Our Fall 2020 students presented their mid-term projects, impressive interdisciplinary work reflecting their dedication and initiative from the first half of the semester. The artwork sparked a lively discussion in our group critique, with students and teachers in attendance.

We’re looking forward to see what our students develop for their final projects!

For more info about our current participants’ work within the Art & Society course, visit their individual pages:

• Fivos Chalkiopoulos, Greece
• Tana LaKale, Spain
• Vasilina Papadimitropoulou, Greece

The participation of our Greek students during the Fall 2020 semester is thanks to the collaboration of the Stavros-Niarchos Foundation in supporting our SNF-SART scholarships.

Exploring the many layers of history, traditions, and symbolism, we visited the museum of the Tartuca contrada. Each of Siena’s 17 contrade have a museum dedicated to their neighbourhood’s proud traditions and regalia from previous Palio races, an amazing network of micro-communities within the city center, which makes Siena a truly unique place.

The participation of our Greek students during the Fall 2020 semester is thanks to the collaboration of the Stavros-Niarchos Foundation in supporting our SNF-SART scholarships.

We found inspiration in the cabinets of curiosities at Siena’s Natural History Museum, the Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Accademia dei Fisiocritici. For information about the museum, you can visit their website: https://www.fisiocritici.it/en/

The participation of our Greek students during the Fall 2020 semester is thanks to the collaboration of the Stavros-Niarchos Foundation in supporting our SNF-SART scholarships.

This week we viewed the artistic guidebooks created by our Fall 2020 students, going beyond a touristic perspective to offer a personal and artistic exploration of the city.

For more info about our current participants’ work within the Art & Society course, visit their individual pages:

• Fivos Chalkiopoulos, Greece
• Tana LaKale, Spain
• Vasilina Papadimitropoulou, Greece

The participation of our Greek students during the Fall 2020 semester is thanks to the collaboration of the Stavros-Niarchos Foundation in supporting our SNF-SART scholarships.

We’ve been worknig under the guidance of our faculty member Bernardo Giorgi to plant winter crops in our garden following sustainable permaculture practices.  Our plants include leeks, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and more!  We’re very grateful to everyone who is lending a hand with this work, including our students, teachers, staff, and community members!

Footage from the Eterno Presente event at the Pinacoteca Museum, Sept 26 2020

Il progetto Eterno Presente, finanziato da Fondazione MPS, ha offerto un evento realizzato dalla Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena in collaborazione con Siena Art Institute e Istituto Rinaldo Franci, presentando al pubblico senese un insieme di appuntamenti all’interno delle sale della Pinacoteca: lettura poetica di Donna Stonecipher, artista in residenza presso SART, contributi musicali a cura dell’Istituto Franci ed esercitazioni artistiche a cura di SART. L’iniziativa si è svolta in occasione delle Giornate Europee del Patrimonio 2020.

For inspiration and context of our current “Guidebook” project, we looked at examples of a wide variety of artists’ books.

Some of the examples we looked in class:

• Victor Lundy WW2 Sketchbooks: http://mymodernmet.com/victor-lundy-wwii-sketchbooks/
• Peter Beard (scroll down to Diary Pages) http://peterbeard.com/works/
• Liz Steel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPFY9kE9t34
• Josiah Hanchett
• Toyko Totem book: http://www.tokyototem.jp/
• Tbilisi “It’s Complicated” book: https://viceversaartbooks.com/items/tbilisi-its-complicated/

Some other examples for additional reference: 

• Concrete poetry:  http://www.getty.edu/research/exhibitions_events/exhibitions/concrete_poetry/index.html
• http://exhibitions.guggenheim.org/futurism/words_in_freedom/
• Minotaure: Surrealist Magazine:  https://www.guggenheim.org/blogs/findings/minotaure-surrealist-magazine-1930s
• Found magazine: http://foundmagazine.com/
• Diego Rivera, Italian Sketches: http://mamfa.com/pubs/dr-sketch/index.html#/38/
• Richard Diebenkorn https://museum.stanford.edu/diebenkornsketchbooks/

An interesting article from Gagosian magazine about the subject of libraries in contemporary art, including Anselm Kiefer’s “Census” which we looked at in class: https://gagosian.com/quarterly/2020/01/29/essay-libraries-cast-characters/

Archive of antique city maps of Siena: https://www.ilpalio.org/piantaindice.htm
Archive of vintage postcards of Siena: https://www.ilpalio.org/indice_foto_siena.htm

The participation of our Greek students during the Fall 2020 semester is thanks to the collaboration of the Stavros-Niarchos Foundation in supporting our SNF-SART scholarships.

We had a chance to visit the Biblioteca Briganti, as well as touring the entire structure that it is a part of, the Museum Complex of Santa Maria della Scala, the former hospital. At the Briganti library, we were able to see examples of antique guidebooks as well as examples of contemporary artists’ books (both catalogues as well as artworks in the form of books). A true treasure trove!

The participation of our Greek students during the Fall 2020 semester is thanks to the collaboration of the Stavros-Niarchos Foundation in supporting our SNF-SART scholarships.