace includes a shaded area, perfect for dining and appreciating spectacular sunsets and mountain views. The lower patio surrounds a magnificent infinity pool. The villa is a stunning property that will provide unforgettable experiences and memories that will last a lifetime.

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. All materials and fees for the course are included, except international airfare and meals on excursion days unless otherwise stated.

The ancient Umbrian hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio is the perfect place to discover the art of drypoint printmaking and learn to pull hand-wiped prints in this 2-week intaglio workshop with master printer Ian Jackson.

Intaglio (from the Italian ‘tagliare,’ meaning to carve or cut), is the term encompassing the multitude of printmaking techniques where a mark incised in a plate holds ink while the surface is wiped clean before printing. Drypoint is the most direct of these techniques, enabling artists to draw directly onto copper with sharp tools, raising ink-holding burrs that when delicately wiped and printed produce prints cherished for their uniquely soft-edged lines and velvety-rich tones.

Participants will learn the drypoint technique and the printing process and will have ample time to draw. The village offers no shortage of drawing inspiration from the dazzling Umbrian landscape to the medieval stone architecture, the still studio moments or the figures all around.

Excursions to Florence and to Deruta/Perugia will supplement the curriculum with tours of masterworks in collections of those cities. In Florence, the group will visit the print collection of the famed Uffizi Museum. Here, the new Study Center provides special access to our participants and allows them to view prints by some of the greatest masters of the medium. In Peruigia, te group will tour the collections of the National Gallery of Umbria and the Biblioteca Augusta for a special access tour of their medieval illuminated manuscripts and prints.

Through out their stay, 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 workshop is suitable for artists and printmakers of all experience levels. All materials, except paper (available for purchase at the ICA Art Supply Store) will be provided.

Join us in exploring the practice of the ancient art of gilding ~ the technique of applying thin leaves of pounded metal to a prepared surface. Umbria and Tuscany will afford us inspirational examples of the finest in gilding arts, which you will view in person on our museum excursions. You will become well versed in identifying these time-honored techniques while also taking advantage back in our studio, of newer materials, and exciting contemporary applications. This workshop is of interest to painters, book artists, woodworkers, surface designers and those interested in mixed-media applications.

In the first week, students will create a series of sample boards using a variety of techniques on prepared hardboard, paper and wood. Beginning with the importance of ground preparation, students will discover the fundamentals of water-based mordant gilding with Dutch metal, aluminum, copper leaf as well as 23-karat gold leaf.

Traditional Renaissance surface embellishment processes shall be explored ~ sgrafitto “to scratch through”; granito, a technique for creating background texture and patterns; and pastiglia, a form of low relief which creates a raised surface. We will also cover antiquing and distressing – as well as non- traditional surface applications with gouache paint.

A selection of templates featuring ornamental designs as well as ornamental initials will be available for easy transfer to a variety of ground surfaces ~ no drawing skills needed. However, please feel free to bring your design ideas and other inspirational materials for your individual projects during the second week.

The 2-week workshop will be rounded out with trips to Florence and Deruta.

Acclaimed Painter and Illustrator Cornel Rubino will lead a 2-week workshop at the International Center for the Arts, on the creation of monumental works of visual art.

Develop an ease in working large - explore how scale alters the way we view our world by drawing directly from life to re-translate nature and rethink the human condition.

Art, like spoken language, has a vocabulary all its own. With drawing, you will be exposed to elements of thisvocabulary, which serves as the raw material for all visual information. This workshop explores and utilizes drawing to explore the figure in narrative and poetic (non- narrative) ways.

You will be drawing vertically in studio on heavy weight Rives or Fabriano paper no smaller than 7 ft. from live models, fleshy and ideal, as well as lyrical and moody objects of your choice from nature. A variety of wet and dry media will be explored and developed as well as the skills needed to tackle large scale drawings translated from your smaller sketches and ideas. You will experience drawing the figure as it empowers and informs your work, carefully raiding the mines of visual desire.

