Architecture and interior design students study art in Italy

During the summer of 2013, the College of Architecture, Art and Design (CAAD) conducted its second consecutive summer drawing course in Italy taught by Brian Dougan, Associate Professor in Architecture. The group comprised eight students with a mix of first and second year students studying architecture and interior design.

The group lived in Italy for 23 days in three different locations for varying lengths of time: Orvieto, Assisi, and Volterra. The students traveled regularly to other sites such as Arezzo, Cortona, Firenze, San Gimignano and Perugia. There was one free weekend where groups ventured as far as Rome and Capri. The days were spent drawing in churches and museums, exploring unfamiliar attitudes about what it means to be a drawer. Besides monuments, art, and piazzas, the culinary delights were countless. Accommodations ranged from pleasant Italian neighborhoods off the beaten track to a unique five days in a medieval monastery.

The daily routine included morning and afternoon drawing sessions and lessons on the trip were not limited to the subject of seeing/drawing. History was pervasive and all venues were initially interrogated for their historical significance before they were considered graphically. The environment was a rich mixture of Etruscan and medieval culture with an occasional Roman dimension often visible. The days were only roughly choreographed to allow for a spontaneous event such as a conversation with a cloistered nun or a visit to an ancient pilgrimage abode, a potter's studio, the laboratory of the Michelangeli in Orvieto or a cappuccino at an unknown bar on an unknown road on the way to the next daily adventure.

The trip marked everyone's first exposure to Italy and for most, the first journey abroad as an independent adult, which added another educational dimension to studying abroad.

The product of the 23 days in Italy course will be exhibited in the CAAD gallery during the fall 2013 semester.