The UGA Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy, will showcase works by students and faculty in an exhibition that runs through Jan. 21 in the third floor of the Lamar Dodd School of Art. The closing reception is at 3 p.m. Jan. 21 at the art school.
The exhibition focuses on work produced by program participants during the three semesters of 2011; and there will be a reunion for its students from throughout the year. The work covers the studio areas of painting, drawing, watercolor, printmaking, photography, sculpture, ceramics, jewelry/metals, paper and book arts, graphic design, interior design and landscape architecture.
The Cortona program, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009, has continued to expand its curricular offerings in recent years while maintaining its original focus on studio
art.
Cortona science May term courses in biology and chemistry allow participants to remain on their degree track while gaining exposure to Italian culture, language and art history. Viticulture and oenology courses allow students in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences to study the growing of grapes and the production of wine while immersed in the Tuscan landscape.
“The exhibition is a chance for all of the participants from 2011 to be together again, see friends and catch up,” said Chris Robinson, director of the Studies Abroad Program in Cortona. “The focus is the artwork but it’s also important for our students to have a sense of closure, a kind of processing of their experience in Italy.”
As the program has grown to include students from other campuses around the U.S., it has increased the internationalization of the UGA campus while presenting new opportunities for UGA students. One example is a chemistry course geared toward art techniques and processes in which students study the chemistry of fresco painting and printmaking, photography and bronze casting, glaze chemistry and the casting of silver and ceramics.
“We are trying to grow-in the sense that we’re rounding out our curriculum,” Robinson said. “But we’re still trying to keep it very much in the context of the setting and city and the original mission of the program that Jack Kehoe started.”
