Paper is an amazing, surprising material with the potential to be structurally strong or flexible and soft, opaque or translucent, an artwork in itself, a base for drawings and paintings, a sculptural form, or bound into books for writing and illustrations. In this session we will explore the potential of paper as a basic material and as a medium for artistic pursuits. Four internationally known instructors, Amanda Degener, co-founder of Cave Paper; Carol Barton of Popular Kinetics; Helen Hiebert of Helen Hiebert Studio; and Denise Carbone from the University of the Arts will lead workshops in various aspects of the paper arts.

Students will be signing up for the complete session, with sixteen hours of instruction in each area: hand papermaking, creating paper-based objects, sewn bookbindings and designing pop-ups. The session 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 to be held near the fountain in our lovely public garden overlooking the surrounding mountains.

This is an ideal session for teachers, graphic designers, creative artists, and anyone who likes to play with paper or is interested in the rudiments of how books are put together. No prior experience is necessary; all skill levels are welcome.

For more information, contact us.

During this two-week workshop we will explore the creative process of digital photography. Monte Castello di Vibio offers us a wealth of extraordinary landscape vistas and the people of this historic 12th century hill town will be some of the most interesting portrait subjects an image-maker could ever hope to shoot. These subjects include traditional stonecutters, vineyard workers, truffle hunters, butchers and olive grove workers, just to name a few. We will be experimenting with many facets of photography including color, black and white, creative compositions, lens choice, street photography techniques, digital post-production and printing, which will culminate with an exhibition at the Arts Center. We will also be going on two, day trips to Rome and either Siena or Perugia, exploring those great cities offering new vistas to photograph.

Participants will need their own laptop and digital camera (capable of changing lenses for more creative opportunity). It is also recommended (but not necessary if you use other image editing software) that you have Photoshop already installed on you laptop before arriving. Photoshop tends to be the industry standard and we can use it to give our images the polish and vision we are looking to create.

For more information, contact us.

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

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

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

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

July 10–24, 2022

Learn to create mosaics—the most enduring form of pictorial art. In this hands-on, two-week course, Rick Shelley will demonstrate the methods of mosaic production. Students will learn to shape stone, glass, and ceramic into tesserae to be used in three mosaic projects. Roman mosaics, medieval mosaics, and contemporary mosaics will be studied for inspiration. The course combines intensive instruction with weekend excursions to the mosaic treasures in Florence and Ravenna. Students are encouraged to work in the studio outside of class, as studios are open 24 hours. The goal is to enjoy and create beautiful mosaics.

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

June 28 – July 05, 2020

May 2–26, 2021

August 4 – August 18

Renowned American painter, Stanley Lewis, will lead a 3-week landscape painting workshop, culminating in an exhibition. Participants will work directly in town and from the spectacular landscapes surrounding Monte Castello, in this observational painting workshop. The session will include evening lectures by Stanley and other noteworthy contemporary painters, participating in the session as Visiting Artists. The workshop will be supplemented by weekly day-trips to Rome, Florence, and Orvieto in order to incorporate discussions on some of greatest masterworks in the history of Italian Art.

For other information, contact us.

August 4 – August 18

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 this vocabulary, 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 Siena, Florence and La Scarzuola in Montegabbione, 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.

For more information, contact us.

May 24 – June 4, 2020

May 31 - June 4, 2019