Serre di Rapolano, Tuscany / July 6-27, 2008
Course package includes:
2008 Course Costs
Appropriate Skill Level
Students entering this course need no prior experience with sculpture. Each student, from novice to advanced, will be instructed at his or her level.
This three week course, located in beautiful Serre di Rapolano, near Siena, will teach students the fundamentals of stone carving, following techniques which the Italians mastered and employed during the Renaissance, and which are still in use today by professional stone sculptors. Students will become familiar with the tools and procedure used to create a stone sculpture, from roughing out the form with chisels to finishing it with rasps, sanding stones and other abrasives. The use of hand tools as well as contemporary implements such as diamond saws will be demonstrated.
As students move through the course, they will have the unparalleled opportunity to observe Tuscan masters who have worked in this trade since adolescence, in an active studio where large-scale projects are currently being realized. Daily instruction will be provided by Steve Shaheen and Italian artisans.
In addition to the sculpting sessions, there will be guided field trips each week to artistic highlights such as Florence and Siena. Students will also have weekends free to relax and explore local points of interest.
While students are free to make their own lodging and food arrangements, we provide inexpensive options for quality lodging and meals to make your stay as convenient and affordable as possible.
Combining Sculpture Courses
Due to the slow and demanding process of stone carving, we have added additional sculpture courses this year. These courses may be taken independently, but based on the requests for more time by past students, we encourage combining courses to have the best opportunity to produce a finished sculpture. We feel so strongly about this that we have even added a 5% discount off total tuition costs (on top of student and early enrollment discounts) for participants who combine any two or three of the sculpture courses (Carrara courses I and II, or either one with the Flesh in Stone course).
In addition to the most important benefit of additional time to work on sculptures, we recommend combining Carrara with the Flesh in Stone course because it offers students the rare opportunity to work in two separate professional sculpture studios, and to experience the different materials, tools and sculpture methods in each environment. Participants in the Carrara courses will have the chance to survey marbles and stones from around the world in this port town, as well as to visit mountain quarries, while Flesh in Stone course students will be exposed to a wide variety of local travertines and will see the ground-quarrying process used to extract them.
Rapolano and Environs
Browse photos of Serre di Rapolano, nearby Siena, and the surrounding Tuscan landscape.
Nestled in the scenic, gently rolling hills outside Siena, Serre di Rapolano is a quiet medieval town that provides the home base for our class, which is held on the site of one of the nearby travertine quarries. Travertine has been used by local communities for millennia, and has produced a rich tradition of stone workmanship in the region.
Tuscany, located in central Italy, is one of the most visually striking regions in the country, and at the same time home to many of the world’s masterpieces of Western art. This trip combines excellent instruction with spectacular vistas and exposure to the best works of art in the area.
One of the goals of our program is to combine high-level training with simultaneous exposure to some of the best examples of artwork in the discipline participants are studying. It is estimated that Italy possesses nearly three-quarters of the West’s artistic patrimony.
Aside from having weekends free to travel to points of local interest, students will be brought on a guided field trip every Wednesday to nearby artistic treasures such as Siena and Florence. These excursions are led by our knowledgeable Art Historian, Piergiacomo Petrioli, and offer students an unparalleled chance to see some of Italy’s top artwork with a resident expert.
Please be aware that our field trips tend to involve a great deal of walking and being on one’s feet for most of the day.
Steve Shaheen is an artist who specializes in stone carving. He was trained as a sculptor in the studios of Mauro Berrettini, Siena, and Luigi Corsanini, Carrara. He has worked both in Italy and the United States on various projects. In 2002, he planned and executed a project to create a 100-ton marble and granite memorial to the members of his community who were lost on 9/11. In 2005 he received his MFA in sculpture from the New York Academy of Art. His awards include grants from the Ludwig Volgestein Foundation and La Fortuna Foundation. Today, Steve divides his time between New York and Italy.
Should you prefer to arrange your own accommodations, here are some options in Serre di Rapolano and nearby towns. Please be aware that if you stay outside Serre di Rapolano you will need a car to get back and forth.
You are free to choose your own lodging or take advantage of our inexpensive program housing.
Our lodging is in shared apartments in the historic center of Serre di Rapolano, with 3-4 beds per room, shared kitchen and bath. Linens are changed once per week. Each apartment has a stove, small refrigerator and kitchenware, and there is a small supermarket within walking distance.
