AHIR 310: Survey of Italian Renaissance Art
Credits: 3
Instructor: Michael Kwakkelstein, Ph.D.
Course/Lab Fee: 85 euro for museum visits and travel
Cross-Listing: None
Prerequisite: none
This course examines the principal developments in Italian painting, sculpture and architecture from the mid-thirteenth century to the beginning of the sixteenth century. Focusing on the major schools of artistic practice, the course examines works of art of the masters in Florence, Siena, Perugia, Venice and Rome.
Where deemed necessary, there is focus on other locations, a primary example being Giotto's fresco cycle in the Scrovegni Chapel, Padua.
Artistic commissions are discussed in relation to their function, style, iconography and influence. Where possible, we examine works of art in situ, as this allows a greater understanding of the original form and function of art. The course concludes with a close examination of the iconography and style of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling by Michelangelo.
TEXT: Paoletti & Radke, Art in Renaissance Italy (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2001). There will also be readings from other texts assigned throughout the class.
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SABT 110: Ballet I or SABT 310: Ballet II
Credits: 3
Schedule: T, TH, 12:00-1:30PM
Instructors: Idalee Hutson-Fish (Visiting Instructor from Whitman College)
Course/Lab Fee: None
Prerequisite for SABT 100: None
Prerequisite for SABT 310: Previous ballet experience
Cross Listing: None
DESCRIPTION
Ballet I - SABT 110 is for students who have a minimum knowledge in classical ballet technique, working on correct posture, turnout, muscular control, balance, quickness, strength, musicality and dance quality. Classes begin with warm-up, exercises at the barre, center work covering port de bras, adagio, piorouettes, petite and grand allegro and dance variations. The objective of SABT 110 is to provide a regimen of strong ballet technique at the beginning level. Students will begin to learn the kinetic motion of classical ballet and begin to develop its communicable style as a visual medium. The goal is to reach a basic level of execution of movement and build the beauty and expressiveness of the dancer.
Ballet II - SABT 310 is for students who have a good knowledge in classical ballet technique and who seek to increase technical ability, vocabulary and dance capacity. Students will continue working on correct posture, turnout, muscular control, balance, quickness, strength, musicality and dance quality. Classes begin with warm-up, exercises at the barre, center work covering port de bras, adagio, pirouettes, petite and grand allegro and dance variations. The objective of SABT 310 is to provide a regimen of strong ballet technique at the intermediate level. Students will build on what they have previously learned about the kinetic motion of classical ballet and continue developing its communicable style as a visual medium. The goal is to increase the efficiency of execution of movement and build the beauty and expressiveness of the dancer.
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ARPD 310: Pastel Drawing in Perugia
Credits: 3
Visiting Professor: Martha Wakeman
Cross-listing: none
This course is designed to provide sutdents with an introduction to the fundamentals of drawing and pastel painting and to encourage the development of a personal style. It is both for beginning art students and for advanced students who may not have previously worked in pastel.
The course will focus on space, proportion, line, surface, form and color. Basic techniques will be demonstrated, and the history of pastel painting will be discussed as we look at reproductions.
Classes will be held outside on site in Perugia, as well as inside in the art studios at The Umbra Institute. Assignments are designed to help students see Perugia, as well as to provide a foundation in pastel painting. During the course students will visit the National Gallery of Umbria in Perugia to discuss major paintings.
Martha Wakeman studied at the Tyler School of Art in Rome and holds a B.S. in Art Edcuation from Skidmore College and an M.A. and M.F.A. from Villa Schifanoia, Rosary College Graduate School of Fine Art (Dominican University) in Florence, Italy. She has exhibited her paintings and pastels in Florence, Milan, Connecticut and New York. Her work is in collections in the U.S., Europe, New Zealand and Canada.
She teaches an Art Foundations course during the academic year at Connecticut College and Pastel Landscape in the summer sessions at Connecticut College and The Umbra Institute. She has also created Art and Study Retreats in Italy, one of which is a nine-day drawing, pastel and watercolor workshop in the countryside north of Rome. Her work may be viewed at www.marthawakeman.com.
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AROP 310: Oil Painting
Credits: 3
Instructor: William Pettit
Course/Lab Fee: None
Prerequisites: None
Cross-Listing: None
Painting from direct observation, including from the human figure, is the traditional basis for training the artist’s eye and hand. Students will address the problems of painting by working from direct observation, including the classic genres of still-life, figure study, interior, landscape, and self-portrait.
