Your generosity matters! Please consider joining fellow alumni and friends in making a gift to the Pratt in Venice Scholarship Fund!

Diana Gisolfi

A Special Message from Our Director

30 November 2017

Dear Pratt in Venice alumni/ae,

I am writing to ask your support of our Pratt in Venice Scholarship Fund, ideally before December 31, as donations are tax deductible at present!

As tuition rates increase, it is especially challenging for many extremely well qualified applicants to Pratt in Venice to afford the program. I am speaking of students in art history, fine arts, preservation and design who are serious about wishing to participate.

Pratt in Venice Printmaking students with their Venetian studio assistant, Roberta Feoli, 2017

As students ask me about Pratt in Venice 2018, many of their questions center on cost and the availability of substantial scholarship help. In past years, through your generosity, we have been able to give $2000 or even $3000 to outstanding scholarship applicants. Such students have been highly committed productive participants on site. We need to be even more generous in the coming year.

To bring you up to date: 2017 was a very successful year with an excellent mix of graduate and undergraduate students. It proved a highly compatible group as well. Mario Naves and Grayson Cox organized an engaging Biennale visit in which students presented information about lead artists at selected pavilions. For the upcoming architectural Biennale, alumna Margaret Matz is coordinating an ambitious project that combines historical reconstruction and new installation in the surviving spaces of two ancient scuole. Among her several collaborators are current Pratt students and other Pratt in Venice alumni. Art historical events included Joe Kopta’s Ravenna visit, the ever wonderful villas-and-Bassano day, our Peggy Guggenheim visit led by Andrew Kurczak, and new revelations from conservators at San Sebastiano (the only ones not reported in my book that came out this year!).

Do take a look at prattinvenice.com for more details and pictures contributed by all, both on site and at the exhibition.

I look forward to hearing from you very soon. We need to embrace the good things in life.

A presto,

Diana Gisolfi
Director of Pratt in Venice
Professor of Art History

Pratt in Venice students with Diana Gisolfi at the last supper in Venice in July, 2017.

Venice, 2017.

Pratt in Venice Scholarship Fund

Dear Friends of Pratt in Venice, 

Pratt in Venice is in serious need of scholarship monies. Our fall auction of student work  yielded $1,295 and we are grateful for this. Our appeal letter sent in November brought in another $700 so far. The cost for a student to participate is now (due to increases in tuition) circa $12,000. Some student loans cannot be used for summer programs. We dearly wish to be able to fund gifted and deserving students and allow them the opportunity to participate. 

It is our experience that in recent years the one or two students whom we have been able to fund for about half of the cost have been among the students who derived the fullest benefit from the program.

Please contribute whatever you can to the Pratt in Venice Scholarship Fund. Your gift will be tremendously appreciated, and it is tax deductible!

With all good wishes and a presto,

Diana Gisolfi, Director of Pratt in Venice


 

 

A Special Message From the Director

Dear Friends of Pratt in Venice,

I am writing to ask your help for the Pratt in Venice Scholarship Fund. There are always well-qualified students who are eager to participate, but need a hand. Your contributions really make the difference, and they are tax deductible!

I hope you are checking the latest news here on our website. The most recent post shows the 2015 exhibition, which some of you attended. Our 2015 group of painters was highly productive, and the installation curated by Greg Drasler and Grayson Cox was impressive.

The 2015 Venice Biennale was attended, critiqued and enjoyed in its various sites and venues by students and faculty alike. Joe Kopta led the Torcello trip and also the optional Ravenna Saturday trip, both highly appreciated.  Our guest lecture list was particularly rich this year.  Sarah McHam of Rutgers spoke on the exterior sculptures at the Doge’s Palace, Tracy Cooper shared her expertise on Palladio at San Giorgio and the Redentore. Antonio Stevan again hosted our group on the early morning visit to the Giotto Chapel in Padua and joined up for a cappuccino, and then Joe and I brought the group to the Eremitani, and the various venues at the Santo.  Paolo Spezzani revealed the changes and underdrawings in Venetian painting via his trove of infrared, ultraviolet, and X-ray images. Our colleague Frima Hofrichter joined us and lectured at the Salute.

Materials and Techniques students learned about mosaic techniques from maestro Baggio at San Marco and from Luca Chiesura at the Orsoni factory. We mounted the scaffold surrounding the organ in the church of San Sebastiano and learned from Egidio Arlango about what the conservation team was discovering, including changes to the pipes, the decorations, and the painted surface over centuries.

Of course our traditional villa trip took place: Castelfranco, Villa Emo, Villa Barbaro at Maser, rustic midday meal with Gigi and Luisa in the hills above Bassano, and finally our walk across the Brenta River on Palladio's bridge. This time our rustic meal concluded with singing and guitars, and Greg's and Nancy's little dog Chips and Grayson's and Hollis's little daughter Winnie won everyone's heart.