Drawing on a large scale offers a freedom that is exciting and liberating. You will have the opportunity to create and make the kind of marks that only working on a large-scale surface allows you. We will be working on heavy-duty paper so you will have the opportunity to draw wet with inks or water based paints or dry with pencils, pastels or charcoals. Or mix materials together. The sky’s the limit.

You will work on at least 3-4 large drawings depending on time constraints. We will have individual and group discussions about the work in progress and develop our skills in constructive criticism, working at understanding the significance and psychological importance of line, value, form and composition in the process of image making.

Along with trips to Florence and Perugia, we will draw on the history of Monte Castello as a gathering place for artists in a variety of mediums and scholars in disciplines across the humanities. Painters, sculptors, musicians and chefs will also be in residence at ICA, providing optional lectures or demonstrations and joining retreat participants for communal meals on the terrace. There is a strong opportunity for cross-pollination of ideas and unexpected inspiration for those who seek it.

Situated in one of the most beautiful regions of Italy, the idyllic medieval hill town of Monte Castello di Vibio, provides both amazingly picturesque vistas as well as unique challenges for the painter. Majestic mountains stairstep their way into the distance, as their deep green forested hillsides fade to blue gray. The famed, Tiber River, winds like a giant serpent through the valley on its path to Rome, and farm fields and meadows become ribbons on hillsides.

In describing this environment, one cannot help but wax poetic about the opportunities that it provides for the landscape painter. Itis a place both steeped in history, yet constantly changing. Gates open to panoramas that locals refer to as Porta Montanna (“Door to the Mountains”) and the south-facing, Porta Maggio (“Door of May”). To the southwest, where mountain ridges collide above the village of Doglio, the Bocca della Stregna (the Witches Mouth) sometimes reveals the source of its name as the moaning wind circles through its crevices. Castles in the distance appear and disappear in the morning fog as swallows dart in and out of a vista called simply, il Mare (the sea). Far off in the distance to the east lie the mysterious Sibillini Mountains, home of the famed Sybill and the mountain towns of Norcia and the breathtaking valley of Castelluccio, where wildflowers carpet the ground and wolves still howl at night. It is a timeless landscape where past and present meet in the eyes of those lucky enough to experience it. This workshop and your immersion in the surroundings will provide unforgettable experiences. This non-touristed location will allow you to enjoy this small town and its authentic ambiance.

The immersive two-week workshop will cover the essential aspects of outdoor landscape painting: choosing a motif, working quickly and directly, controlling value and color to create compelling harmonies, and thinking intentionally about form.

We will meet together four days a week, with weekends allowing time for independent painting time and Friday’s reserved for excursions. The first week will include ample instruction and support from the instructor. The second week students will be guided as they approach the landscape with more confidence and clarity. Painting sessions will be scheduled generally: 9am-1pm and 4pm-7pm Monday-Thursday. Included in the workshop are two local excursions: Assisi to see the unforgettable Giotto frescos and to Perugia to the national museum.

Fueled by a new interest in the individual, the birth of the Renaissance in Florence in the 15th century brought a rebirth of the long dormant art of Portraiture. What better place to study the practice and history of Portraiture than in Monte Castello di Vibio, just a stone’s throw from that extraordinary city?

In this two-week workshop, students will be immersed in the Art of the Portrait. Working daily from the live model, they will study the structure of the head, beginning with seeing the skull as it presents itself in each individual. Through demonstrations, slide presentations, and one on one critiques as they work, they will learn to identify the shapes and planes specific to an individual model and to understand the principles of traditional design inherent in each portrait.

This Portraiture workshop is perfect for anyone wanting to learn to draw or paint portraits or to improve in their already existing portrait practice. Since so much teaching happens one-on-one, both beginners and more seasoned artists will benefit greatly from the intensive experience of studying and drawing/painting daily for two weeks. The small class size (limit of 10) will ensure ample instruction for each student.

Students are welcome to draw or paint, depending upon their level of experience.

Class time will be supplemented with two field trips to world class museums in Florence and Rome. These excursions will serve to deepen students’ understanding of the skills and concepts they’re learning. In addition, they’ll come to appreciate the history of Portraiture itself and its place in the overall history of art.

