ACADEMIC SEMESTER IN FLORENCE [list of courses]

Chiara Guarducci
Painting (2)

The course investigates painting in relation to territory. Considering painting as a powerful tool to analyse the physical, psychological and political characteristics of a particular context or site, the objective of this course is increasing the scope of the vision and possibilities of art itself. Students will develop a non-traditional approach to non-traditional media, assuming the freedom and indipendence to choose personal and unconventional languages that adequately represent their concepts, acquiring an attitude open to the unexpected and the capability to transform accidents into creative actions. Studentsare encouraged to acquire the ability of self-aware, critical approach to dayly life issues and realize the special implications of their work and involment with their chosen area of commitment.

The process used will be the work in progress, based on research and intuition.
At first stage, through field trips on the Chianti area, during the "vendemmia" (grapes harvest) students will do a data-collection observing and meeting the multicultural manpower working on the local vineyards and wineries and experiencing the natural and social organizations of that environment which, beyond the beautifull landscapes, is rich with contradictions due to the complex land transformation. Any medium could be usefull to take notes and find the focus of work, from taking photographs to shooting videos, recording ambient sounds, making interviews, doing sketches, collecting found objects, etc. After this outside work, a discussion of ideas and presentation of concepts will be done in studio in order to have advice, help and support in defining more precisely theoretical approaches to personal inquiries and also in choosing techniques and materials to use for final projects. Students may elect to pursue creative work in a variety of disciplines and combinations which they will experiment carrying out the project. Further research on social aspects and environment problems noticed during the field trip inspection will be required to hold up and complete the work as well as build and enhance a growth as an artist in the contemporary scenario. Constant group critiques will be provided at this stage of work and accompany the students on the path of art creation. The works for the final exhibition, expected from the students by the end of the course, will be presented and installed in a way able to keep, mentally and geographically, the connection with the origin of the project and to demonstrate the evolution of it as a specific and propositive practise of discovery.

Chiara Guarducci / Biography

Born in Greve in Chianti in 1973. At the age of 19, after her Graphic Design and Photography Degree at the Institute of Arts of Florence, went to New York where stayed for a year studing sculpture at the Art Students League and working as assistant of a designer Jonathan Wajskol. Back in Florence she studied at the Istitute of Industrial Design and graduated with Hons ( summa cum laude ) in 2000. In 1999 she was awarded an Exchange Program Scholarship and went to Minneapolis at the College of Art and Design where she took courses in Digital Video, Interactive Multimedia and Motion Graphics. In Minneapolis she met brillant young artists who really influenced her vision of art and improved her skill. She travelled to London and stayed there for two years, working as a web designer. Determinated to explore more the art territory came back to Florence and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, where, again, graduated with Hons ( summa cum laude ), in Painting, in 2006. While she was studying, she had work experiences as a photographer assistant and art director assistant in different companies in Florence. She won a post-graduate scholarship and became assistant to professor Umberto Borella in the Florence Academy of Art and at the California State University in Florence. She now teaches Graphic Design and Photography at the Istitute of Arts in Florence. She exhibited her work since 1997, and continues to work and experiment endlessly, crossingover new media with traditional techniques. She as selected for Femart07 for an exhibition at the Centre De Cultura De Dones Francesca Bonnemaison of Barcelona, Spain.