THIS YEAR'S TUSCAN ADVENTURE had to be canceled. Several folks had to drop out recently, and our enrollment wasn't strong enough for the workshop to make. Check this site later for future dates.
Live and learn like a Da Vinci or a De Medici in Tuscany for a memorable week of Old World culture, art, wine, food, friends, and music March 15-22, 2008. It will be an exquisite week of creating fine arts and of exploring Lucca, the most beautiful city in northern Tuscany.
As an artist, you will have mornings of inspiration, creativity enhancement, and creating art with fiber and dyes me, as well as creativity workshop sessions led by writer/artist Carol Ikard. The Tuscany Da Vinci experience will be a gold thread that weaves into the tapestry of your art, connecting ideas and new expressions. Olive colored hills, terra cotta roofs, earthen rock chateaus surrounded by deep purple Chianti colored vineyards will impact your creativity and art.
Non-artists will enjoy a week of experiencing an enriched life as a de Medici, appreciating Roman origins, medieval and renaissance power and wealth. Your days will be filled with Old World Masters, museums, sports, shopping, discovering wines and artisans in the good life of Tuscany are some of the outings and explorations of Lucca’s local color and sites. The week promises to enliven your senses and creativity and invigorate your artistic bent while you enjoy the life and beauty of Tuscany in the afternoons and evenings.
Down time is also scheduled so that you can breathe in the wonders of reading a book in a hammock, sipping wine on an ancient wall, and taking time to be charmed by the fauna and flora of walking paths among olive gardens. The aroma of tranquility will fill you by day and the sounds of Puccini will intoxicate your head by night. A 1000-acre private estate of hills, forests, vineyards and farmlands surrounds Selva, the compound of farmhouses where we will stay, dine and learn.
I recommend you fly into Florence or Pisa or arrive in Lucca by train. Via any method, you will be met and escorted to Selva, where you unpack and the rest is up to us!
More information and registration forms can be found at: http://www.abbondanzatoscana.com
DATES: MARCH 15- 22
This is the weekend before Easter, so one might want to add a week on to the excursion and spend Easter in Florence or Rome.
COST: all inclusive, except for transportation to either Pisa or Florence, €2150 double occupancy
Monday -- Field Guide to Tuscan Color" --Color is the one of the first design elements we associate with Tuscany - the warm rustic hues of old walls and stacked stone, the rich botanicals and jewel tones from the grapes, flowers and foliage, the natural siena and ochres that come from the very earth. Using modern low-toxicity dyes, and some simple natural dyes (onion skins, beets and rust), participants will create organic and textural patterns on silk scarves and quarter-yard lengths of rayon, silk and cotton textiles to use in the week's subsequent sessions.
Wednesday -- "Etruscan to Tuscan -- Historical Imagery to Inspire" -- We'll design and create printing blocks and stamps using historical imagery, photos taken on the week's field trips, images from Etruscan and Roman antiquity, as well as our own sketches and collections from the Tuscan landscape. Printing on fabric (if I can solve the technical and shipping issues)
Wednesday -- "Etruscan to Tuscan -- Historical Imagery to Inspire" -- We'll design and create printing blocks and stamps using historical imagery, photos taken on the week's field trips, images from Etruscan and Roman antiquity, as well as our own sketches and collections from the Tuscan landscape. Printing on fabric (if I can solve the technical and shipping issues)
Friday -- "Layers of Tuscany" -- Using all of the materials and tools from the art sessions, participants will layer their imagery to make one-of-a-kind art cloth, then cut, fuse and hand-stitch a small wall hanging. Simple embroidery stitches, beading embellishments and the use of fusable webbing to create original designs will be included in this final session
The schedule for participants is tentatively designed to include the following.
Saturday
Arrival in afternoon; welcome with sparkling wine & refreshments; Susie & Carol introduce the program; begin limoncello making process; dinner under the pergola
Sunday
08.00 Early morning visit to the shepherdess to see the magic of pecorino cheese and ricotta.
09.30 Brunch
11.00 Creativity Expanded: unpacking creatively; feeling art and responding; thinking art
12.00 Walk around the property to search out natural materials for later fiber arts sessions, photography
13.00 Lucca Antique Market (opportunity for more materials)
17.00 Fiber arts workshop: Field Guide to Tuscan Colors
20.00 Dinner prepared by Emanuela
Monday
08.00 Breakfast
09.00 Creativity Expanded: The Committee and Drawing left-handed
10.00 Beyond the Terrace Fiber Arts Workshop
13.00 Lunch at Selva and break
15.30 Lucca: fabric shops, weaving museum, private collections of antique fabrics, button shop, da Vinci exhibit, etc.
20.00 Dinner prepared by Emanuela
Tuesday
07.30 Breakfast
08.00 Van to Florence: museum of silks, Renaissance archive
13.00 Lunch in Fiesole; Etruscan museum and Roman amphitheater
17.00 Leave for Selva
20.00 Dinner at Selva prepared by Emanuela
Wednesday
08.00 Breakfast
09.00 Creativity Expanded: seeing designs and symbols
10.00 Fiber Arts Workshop: Layers of Tuscany
13.00 Lunch at Selva and break
15.30 Return to Lucca to explore more fabrics and shops
19.00 Puccini concert
20.30 Dinner at Puccini Restaurant at Piazza Puccini
Thursday
08.00 Breakfast
09.00 Creativity Expanded: Enlarging art and enjoying mistakes, writing about ideas and art
10.00 Etruscan to Tuscan Fiber Arts Workshop
1.00 Lunch at Selva and break
3.30 Tour of baroque villa with antique fabrics and tapestries plus fantastic garden
5.30 Begin cooking lesson with Emanuela
8.00 Dinner
Friday
08.00 Breakfast
09.00 Creativity Expanded:
10.00 Fiber Arts Embellishment: (Felt, beads, embroidery)
1.00 Lunch at Selva and break
3.30 Tour of vineyard, wine and olive oil tasting
7.00 Pizza with Eduardo
Saturday
Departure