As I write this, I realize how rich the program is and how much it can mean to a student. What scholarship funds we have go to students who could not otherwise enjoy this opportunity, and they are always grateful.

Please contribute any amount you can to helping a student participate.

 

With all good wishes and a presto,

Diana Gisolfi, Director of Pratt in Venice


Director's Report, 2013

Diana Gisolfi, Director

Participants in the 2013 Pratt in Venice program were both thoroughly engaged in the experience and seriously productive in their work. Again a congenial mix of graduate and undergraduate students from various departments and programs at Pratt took part. Art History, Fine Arts, Library Science, Communication Design, Art Education, and Art Therapy were represented. Alumnus Joe Kopta (PiV '07, BFA/MS '10) again joined the team as program coordinator. Early in the program he organized a new, optional, Sunday trip – to Ravenna – to study mosaics earlier than any on the islands of Venice. Chris Wright’s painting class often brought easels outside – to investigate and depict in varied ways the light and reflections in Venice. Jennifer Melby’s printmakers explored etching, aquatint and other techniques. The joint final critique showed abundant, diverse and high quality works of art.

 

Painting Junior Luke Watson at work (photo: Chris Wright).

 

In Art History all enjoyed the boat trip to Torcello, where Dorothy Shepard invited Joe Kopta to lecture on the mosaics. Materials and Techniques students were able to mount to the monks’ loft in San Sebastiano and hear from conservators and Amalia Basso of the Soprintendenza about the last phase in the conservation of Veronese’s frescoes.

Special lectures included Stefania Sartori, wood conservationist, Paolo Spezzani in a lecture open to all on non destructive investigation of materials and techniques, and Robert Morgan on the Biennale. The Biennale itself was all over town, not only in the main sites at the Arsenale and the Giardini. What distinguished the Biennale of 2013 was, in fact, its installation in many private palaces around the city. This opened such palazzi to visitors and challenged 21st century artists to create installations that might interact with spaces built in the 15th, 16th or 17th century.

On trips to Padua trip and the villa Barbaro there were innovations. After the visit to the Giotto chapel and the area of the Santo, a few faculty and students went to Sta. Giustina, a 16th century Benedictine church with early Christian remains, recently unearthed. On the villa trip, after Castelfranco and Giorgione we visited Palladio’s Villa Emo decorated by Zelotti before continuing to Palladio’s Villa Barbaro at Maser and to our rustic meal and art-making on the hills outside Bassano. This addition brought universal approval and will be repeated.

 

Students Lilian Thorpe, Jessie Novik and Anthony Vasquez observing Zelotti's frescoes in Palladio's Villa Emo (photo: Diana Gisolfi).

 

Director's Report, 2012

Diana Gisolfi, Director

Pratt in Venice 2012 was a highly productive year with lots of student collaboration and many memorable occasions. Nineteen participants included upperclassmen and graduate students from Art History, Fine Arts, Interior Design, and Architecture.  A student from the University of Delaware and two students from Pratt at Munsen-Williams-Proctor (one on her way to Pratt, the other moving on to Maryland) joined the group. Alumnus Joe Kopta (PiV '07, BFA/MS '10) joined as chief assistant and Venice alumnus Andrew Kurczak (PiV '11) continued as communicator extraordinaire. Students Kelly Davis, Regina Dubin, Collin Hewitt and Hannah West served as course assistants.

 

Pratt in Venice 2012 on Palladio's Bridge, Bassano del Grappa (photo: Joseph Kopta).

 

Dorothy Shepard, with Joe and colleagues Jennifer and Chris, led the trip to Torcello and the visit to San Marco. All faculty and staff contributed in group visits to the Accademia and the Doges Palace led by Diana. Visiting lecturer Tracy Cooper (Temple University) shared her expertise on Palladio at San Giorgio Maggiore and the Redentore.  Materials and Techniques visits to the San Marco mosaic lab, the Orsoni factory, and wood conservation studio with Stefania Sartori were followed by a very special opportunity to mount the scaffold at the church of San Sebastiano in Venice to study, with the help of the conservators Lucia Tito and Egido Arlango, the great range of painting techniques employed by Veronese and his assistants. A special event in the art history class was the lecture by alumna Galia Halpern (MS/MSLIS '07) in the exhibition of early maps at the Marciana Library. The lecture to the whole group by expert Paolo Spezzani on paintings in Venice and Padua studied under X-ray, infrared and ultraviolet shed light on the group trip to Padua and prepared students to understand examples to be seen on the trip to Castelfranco, Maser and Bassano. In Padua, Antonio Stevan, conservation architect, again generously hosted our early morning extended visit to the Scrovegni Chapel with Giotto’s frescoes. At Bassano all enjoyed a delicious meal al fresco prepared by Luisa and Gigi with all fresh local ingredients before seeking perches from which to sketch, paint or etch the countryside.