For millennia, the peoples of the Italian peninsula have produced salumi and cheeses famous throughout the world. Today an incredible array of these products is to be found in Italy. Showcasing and paring the extraordinary flavors of this bounty is one of the unique challenges presented by this incredible array of ingredients in seeking to prepare beautiful and delicious charcuterie boards with a cohesive flavor profile.

Our objective in this workshop is to expose participants to wide range flavors and textures of the cursed meats and cheeses of our region of Umbria - arguably, one of the most famous in the country for these products. Being introduced to these flavors begs for insights into how they can work together with fruits and vegetables, bread and wine, a unified, whole experience of deliciousness!

We are most fortunate as our guide in in this adventure is none other than famed connoisseur, restaurateur, sommelier, distinguished professor, and advisor to producers - Antonio Andreani! A professor at the famed, University di Sapori in Perugia, Antonio's expertise and skill as a taster is matched only by his delightful personality, warm sense of humor and his genuine passion for the experience of food and wine. Join us for a workshop and that will change the way you experience food and wine and perhaps change your life!

Our journey appropriately begins with how to taste and how to use taste and texture to enhance flavors and create new experiences. Four mornings will devoted to tasting and lecture: getting familiar with the flavor palette of traditional meats and cheeses, as well as wines, then getting to know traditional combinations while experimenting with innovations. Afternoon will be spent with producers of these products: farms and vineyards, cheesemakers and the famed Norcini (butchers and salumi-makers) of Umbria. We will observe the work of these masters and sample their products. On Friday, we will visit the town of Norcia itself, from which all butchers carry the name of Norcini (all belonging to Norcia)! In Norcia we will visit several shops and producers and then move on to the town of Spello famous for its olive oil.

Of course we won't forget about the importance of wine in this array and we will make daily vists to nearby vineyards and olive orchards as part of our itinerary.Our approach will be both fun and informative. Paired with delicious foods from our kitchen and the spectacular views fromour dining terrace - the course will provide everyone the opportunity to fully experience the richness and beauty of the Umbrian landscape as well as the excellence of its culinary and viticultural traditions.

The program is all inclusive with accommodation provided in our beautifully preserved 14 th c., medieval hill town. We provide Welcome and Departure services at the Rome/Fiumicino, Leonardo da Vinci International (FCO) airport as well as airport transfer by private bus. Using locally sourced and artisanal ingredients, three traditional meals are lovingly prepared by our kitchen staff and chef Federico Monday through Thursday. On Fridays our private bus will transport participants on two excursions: the first to the fabulous city of Florence and the second to Orvieto, which boasts one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Italy. Saturdays and Sundays, we provide an incredible brunch with fresh baked bread and pastries, a variety of eggs, cheeses, and cured meats, as well as fresh yogurt and fruit. Of course, all accompanied by terrific, chilled Prosecco! Saturday and Sunday dinner are also grill-day’s and we will enjoy savory grilled meats (including wild game), fresh vegetables, and more! All lunches and dinners are accompanied by local wine, wines from our extensive Wine List available for purchase. Our bi-lingual staff is on hand 24/7 to fill your needs.

Learn to create mosaics—the most enduring form of pictorial art with a master of the medium – in a country renowned for some of the most spectacular examples of mosaic art.

In this hands-on course, Rick Shelley will demonstrate the methods of mosaic production. Students will shape stone, glass, and ceramic into tesserae for their projects. Experiment with glues and cements to adhere tesserae onto the wooden panels provided. One class will concentrate on working with the beautiful and traditional practice of gold leafing glass. Using this simple, but remarkable technique, color of extraordinary depth is possible. A truly remarkable medium! Students will be encouraged to design and execute several small mosaics. The focus will be on form, outlines, shadows, and highlights. Simple images, letters, or symbols are ideal subjects.