This course explores painting as an integrative process involving aspects of drawing, design, color and image in the organization of a two-dimensional surface. Students learn oil painting techniques and explore how these techniques can be used to create a successful image. Students are encouraged to find their own, individual approaches, and no particular style is promoted. Students are required to keep a sketchbook and to document ideas for paintings in words, found images, and drawings.
Students will also view slides of paintings from diverse historical periods and there will be class visits to exhibitions in order to help students familiarize themselves with various painting traditions. Group critiques will also be conducted to help students develop a language for discussing their own paintings and those of others.
Students are responsible for all required materials, which they can bring with them or purchase locally. If purchased locally, painting materials will cost from 80-100 euro.
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ARPH 310: Photography-Portfolio of Italy
Credits: 3
Schedule: T, 3:15-6:45PM
Instructor: Philippa Stannard
Lab Fee: 35 euro
Prerequisite: None
Cross-Listing: None
This introduces students to the fundamentals of photography. Students will explore basic concepts, processes and techniques, including camera usage, exposure controls, film development and techniques, and print presentation. The course work will focus on students capturing and recording their experiences in Perugia and in Italy using their cameras.
Students will have the option of making a photo diary of this experience as well. Creative exploration through specific assignments will form the basis for development of aesthetic criteria. No previous photographic experience is assumed.
Students must supply their own cameras with adjustable apertures and shutter speeds and have color print film developed regularly at their own expense ( black and white film may be developed\printed in the Umbra dark room). This course will make use of many resources in and around Perugia as well as field trips to nearby sites.
Text: Photography I Technical Manual and Reader
Required Materials: Students must bring with them or purchase in Italy a 35 mm Single Lens MANUAL camera. Students should expect to spend a total of approximately $150 for film, paper, color processing including the lab fees
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SOIT 361: The History and Culture of Food in Italy
Credits: 3
Instructor: Peter Fischer, Ph.D.
Course/Lab Fee: 90 euro
Cross-Listing: History, Italian Studies
Prerequisite: None
In this course we will examine the relationship between food and culture in Italy through a variety of readings, discussions, field trips and tasting experiences. The study of Italian culinary customs and agricultural traditions, past and present, will lead us to a richer and more complete understanding of Italy.
The course will trace the historical evolution of an impressive patchwork of highly sophisticated regional food cultures for which Italy is justly famous. We will emphasize how food relates to history, geography and society. Because the study of food cultures in Italy invites comparison with our own alimentary habits, we will also examine the American way with food.
Through in-class demonstrations, students will learn about -- and sample -- the most significant Italian foods such as olive oil, wine, cheese, bread, pasta, etc. During the semester, the class will visit some important food production and distribution facilities in Tuscany. Through these and other activities, students will be able to savour first hand the incredible variety and richness of Italian foods.
Text: Students will purchase a specially prepared course packet.
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RSHS 340: The History of Early Christianity
Credits: 3
Schedule: TBA
Instructor: Alessandro Celani
Course/Lab Fee: 90 Euro (Rome and Spoleto field trips)
Prerequisites: None
Cross-Listing: Religion/History
DESCRIPTION
The course provides a social and cultural history of Christianity in its birth, formation and diffusion. The subject is extremely complex, wide and involves different typologies of documents, as well as several methodologies. With this in mind, the course is organized along two parallel schematic itineraries: chronological and thematic.
The first aspect to be analyzed will be the concept of religion as documented by the ancient Mediterranean societies and constructed around the triad of myth, ritual, and history. The main focus will be on both Oriental and Greco-Roman religions, which together represented the initial models adopted by the early Christians in forming and spreading the new Christian ideology. Secondly, Stoicism and Epicurean and Platonic philosophy will be re-considered in relation to their role as pioneers of new concepts--the self in relation to society and the self in relation to divinity—concepts that were eventually borrowed and developed further by early Christians.
The chronological itinerary developed in the course will help to set the birth of Christianity in its historical context. More specifically, the conquest of the Middle-East by the Romans will be reconsidered from the point of view of religious intolerance as a method of social control. The figure of Jesus Christ will be the object of review as both a historical and invented, idealized personage from the formation to the diffusion and consolidation of the Christian religion.
