Studio Arts courses allow students to research and explore creative and innovative approaches to making art while living in a city with one of the world’s greatest artistic patrimonies. With an emphasis on creative growth and participatory educational experience, Syracuse Florence is dedicated to helping students understand the links between Florence’s artistic history and the significance of contemporary expression.
The Florence Center offers courses in painting, ceramics, drawing, printmaking, digital photography and Renaissance painting techniques (fresco and egg tempera) on campus, as well as metalsmithing, batik, silkscreen and woven design at the nearby Fuji Studios. The faculty is made up of internationally renown artists in their respective disciplines. The facilities include painting, drawing, photography, ceramics, and restoration studios located at Piazzale Donatello n. 21; a printmaking studio on Via Della Robbia n. 99 (across the street from the Villino); and metalsmithing, silkscreen, and batik facilities at Fuji studios in the historic center.
In tandem with studio work, students visit local galleries, museums, churches, piazze and gardens. Course-related trips may include visits to the marble quarries in Carrara, The Mambo in Bologna, The Maxxi in Rome and The Fondazione Marini in Pistoia, while every two years students have the opportunity to travel to Venice to visit the world-famous Venice Biennale.
Each semester one or more artists are invited to present and discuss their work with Syracuse Florence art students. Lectures are held in a small, informal setting at Donatello 21, where students not only familiarize themselves with the works of contemporary artists but have the opportunity ask questions and learn about their lives as active artists in contemporary Italy.
Through the all-school and course-related field trips, art students have extraordinary opportunities to visit both traditional and contemporary galleries and exhibitions as well as artistically important sites in Florence and throughout Italy.
At the end of the semester, all art students (major and non-major) present two or more pieces of artwork on the Final Festa Student Art Exhibit.