The International Center for the Arts provides the perfect atmosphere to experience the mosaic arts. Surrounded by the Italian countryside, the studio at Monte Castello di Vibio is an oasis in which to work and learn. The course combines intensive instruction with excursions to nearby mosaic treasures. Roman mosaics, Byzantine mosaics, and contemporary mosaics will be studied for inspiration – and experienced in person! Our goal is to enjoy and create beautiful mosaics while being immersed in this wondrous experience.

All the while, 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. All supplies are included. The course will include visits to Florence and Rome and while in Rome will visit the Vatican Museums.Finally, as an additional excursion, we will visit Orvieto’s splendid medieval cathedral to see the exterior mosaics and interior frescos.

Our Mosaics in Italy with Rick Shelley workshop is a rare opportunity to study with a master of the medium in a country renowned for some of its greatest examples. All the while, participants will enjoy a rare immersion in traditional culture, enjoy incredible views made possible by our mountaintop location, delight in gourmet and traditional food prepared fresh by expert chefs from fresh, locally sourced ingredients all accompanied by excellent local wine (or optional selections from our wonderful Wine List, for an additional fee). It is a rare experience, available to only 10 participants.

In a workshop led by one of the world-renowned masters of the traditional medium of fresco - iLia Anossov, instructs participants in the basic concepts and techniques of the medium. The course will focus on classic fresco techniques while studying the details of both wall and panel preparation and sgraffito techniques.

Here in Italy, a nation perhaps most famous for this art form, participants will have the added benefit of excursions to cities that are home to the world’s greatest examples of fresco in the company of a master of the medium! Excursions to Florence, will visit the works of artists of the Florentine Renaissance, including: Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, and many more!

In the second week of the course, our Rome excursion will allow the unforgettable experience of viewing the Sistine Chapel ceiling by Michelangelo as well as other works that adorn the Vatican.

In addition, students will further their understanding of the perspective, value range principals, and the verdaccio underpainting and its consequent effect on the painting process.

In the course of the two-week workshop, students will create one small-scale work, individually exploring the sgraffito technique and one group “fresco bodega” project, an eight by four-foot, wall fresco in the buon fresco technique, which will be adorned with classic sgraffito elements. Students will explore classic techniques of buon fresco, sgraffito, preparatory stages and final wall painting stage.

Our Fresco Workshop with iLia Anossov is a rare opportunity for study with a renowned master of the medium in a country renowned for it. All the while, participants will enjoy a rare immersion in traditional culture, enjoy incredible views made possible by our mountaintop location, delight in gourmet and traditional food prepared fresh by expert chefs from fresh, locally sourced ingredients all accompanied by excellent local wine (or optional selections from our wonderful Wine List, for an additional fee). It is a rare experience, available to only 10 participants.

All materials for the course – including a set of fresco brushes – are included. Also included is Fresco School Membership and a 5-volume video tutorial on Fresco painting by the master!

Paper is an amazing material with the potential to be structurally strong or flexible and soft, opaque or translucent, a base for drawings and paintings, a sculptural form or bound into books for writing and illustrations.

In this workshop we will explore the potential of paper as a basic material and as a medium for artistic pursuits. This two-week event will be led by internationally known instructors Amanda Degener, founder of Cave Paper; Carol Barton of Popular Kinetics; Denise Carbone from the University of the Arts and Tom Balbo of Tom Balbo Galleries. The Workshop will also feature a two-day pulp-painting component, led by Visiting Artist, Roberto Mannino.

Students will be signing up for all below components, with 12 hours of instruction in each area: hand papermaking, pulp paper painting and marbling, sewn bookbindings, and designing pop-ups. The workshop will also include field trips to the Fabriano Paper Mill and to the city of Florence, along with several other excursion stops. In addition, Amanda will be offering optional morning Tai Chi sessions. This is an ideal session for teachers, graphic designers, creative artists, and anyone who likes to play with paper. No prior experience is necessary; all skill levels are welcome.

