Getting Settled

Okay... Deep Breath... things have been wildly fast paced, lots to do, see, study, learn, ideas to explore, a whirlwind and tangled mess of classical, medeival, renaissance, baroque, neo-classical, fascist, and modern urbanism. Large open spaces terminating long grand-manner axes, monuments. Cafe Macchiato is great, just like the illy im so fond of at home. This is better, because of the atmosphere, the accent, the flair... and because i get it more frequently... in true italian style, which is uno zucchero, three stirs, bottoms up, ciao, giorno, out the door. Studio is great, it isn't really a class, per se... it's more like a fostered environment for encouraged exploration of ideas. The art exists at every level, on and in everything. The people are wonderful and exiting to be around. Everyone holds such a higher value on art and beauty, from the way they dress their feet with pointed square-toe loafers and knit woolen scarves, to the way they dress their buildings in grafiti... its everywhere, on everything, old and new alike. Centuries and Millennia of architectural history and layering exist here... the palimpsest that is ROMA.

I had the privelege 2 days ago, to attend a lecture by Dan Jordan at the American Academy in Rome. Only 30 prizes are awarded each year for people to participate and study for months-on-end at the academy, experts in their various fields, art, history, architecture, music, sculpture, literature, etc. These prizes are are HIGHLY sought... I felt very fortunate to be present, if only for the evening, surrounded by such brilliant people. Atop the geniculum hill, overlooking all of rome, sunset views from east back to the west before us, and afterwards a reception, a glass of wine, alfresco, on the balcony adjacent to the courtyard of villa aurelia, looking over the entire city...

My studies this semester are the most exiting ive ever undertaken... Perhaps its this place of such great inspiration that gives rise to my enthusiasm... Designing a "mini-thesis", focusing on courtyard spaces, particularly in residential appliactions, relating them to the overall urban fabric of the city, studying plan, entry, sequence, procession, scale, proportion, volume, shape, light, furniture (?), fountains, gardens and landscaping, axes, mass and void, etc... Hopefully also studying the use of sculpture within courtyard spaces to set nodes, indicate points of termination, and hierarchy within these incredibly complex and powerful "inside/outside" hybrids of urban space. Also, probably a mapping exercise, trying to locate patterns within the context of pope sixtus v's urban plan from the late 16th century (1585-90).

Enough about that. Next post will possibly be a recipe that i dreamed up, impromptu, on sunday night. Complete with photographs for the effect of presentation. But for now, here are a few photos (havent had time to scan yet) of some quick "pre-roma" and "in-roma" sketches/drawings/watercolors. These are just a quick sampling, a handful. I have already filled one 262-page-sketchbook with about 65% drawing and 35% writing. Am just now starting a second sketchbook of equal size, which i hope to have filled by the time I return to the States. Sculpture has SERIOUSLY captured my attention, so you'll see some evidence of that. I find it intriguing, dramatic, remnants of the most powerful society on earth, to which nothing can compare today... the Roman Empire.

What a place... its 1:15 a.m. now.... Buono notte. Ciao.