The Residency Program |
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One of the "Top 10 Residency Programs Around the Globe" - ARTINFO
The Artist's Residency program provides the ideal combination of seclusion and community in a setting of truly inspirational beauty. Artists can work intensively and independently for three or more weeks in a supportive and intimate environment. The Residence Program also enables students to continue to work and progress independently.
Early summer and fall are wonderful months to visit Umbria. The weather is perfect, the air is clear: in early June there are flowers everywhere, and the fields are green; in September the light and the colors of the landscape and sky are rich and fantastic. There are also not as many tourists as there are in the summer months.
Independent Residencies may also be taken during the School sessions in the summer. Residents may take advantage of classes as they choose, and request faculty critiques. This program is also perfect for faculty on sabbatical.
A final resident’s exhibition in the school’s gallery, which will be attended by local artists and people from the surrounding area, concludes the program.
Our weekly trips to Italy's cities of art inspire and inform the work in the studio. A model poses in the drawing room for four-hour sessions, three days a week. And in the dining room, residents enjoy home-cooked meals together and develop a close sense of community.
A distinguished member of our faculty joins us as Senior Artist in
Residence and studio critic.
Susan Lichtman, 2012, Celia Reisman, August 2013
Occasionally, we host artist's workshops from outside the International School during our residency sessions. These are opportunities for you to meet other interesting artists. In 2012, we hosted programs of Jody Joseph Art Workshops, Charlotte Wharton Painting Workshop, and Amir Nir Academy of Figurative Art. See our 2013 page for this year's schedule of Guest Programs.
Overlooking the lush Tiber River Valley, Montecastello di Vibio is a medieval hill town in the province of Perugia, halfway between Rome and Florence. Preserving over 2000 years of history, the cities and hill towns of Umbria and nearby Tuscany are landmarks of European culture. Many were built over four eras - Etruscan, Roman, Medieval and Renaissance. The surrounding landscape is patterned with vineyards, olive groves and sunflower fields, etched with rows of cypresses and umbrella pines.
In this environment, you will paint and sculpt under the same light that spawned the Western world's greatest art. Here is the architecture and countryside that inspired Renaissance artists and later masters like Poussin, Ingres and Corot. One can see why the region still attracts artists from all over the world.
A beautifully preserved medieval borgo, Montecastello looks much like it did 500 years ago. A fortress wall surrounds the tiny heart-shaped town, with vast panoramas all around and a tranquil little park at one edge. This delightful village is our campus, with the School's facilities based in a complex of historic buildings.
Resident's rooms and studios are single-occupancy. Residents share modest apartments, and single rooms in the main building, all a few minutes walk from each other. The main school building, a former convent, has nine single rooms with a view of the Tiber River valley. The International School provides housecleaning services and clean sheets and towels weekly. Shared arrangements for spouses can be made, if space is available. Facilities in Montecastello are very basic and are not suitable for people with special needs.
Studios are in several great stone palazzi in the village. Residents have 24-hour access to their private studios. Throughout the ancient town and out in the landscape are wonderful motifs and views to paint.
A model poses for open drawing sessions 3 days per week. During non-working hours, residents have access to the school's extensive art library, telephone, computer with Internet access, and video collection. Painting and drawing materials are available at the School Art Supply Store and sculptors are provided with clay and plaster. Studios are open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.
Meals are prepared in our professional kitchen. The food is simple and wholesome, with fresh produce from nearby farms, and prepared with care by local cooks. A typical lunch includes pasta, a meat dish, two vegetables and a legume, salad, fresh bread, mineral water, fruit and coffee. We serve a substantial continental style breakfast to prepare us for our work in the studio. As is traditional in Italian cuisine, dinner is lighter and satisfying, with a hot main course and plenty of vegetables and fruit, with soups and pasta. Evening meals are on the school’s rooftop terrace, overlooking the magnificent panorama of the Tiber River valley.
The ongoing studio work from intense observation and analysis is interspersed with weekly day-trips to study Italy's millennia-old heritage of art, from ancient to contemporary, engaging artists in a dialogue with the masterworks of the past and present. We travel by chartered bus to Rome, Florence, Siena, Assisi, Perugia, Sansepolcro, and Arezzo (see the Student Handbook for the scheduled trips).
A faculty member or visiting lecturer gives preparatory lectures to enrich and enliven our trips. Residents are then free to go independently or in groups to visit museums and churches, or anything they wish to see. The Student Handbook contains a guide for our trips and other travel information. Residents may organize informal visits to nearby towns like Todi, Deruta, Orvieto and Spoleto, or return to places the group has visited. Car rental services and public transportation enable people to travel independently.
Joseph (2012 Residency) wrote:
Can not thank you enough for your attention during my stay at the school. It was for me a great time and productive too. You will see me again one way or another. - Santa Fe, NMDurer, full of admiration for the social position and encyclopedic culture attained by the Italian artists during the fifteenth century: "Here I am a gentleman, at home I am a parasite." - The Life and Art of Albrecht Durer, by Erwin Panofsky
Please submit the completed registration form. You can upload your images here: filesio.net/files/Upload_Slides. You may also send us your web site, Dropbox shared folder, Flickr album, or other image hosting service. CE applicants may include an essay in place of slides, although slides are preferable. There are no application deadlines, but the program is small and space is limited; we recommend that you apply early.