 

Tracy Cooper (Temple University) lecturing on Palladio's architecture in the church of San Giorgio Maggiore (photo: Joseph Kopta)

 

Jennifer Melby’s printmaking students working long hours at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica and Chris Wright’s painters working at the Università Internazionale dell’Arte and on site produced a wonderful range of work, admired by all participants in the final critique before our “Last Supper” held at Gianni’s on the Zattere after the weekend celebration of the Festa del Redentore accompanied by ceremonies, church bells, boat races and fabulous fireworks.

 

Colin Hewitt (Painting course assistant) presents his work at the Final Critique (photo: Joseph Kopta).

 

Director's Report, 2011

Diana Gisolfi, Director

2011 was a special year for Pratt in Venice.  The group of participants comprised 21 students, balanced equally between graduate and undergraduate, including degree candidates in painting, printmaking, art history, library science, illustration, art direction, and various combined degrees.

 

Pratt in Venice 2011 on Palladio's bridge, Bassano del Grappa.

 

The printmaking studio at the Scuola di Grafica was active overtime with highly determined printmakers tirelessly guided by Jennifer Melby. Chris Wright and his painters labored outdoors and in the Universita` dell’Arte studio, producing a wide range of responses to the experience. Art history students tromped and floated around the city studying the visual arts in situ with Dimitri Hazzikostas, while in Materials and Techniques students were admitted, through the help of Diana Gisolfi’s Venetian associates, to conservation laboratories and sites to learn about ways of making and salvaging art. Visiting lecturers included Tracy Cooper on Palladio, Paolo Spezzani on non-destructive analysis of art works, Robert Morgan’s view of the Biennale, and Stefania Sartori on wood conservation.

In addition to our traditional visits to Padua and to Castelfranco/Maser/Bassano, including architect Antonio Stevan’s lecture at the Giotto Chapel and an outdoor feast at Bassano, there were two unique happenings. The publicity office at Pratt contacted the program to ask if CBS could film some of our students viewing the Biennale. As Hilary Thompson, our wonderfully organized on-site assistant, had already organized the visit to the Giardini part of the Biennale, we set up a visit to the Arsenale part, with CBS in tow. Some segment of the filming should appear on CBS Sunday Morning very soon! The other unique event was in relation to conservation of the church of San Sebastiano, decorated by Paolo Veronese. Materials and Techniques students visited the exhibition of the three ceiling canvases, just cleaned, at the Palazzo Grimani, and they later were able to mount the scaffold in the church with the superintendent of the project, Dr. Amalia Basso as guide, to see up close all the varied painting techniques used by Veronese and his helpers.

Our Pratt in Venice exhibition on campus October 17-22 in the Second Floor Gallery reflects the richness of the program in the range and high quality of work exhibited. The conservation research and on-site photographs shown in the display cases outside the gallery remain on view throughout the year.

Director's Report, 2009

Diana Gisolfi, Program Director

Pratt in Venice 2009 marked the 25th anniversary of our Program. Fittingly it was a stellar year. Twenty-four participants included nine graduate students, from Art History and also Fine Arts and Digital Arts. The undergraduates were majors in Fine Arts, Communication Design, many also completing minors in Art History, and majors in Art History. Graduate TCHADA alumna Gillian Sneed (MS '08) served as on-site assistant and supervised housing matters. She also organized and led a visit of all interested students to the Venice Biennale.

The climate cooperated, so Dimitri Hazzikostas’ Torcello trip started the program off beautifully. Greg Drasler, painting professor and Joe Stauber, printmaking professor, both in their second year with the program, worked wonderfully together and supported and pushed students well. The final crit, and the exhibition in October at Pratt, showed a great range of excellent work in both painting and printmaking/drawing.

Graduate assistants in the art history classes, Hilary Thompson and John Gribowich, undertook helping undergraduates in the intricacies of using the Marciana Library and the Quirini-Stampalia Library. And the nine students in Materials and Techniques came through with excellent research, with topics ranging from Venetian bricks, to early printed books and manuscripts, to meaning and technique in mosaics, to pigments and underdrawings in Bellini and Tintoretto, to sustaining Venice’s ecosystem.

We again enjoyed collaboration from local experts: Antonio Stevan at the Giotto chapel, Stefania Sartori in the wood sculpture conservation lab, Maestro Piero in the mosaic lab, Bernardo Molinas on frescoes, Paolo Spezzani on techniques for showing painting processes.

And we all enjoyed the spectacular fireworks on the Feast on the Redentore.