Apr 16 2008
Footsteps I’d Love to Follow
Week 10: In class, copy from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel frescoes, choosing either the head of the Delphic Sible or one of the ceiling nudes / Assignment: Self-portrait done in the Renaissance technique of their choice.*
The NYU Alumni Magazine has an article in the current issue (you’ll have to wait to read it; it’s not online yet) of a fascinating class. It’s the kind of class I would die to take –well, not actually die, because then I wouldn’t be able to participate and my family would have to cover the expense of shipping my body home from Italy and, well it’s a really cool class. I mean, Italy!
But what in Italy? The Renaissance Apprentice, a class taught by Alan Pascuzzi. The students learn how to create art with the techniques and tools available to artists back in the days of Michelangelo, etc. — such techniques “as fresco, egg tempera, and silverpoint”. Students don’t have to be any sort of artist or art scholar to participate. But the article says that the class fills up quickly. Yeah. I’d imagine so.
The article gives a brief summary of the 14 week syllabus. Skim through that after reading Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy, and you’ll be pining for acceptance into NYU and a way to get into that class and over to Florence.
I love that anyone who can get in to the class, gets in. So many great classes at Universities are limited to the students majoring in that area, which is a crying shame. I wish I could participate.
*From “The Class: Following in Michelangelo’s Footsteps” by Renee Alfuso, NYU Alumni Magazine, Spring 2008 pgs. 16-17