The last part of the course will deal with the construction of the Christian individual as a type, first classified as illegal, then tolerated within society, and finally seen as one with power. The discussion will conclude with an examination of the transition from the typical Christian to the Christian leader. In this section, Constantine will be the centre of the discussion, intended as both an exponent of ancient culture and the founder of a new way of exercising power and social predominance. Themes of rupture and continuity will be the main organizing elements in this concluding section, with much attention paid to ceremony and iconography.
TEXT
Course Reader
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CWIT 330: Creative Writing: Italy of the Imagination
Credits: 3
Instructor: Cindy Clough, Ph.D.
Course/lab Fee: none - however course may visit Rome or other sites
Cross-Listing: None
Prerequisite: None
The writing for this course will be based directly on experiences students have in Italy; freshness of expression, skillful use of language, and personal engagement with subjects will be the goals.
The readings for the course are good exemplars of what is meant by "creative nonfiction." This genre is
- not fiction: creative nonfiction is not created or made up by the writer; it is composed of the real experiences of the author;
- not conventional journalism: creative nonfiction is not concerned with presenting the facts in an objective or empirical way, but rather is meant to be infused with the writer’s personality and way of seeing;
- based on facts: none of the source material is made up, although it is often embellished and stylized.
Class time will consist of discussion; writing exercises; creative-writing workshops (student papers will given constructive group feedback); exercises in revision; and work on technical aspects of writing. Throughout the semester, the techniques of writing—syntax, grammar, diction, punctuation, and so on—will be discussed in relation to student work.
Text: A course reader will be available for students to purchase.
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ITPS 360: International Political Relations of Modern Italy
Credits: 3
Instructor: Hedwig Giusto, Ph.D.
Course Fee: 40 Euros
Cross-Listing: Italian Studies & Political Science
Prerequisites: None
This course offers an introductory survey of the evolution of Italian foreign policy from the reunification of Italy in the 19th century to the recent crisis over the war in Iraq.
The first part of the course will concentrate on Italy’s role in European politics between the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, with particular attention given to its colonial ambitions in Northern Africa and the Horn of Africa and on its role and policies during the two World Wars.
In the second section of the course major emphasis will be placed on Italy’s position in the Cold War era and, in particular, on the part played by Italy in the establishment of the Atlantic Alliance and the European Communities.
Finally, the last part will focus on the post Cold War era: on the current state of Italy’s relations with its neighbors and with the United States, and on the Italian approach to recent major crises, such as the break up of Yugoslavia, the wars in the Middle East and the security issues of the post 9/11 world.
Methods of Presentation: Lectures, seminars, videos, class discussion, field trip to the Italian foreign ministry in Rome, and short oral presentations on topics to be chosen by the students after consultation with the instructor.
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ITLN 101: Elementary Italian
Credits: 4
Schedule: TBA
Instructors: Umbra Institute Instructors
Course/Lab Fee: None
Cross-Listing: None
Prerequisite: None
Perugia is a wonderful laboratory for learning the Italian language, and the structure of the Italian language program reflects this urban reality. The first week of intensive language instruction immerses the student in the Italian language and culture, and introduces them to local routines and life in Perugia, where the opportunity to use the language abounds.
This immersion further orients the students to studying Italian in Italy, where the communicative approach with Italian only in classroom is practiced in full. Lastly, the week sets the rules and rhythm for the semester and helps to instill an enthusiasm for the Italian language and culture.
The specific goals of the introductory course is to give students a basic lexicon to interact with everyday life, events and activities of their new host country, while at the same time teaching them the key building blocks of Italian grammar. The central objectives are therefore to provide students with the necessary tools by which they can engage—little by little—with the local community in a meaningful way, and to stimulate students to observe and reflect upon various aspects of the new culture surrounding them.
Course activities will include exercises and homework assignments to develop and improve grammatical knowledge; reading and listening activities; and games, role-playing, and interviewing in both pairs and groups both within and outside the classroom.
Course Materials:
- Required Text: I. Fratter, C. Troncarelli, Piazza Navona: Corso di italiano per stranieri (libro dei testi e della grammatica). CIDEB Edizioni.
- Supplementary Text: selected exercises and readings from various textbooks and workbooks will be handed out periodically.
- Dictionary: students are strongly recommended to purchase an English/Italian, Italian/English dictionary.
The library in via Mazzini has a number of dictionaries available for consultation.
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