As part of the academic program at Accademie Riaci, cultural excursions take place every second week. Florence is central to many renown towns and villages, and this week we travelled to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower.
 |
| Leaning tower of Pisa |
 |
| The serious tilt of the Leaning tower. |
There is more to the complex than just the tower which is really just a bell tower for the cathedral and baptistery and the complex is known as Campo dei Miracle (field of Miracles).
Within the cathedral features a pulpit carved by Giovanni Pisano, sculpted between 1302 and 1310, which features nudes and heroic figures. It was at this time that the human body was beginning to be celebrated, rather than being thought of a place of sin. It is said that this inspired Michelangelo's David.
Academia Riaci also organises art tours on Friday mornings and we visited the Galleria dell'Academia which has a room dedicated to Michelangelo's sculptures along with a large exhibition of medieval paintings. Seeing Michelangelo's David in real life brought tears to my eyes. It is an exquisitely carved sculpture and the story behind it was brought to life by an amazing art guide, Andi who runs art tours Artist for a Day.
Back at school this week I learnt the basics of incisione, carving into metal. Using sealing wax to hold the metal in place, I used small sharp chisels to create an image in the metal. Some of the techniques are very similar to those used in print making.
Interestingly, each of the different jewellery techniques (construction, incisione, gem setting) are taught by a professor who specialise in each area. Daniele, my teacher, specialises in construction.
 |
| Tools used for Incisione |
 |
| My attempts at incisione |
 |
| The fourth ring |
 |
| Another view of the fourth ring |
No comments:
Post a Comment