Space is limited and filled on a first-come basis. Please contact us if you have questions or a special situation (traveling with a companion, etc.)
Tuscany Study has collaborated with the local Grand Hotel Serre to offer a secondary lodging option, at a discounted price, for the duration of the course. Due to its proximity this is the only lodging (outside our in-house group lodging) where we will arrange for ground transportation for all students residing there. The hotel is an upscale 4-star residence with a pool, tennis court, and other features which can be seen at www.hotelserre.it. Package rates for Tuscany Study participants are as follows:
Bed and Breakfast for 21 days
Reservations must be made directly with the hotel by writing them at mail@hotelserre.it, or calling (+39 0577 704777). If you prefer a double or a triple but don't already have a travel companion, let them know and your name will be put on a list to be joined with other same-gender participants until the room is filled. The hotel cannot guarantee that a double or triple rate will be available if there are not enough interested participants to fill the room.
Currency
Check here to find out what the latest conversion is from your currency to the euro: http://www.xe.com/ucc/
Food
Participants who choose our program housing service will have kitchenettes with stove, utensils and kitchenware, and refrigerators in their apartments. In addition to cooking at home, there is a local trattoria serving inexpensive meals and pizza a 5-minute walk away.
Our program also offers a discounted food catering service for lunches and/or dinners. Meals include three courses (pasta + meat/chicken/fish + vegetable side dish) plus fruit, bread and bottled water. Many students find it is easier to have at least lunch prepared for them, so that they can come back from the morning work session and have food already set to go. The service is optional, but must be requested and paid for at the time that you apply to the program.
Sample menu coming soon...
Internet, ATM, and Other Resources
Although the internet is gaining increasing popularity in Italy, it is generally less available than in the United States. Wireless connections are rare so don’t bring your laptop unless you want it for other uses. There is a public internet point within walking distance. In the event that this is unavailable we will make trips to an internet cafe at least twice weekly.
A short walk from our program housing there is a post office, a small bar/café and a few small vendors. A little further down the road is a conglomerate of vendors that includes a general-purpose “corner store”, a bank and ATM that accepts most foreign debit cards, a restaurant with modest prices, a supermarket and laundry service.
On the other side of town, and a little further walk, is located a pharmacy, an electronics store, a bakery, and other small vendors.
Laundry
There is no laundry service in our program housing, so most students lodging with us hand-wash or bring their clothes to a laundromat nearby (students using the laundromat should be sure to ask the price beforehand, as laundry cleaning service is much more expensive than in the United States).
What to Bring
Materials and Supplies
Students will be offered a variety of stones to choose from, all available at a discount directly from the sculpture studio where we will be working. At the end of the course students can elect to ship back their pieces individually or collectively at their own cost.
Basic tools will be supplied by the studio for use during the course. Students will have the option to purchase their own tools, if they wish, in a local supply store.
Italian Language
You will not need to know Italian to participate in this workshop, but it is helpful to have some basic knowledge. Many students find that they want to communicate more with local residents, and therefore we recommend that as a minimum you pick up a phrasebook. There are many decent book/cd options for students who want a more thorough practice. The Ultimate Italian series offers a good balance between solid grammar skills and practical conversation.
Although many vendors in Tuscany know at least some English, it is always polite to ask first: “Parla inglese?” (PAR-lah een-GLAY-zay?) – “Do you speak English?”
Other Expenses to Plan For
We strive to keep our courses affordable and to provide the best value we can—we want to provide courses we could and would attend ourselves. We do this by keeping our costs low, arranging inexpensive program housing, and by providing a discount for fulltime university/MFA students.
Course Costs
2008 Course Enrollment deadlines
Tuition Deposit Schedule
Cancellations
Cancellations must be submitted in writing. Refunds will be given minus fees. If a substitute is found, then a full refund will be given minus a $125 administrative fee.
If you’d like to attend, just email us or print out and mail in the registration form located here (requires Adobe PDF Reader).
Please note: we reserve the right to cancel trips for unforeseen circumstances or in the event that enrollment is insufficient. In the unlikely event a trip is cancelled, a full refund will be issued to all participants.
© 2007 Tuscan Stoneworks, LLC | sitemap