Note: dates are subject to change
School sessions: Fees include classes in painting, and drawing, and sculpture (see faculty list page for details), studio space, room, three meals a day, group trips, and ground transportation from and to Fiumicino airport in Rome on the first and last day of each session. The reservation charge for a single room, when available, is 100 Euro per week. The same fees apply for Independent Residencies taken during the School sessions. Residents may take advantage of classes as they choose, and request faculty critiques.| Guest Program: SAIC (3-6 credits) June 17 - July 6 |
3 weeks | € 2700 |
| July 6 - July 27 | 3 weeks | € 2700 |
| July 27 - August 17 | 3 weeks | € 2700 |
| June 17 - July 27 | 6 weeks | € 5000 |
| July 6 - August 17 | 6 weeks | € 5000 |
| Semester | 12 weeks | € 9700 |
| Weekly | 1 week | € 1200 |
| June 1 - June 15 | 2 weeks | € 2100 |
| August 17 - 31 | 2 weeks | € 2100 |
| Aug. 31 - Sept. 21 | 3 weeks | € 2700 |
| Aug. 17 - Sept. 21 | 5 weeks | € 4600 |
| Weekly | 1 week | € 1200 |
| Guest Program: Charlotte Wharton June 1 - June 8 |
1 week | see website |
| August 17 - 31 | 2 weeks | € 2100 |
All fees must be received no later than one month before the session begins. Fees are calculated in Euros and include 21% IVA (value-added tax). Please see the Currency converter for the latest rates.
Discount for Former Students Up to 5%
Bring a Friend Discount - bring a friend to the program and you both earn up to 5% discount
2-week session: You and your friend pay 2035 Euro each instead of 2100 (65 Euro discount each)
3-week session: You and your friend pay 2565 Euro each instead of 2700 (135 Euro discount each)
6-week session: You and your friend pay 4750 Euro each instead of 5000 (250 Euro discount each)
Please send applications together, or if not possible, indicate the name of your friend in the space on the application form for how you heard about the school. Discounts do not apply to partial sessions, and cannot be combined. Other discounts may be available to groups of 4 or more. Please email the school for more information or coupon code for online payments.
We accept Amazon Payments, PayPal, and Google Wallet, an easy and safe way to pay online. These are services that enable you to pay, send money, and accept payments without revealing your financial information.
Please see our secure Payment page at http://giotto.dynamic-storefront.com/ for online payments. When you're ready to checkout, simply choose the Checkout with Amazon, PayPal, or Google Wallet button, and log into your account. Click to confirm your payment and then you're done.
Payments may also be made by Check (personal checks up to $500, Cashier's or Certified Checks in Euro, or Wire transfer (please request wire transfer information).
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To hold your place in the program, we ask for a 500 Euro deposit (or equivalent in US dollars) upon acceptance.
If you have to leave the Program early (6-week session), you are entitled to a refund as follows:
Before session begins - Full refund less an administrative fee of 500 Euro
Days 1 - 7: 75% of tuition paid
Days 8 - 14: 50% of tuition paid
After day 14: no refund
If you have to leave any 2-, 3- or 4-week program early, you are entitled to a refund as follows:
Before session begins - Full refund less an administrative fee of 500 Euro
Days 1 - 7: 50% of fee paid
After day 7: no refund
If we cancel a session you are entitled to a full refund of fee paid. Fees are calculated in Euros and include 22% IVA (value-added tax).
International School of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture in Umbria, Italy  |
One of the "Top
10 Residency Programs Around the Globe."
- ARTINFO |
Member of the Alliance
of Artists' Communities |
Member of Res Artis,
The International
Association of Residential Arts Centres  |
Posted on Sun, Jan. 25, 2004
What: "WSU & ISA: IV," a group show featuring art created during the 2003 artist residency program at the International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture in Umbria, Italy.
Artists' comments: "Everywhere you looked around the perimeter of the town was a landscape," said Rosemary Dugan, a participant in the show. "The sunset colors were wonderful. The colors would just wash the landscape and turn it kind of ochre and orange. But up on the distant hills you'd have kind of a pink, a real subtle red-violet."
"I had this great view from my room every morning," Judy Dove said. "You look at little walls and little gardens and old wooden doors that have been there who-knows-how-long. And because of the weather you could be out a lot and walk a lot. It wasn't like in a neighborhood here, where you walk three or four blocks, it's the same. There when you walk three or four blocks you're in a walled castle city."
"The light was different; the colors were softer," Carole Ranney said. "You expect sunny Italy to be very rich and vibrant, but there were a lot of earth tones. It opens your mind because it is different than what you have been painting. The colors are different, so you have to start looking to see, OK, how can I capture this?"
"The thing we were struck by the most was the sort of cut-out patches of sky you get glimpses of as you are moving through these medieval streets," said Jonathan Stevens, who worked collaboratively with artist Jennifer Locke. "It is like looking at the background of a Giotto painting, those geometric angles and stuff. We became almost obsessed with that, and it was strictly because we were in this medieval hill town in Umbria. It completely changed our sensibility about what is above us."
Chris Shull
Wichita State University Painting and The International School of Painting, Drawing and Sculpture in Umbria, Italy (ISA). WSU Painting now has over 30 alumni of ISA. For more information see Study and Travel in Italy at www.wichita.edu/painting/