From Turkey to America: Traditional and Experimental Marbling Techniques

With Tom Balbo

Participant's, will learn to mix paints and prepare paper, and to familiarize themselves with traditional patterns. These patterns derive from the Turkish “ gel-get “ pattern. Day two students will have the option to continue pattern work, experiment with freeform, stencil, and floral patterns. The use of mores will be an added as additional pattern work and incorporated in to a variety of experimental practices. The use of handmade paper and older papers that will not need alum sizing will also be made available. Participants should plan to purchase or bring tube to handle 18”x 24” papers and smaller sizes as well. Also any papers one wants to experiment with are welcomed.

Pop-Up Paper Structures

With Carol Barton

A special kind of creative magic awaits you in this workshop. You will learn basic on-the-fold pop-up structures, then progress through a series of more complicated three-dimensional glued constructions. Props, platforms, spirals, V-folds and straddle pop-ups will be covered. Emphasis will on developing an understanding of the simple mechanics involved in this art of “paper engineering.” A public slide show on the history of pop-up and movable books will be presented for students and town residents. This is an ideal class for artists, teachers, graphic designers, and anyone who loves to play with paper. No prerequisite.

Tailored to fit: A desirable pamphlet for everyday use

With Denise Carbone

In the fascinating realm of book arts, the traditional technique of bookbinding extends to encompass a variety of forms, including the creation of detailed bookbinding pamphlets, which serve as both notebooks and showcases the craft. Among the myriad styles, the single section German case binding stands out for its durability and elegance. Truly the perfect companion.

The 2-section soft cover variant, which combines flexibility with the classic aesthetic of hardcover books uses Cave paper for its cover and parchment for the spine. The 2-section pamphlet sewing attaches the sections with a pocket inside the cover.

Another innovative approach within book arts is the 3-section exposed sewing method, which not only secures pages with precision but also turns the stitching into a decorative element, highlighting the craftsmanship involved. This technique lends a unique character to each piece, inviting readers and collectors to appreciate the structural beauty of the book as an object. As these innovative practices continue to evolve, they enrich the world of book arts, blending tradition with creativity to produce works that are not just to be handled, but admired and treasured.

Paper and Light

With Amanda Degener

During this two day workshop participants will make their own small handmade paper sculptures/lamps that incorporate light. We will have paper available so you can make your own paper choices and students will also sheet form Japanese style paper which is incorrectly called rice paper. We will go through the process of cooking, beating, and coloring what was once a kozo plant. Some of the techniques include tamping wet paper onto a mold or balloon which is like a sophisticated papier mâché. We will also make a simplified version of the Japanese collapsible spherical chochin lantern. Translucency will be considered and both natural and electric light can be incorporated into your work

Painting with Linen Pulp With Roberto Mannino

This two- day workshop will explore the fascinating possibilities of painting with paper pulp with a master of the medium, renowned Rome-based artist, Roberto Mannino.

We will explore the various aspects and possibilities of creating images using intensively pigmented pulp as a painting method. By combining pulp, water and flocculent in different ratio, participants will be able to combine sharp edges and blurred transparent layers.

Staring with standard papermaking sheet-forming with moulds and further testing with the use of deckle boxes, this workshop will introduce various techniques of multilayering finely beaten and colored pulp to a wet sheet using multiple kind of stencils, grids, squeeze bottles and eyedroppers. Working with handmade paper in its wet state will allow for further image manipulation by transferring inkjet prints and water solvable drawings on the moist sheet before drying.

A deep dive into the foodways, arts and culture of Umbria through hands-on learning, creation and curated experiences. Hosted and led by Nathan Colello Gilmour (Ragazzo Foods) at the International Center for the Arts in Monte di Vibio, Umbria. Program conceptualized and created by Chef Jason Osburn (Felony Provisions) and Nathan Gilmour.

For the full itinerary, click here. For more information, contact us.

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.

Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding, marrying the arts with mathematics to create some truly complex and stunning structures. This summer course will primarily focus on art, using mathematical techniques to design your own origami. For USAO students, this course counts as an Artistic Expression course.

For more information on mathematics role in origami, click here.

For more information, contact us.

August 4 - August 25, 2019

Birds Class (Week 1)

Mammals Class (Week 2)

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