To Pour or Not to Pour?

Michael Kline

Jen Allen

Paul Donnelly

Textiles and Biscotti

PRATO, ITALY

Famous for it’s biscotti and textile industry, Prato is reachable by train from Florence, Lucca and Bologna

TEXTILES

Prato has a long history in textiles that started in the 12th century. In the 14th century wool makers united and were one of the first to set standards in fabric making.

Museo del Tessuto

This museum was founded in 1975 and celebrates the long history of textile industry in Prato as well as textiles from around the world.

RECYCLING

Prato is known for it’s carded materials. There is a movement of using recycling fibers to make new. In fact the Chamber of Commerce has created the “Cardato regenerated Co2 neutral” brand which promises zero-levels of CO2 produced during the regeneration process. Textiles can be a part of the green movement too.

INDUSTRIAL DISTRICT

Every six months: 2,000 new yarns,

60,000 new textile designs and

hundreds of new textile collections

Every year: 90,000 tons of yarn,

300 million meters of cloth,

110 million meters of technical textiles, and

12 million garments

General Value: 5,630 million euros.

BISCOTTI!

“Biscuit slices, of flour, sugar and egg white,” (Biscotti, as documented in 1691). Biscotti characterized by almonds came to a rise in the second half of the ninth century. As for Prato, Antonio Mattei developed a recipe that had instant success at the Universal Exhibition of Paris in 1867. Prato still has many shops that use the ‘original’ biscotti recipe.

Trip to Venice

Trip to Venice

Where to Stay?

Bed and Breakfast: Vaniglia e Sorriso Venezia

This Bed and Breakfast has a great location, located 20 minutes to St. Mark’s Square by foot.

Between 30 and 60 euros a night per person for a single. There are also apartments for rent by the same family! You would be living in a house with a family so there is not a lot of privacy, but that also means that you will experience more of the culture and hopefully make some friends.

Hotel Casa Linger Venice

This is a hostel that is actually in Venice unlike most hostels that require transportation to down town. The Rooms start at 27 Euros and go all the way up to 50. There's a nice variety of rooming situations that you can stay in.

http://www.hostelsclub.com/step02_str.php?lang=en&str=1174&mese=2&giorno=11&anno=2011&notti=3&currency=1&guests=2

VENICE MUSEUM

This one is on the Grand Canal. It is an old museum that has been turned into a youth hostel. It serves complimentary breakfast and also serves dinner in the common dining area. The rooms are split by sex with a bathroom adjoined and may sleep up to eight people in dormitory style bunk beds. This is a great place if you’re looking for something centrally located and casual. Beds are about 30 US dollars.

THINGS TO DO:

Of course one should visit St. Mark’s Square and St. Mark’s Basillica but that will only take so long, there’s some other things to do in Venice as well.

ELEVATOR TO THE TOP OF THE CAMPANILE

This will allow you to see the beautiful roofs of the Basillica and St. Mark’s Square. This could possibly be done after seeing the Basillica and before visiting the square. Visiting the square in the late afternoon before dinner and tourists flock in is apparently recommended.

DAY TRIP:

Start the day off with an exciting trip to the Rialto Market. Grab some regional foods and pack them in a bag to take with you. Whatever looks good. Don’t be afraid to try something new.

HIKING on TORCELLO:

The Island of Torcello provides more of a nature experience after fighting the crowds at St. Mark’s Basillica and St. Mark’s square the day before. Take the boat to Torcello and wander around. Picnic with the items bought that morning for a nice lunch away from the canals and hub bub.

AFTERNOON in BURANO:

Cute and picturesque Burano has canals lined with colorful quaint buildings. The best thing to do here is the just go for a walk. Some fine craft may be seen at the Scuola dei Merletti. Burano is known for its fine lace and used to be the center of hand-made lace. There’s a museum next to the school that has antique lace work on display.

FOR DINNER:

Da Romano a restaurant on Burano that has a list of celebrity visitors. Painters became enthralled with the enchanting island around 1910. This restaurant has paintings packed onto the walls by Luigi Scopnich, Pio Semeghini, and Umberto Moggiolo just to name a few. Their famous guests include a multitude of poets, writers, actors, and artists, check out the list here.

SHOPPING:

After a full day of traveling Torcello and Burano a day right close to the Hostel might be nice.

MERCATINO dell’ANTIQUARIATO

This antiques fair happens three times a year in the Campo San Maurizio located between Campo Santo Stefano and St. Mark’s Square. The square is filled with vendors. Local artisans and antique dealers come with their wares. It’s a good place to find glass beads or antique laces.

Bambole di Trilly

An exquisite craft shop using venetian fabrics and hand painted faces. The souvenirs start at about 26 dollars.

PASTA!

Giacomo Rizzo near the Rialto bridge has a huge variety of fun pastas that are all packaged. All different flavors and all different shapes including gondolas and carnival hats.

Molly Hatch

Once again, in my weavings through the many blogs on the internet I came across this ceramic artist. Molly Hatch uses a technique called Mishima, which originated in Korean pottery. She carves lines into leather hard pieces and fills the lines with slip and then wipes the excess off with a rib. This leaves the lovely lines you can see on her pottery. She also paints with englobes and medium to fill in the spaces the lines create. I especially love how she uses simple functional pieces in installation artworks. Go check out her website for some great images!

For no good reason today feels like a teal and gold day!

Tea for Two.

I've lately been fascinated with tea. Tea parties, loose tea, English teas, everything tea. Enjoy!

Trying it out for size

This past fall semester every sophomore art student in the NYSSC at Alfred University was enrolled in an art history course that took on some heavy topics. We would talk about modern art and post modern art and what artists do. We also asked 'what is art?' but that is a discussion for another day. What I found most interesting about this course was talking about an artist's project. This really planted a seed in my mind. As a sophomore art major, I started asking myself what art I want to make, and what conceptual tasks should my art perform? I know that I have a year or two before I make it out into the real art world but, why shouldn't I start thinking about this now? If you are an artist, what kind of art are you interested in? What is your 'thing'? Is it making political work? Maybe some conceptual sculptures? Is it painting from observation, is it painting from the dreams and nightmares of your mind?

I feel that art school is somewhere where an aspiring artist can try things on for size. All different mediums, and assignments are tried to see which 'mask' will fit. Some mediums may be a disguise. Perhaps its the medium and style that don't feel like a mask that are the true fit.

What is your 'mask'?