Karen Hansen's Impressions about Art lab in Italy organized by Academia Luciano and LarkGallery
16 days in Civitella D'Agliano, a tiny medieval town, located 50 miles north of Rome.
I immersed myself in this glorious classic Italian atmosphere.
On July 12, 2015 I boarded a plane bound for Rome. I was headed to my second Artist Residency organized by Academia Luciana. I was traveling with 5 of my fellow artists also from Los Angeles, none of whom I’d met previously. We were all very excited to embark on our great adventure! Once we landed in Rome, we boarded a bus for the fifty mile trip north to Civitella d’Agliano. We arrived at 10 pm. Even in the dark, I was instantly charmed by the
ancient architecture, the cobblestone piazza and the narrow cobblestone streets. This medieval town is classic Italy. The buildings date from the 12th to the 14th centuries.
Originally Civitella d’Agliano was built as a lookout and the huge watch tower still stands on the piazza, although after a restoration in about 1970 it’s only 300 feet tall, about 2/3 its original height. The town was one of three strategically located high on hilltops within the Tiber River valley. All those centuries ago, when the region contained a papal court, the residents of the valley were defending the river. Whoever controlled the Tiber controlled the entire vast area. From the watch tower, the whole valley could be surveyed.
These days the Old Town is largely abandoned. Of the 1600 Civitella residents, only 46 live within the Old Town, along with a zillion feral cats. At one end of the piazza there is a beautiful large Catholic church where mass is held daily at 5:30 for the 8 residents who attend. The remaining empty buildings throughout the town became our homes and studio spaces for our 16 day stay. Our group ultimately numbered 24 artists from 11 countries, 5 continents. The artists ranged from ages 19 to 70. They worked in all styles and all media, including performance art.
Our time there was so much less complicated than my life in Los Angeles. Siestas are a part of the local culture and, of course, I complied. We slept when we were tired, ate when we got hungry and during the rest of our time we were free to paint and explore. Everyone’s stress melted away. My days usually began just before dawn, about 5 am, waking up to the cooing of doves and roosters crowing. The morning light was pure Italian, just like J M W Turner experienced. Before breakfast I would wander around the Old Town with my camera and shoot
photos of the beautiful crumbly architecture, the sweeping views of the river valley and even a few of the cats. After about an hour I’d come home to eat breakfast and then head off to our studio to paint. The studios were located in a building that we were told was once a palace, altho it wasn’t opulent at all!
Throughout our stay, Italy experienced record breaking hot weather with the temperatures hovering around 100º each day and nights cooling only to the mid 70’s, not enough to cool the buildings. We had no air conditioning or fans so the siesta time was a way to cope with the oppressive midday heat. And after sundown the piazza was a gathering place for the locals to enjoy the cooler evenings. It was wonderful to listen to them chatter. Italian is such a lyrical language. It was really too hot to cook so lunches and dinners were usually salads giving me the opportunity to explore unfamiliar kinds of olives and cheeses. I found the yogurt, fruits and veg bursting with flavor! And of course gelato. My favorite flavor was called Egg Cream. Tomatoes, peaches, plums, melons, and watermelon were like nothing I can remember tasting. I realized the huge sacrifice we Americans make as a result of our mass food production.
Along with investigating every crevice of Civitella including their 3 restaurants and 2 markets, we briefly toured the area, visited 2 sculpture gardens, made a quick trip to Florence (and hiked to the top of the Duomo - all 463 steps!), and headed to a nearby beach one day only to arrive the moment a thunderstorm hit. Some of us were featured in a film being made by a local winery. And I connected with some very interesting artists, including the woman who was my roommate and studio mate. She lives in Culver City, CA. She was full of fascinating stories, having grown up in Siberia. And she produced 165 beautiful drawings during our residency, truly an inspiration to work beside.
I painted 9 paintings during my residency including the one pictured left called Ode to a Moth. Near the end of our stay we had an exhibition of the work we’d created. The exhibition coincided with a 3 day wine festival, an annual event that draws people to Civitella from all over Italy. The piazza was filled with food, wine and visitors as local musicians entertained the crowds late into the night.
At the end of our residency I packed up all but two of my paintings. The two I left behind had been selected by Christian Hamsea, our organizer, as part of the residency specifications. I headed back to Los Angeles happy to be home again but very grateful for another rich residency experience! There are even plans to show the work we left behind in Rome in 2016 at the Romanian Cultural Center next to the Borghese Gardens!