Residency at ArteStudio Ginestrelle

Near the end of my second week at Arte Studio Ginestrelle, I recorded some first impressions. I intended to share at that time, but I had not figured out how to get my pictures from the camera to the tablet and then the residency consumed me. I leave on the morning of November 1 for Sorrento in the south where I begin my month-long pilgrimage to meet the ancestors. Hopefully I will be more diligent about blogging during my travels.

Mount Subasio in the distance as seen from Arte Studio Ginestrelle

Tranquil Environment

The setting of the residency in the regional park of Mt Subasio, provides a tranquil place for creative work. As soon as you leave Assisi and ascend the mountain road, a feeling of peace surrounds you. When you step out of the car, you are greeted to a panorama view of the valley. At night you can hear the hoot of an owl and in the morning the jays take over in providing gentle background music.

Visual Artists Bond

There are two other visual artists here with me, one from Tasmania and one from Portland, Oregon. As soon as we met upstairs in the studio, a bond was formed. Each of us is supportive of the others and each is generous in sharing our specific techniques. My Tasmanian colleague and her husband walked the camino in Spain for two weeks prior to coming to Ginestrelle. She is using liquid graphite to create three pieces that share her pilgrimage experience. My Oregon colleague is doing plein air work that incorporates stone rubbings. I am working on a 3’ by 6’ canvas banner depicting the majesty and danger of volcanic mountains for humanity.

My studio space. Since the table was necessary for my large banner,
I had to create alternative space for all of my materials.  

Studio Space

We share an attic studio in a restored stone farmhouse. In addition to each of us having a 3’ by 8’ table, there are two smaller spaces for artists in other media. In our current group we have two photographers who are primarily out in the field during the day and occasionally come in to digitally edit their work. There are two additional spaces outside in a three-sided former barn or storage building. Each is open on the side that faces the valley vista.

Marina Merli, Artistic Director for Arte Studio Ginestrelle, orients
us to the morning breakfast routine. Her mother, Adria is an awesome cook.

Authentic Rural Italian Culture

The director of the residency is Marina Merli who has a PhD in Economics and Management and the heart of an artist. After working in management positions in Rome, she realized that she wanted to return to the place of her birth, the sacred community of Assisi. She had the idea of doing an artist residency and consulted with a former professor at Perugia University. With his encouragement, she spent two years preparing to launch the residency. This included two internships in Milan, one in a gallery and one in a bank. The residency is international and has been operating for eight years. Artists have come from many European and Asian countries as well as the United States.

Every morning, Marina and her mother Adria provide the artists with a generous breakfast of authentic Italian food. We have eggs from a local farmer, cheese and yogurt from a local creamery, and fruits from Ginestrelle and the surrounding area. Sometimes Marina’s father Enzo brings sumptuous pastries up from Assisi or Adria makes a cake that is indigenous to this region. On the first few days they provided chocolate from Perugia. Of course, we were immediately hooked on this and purchased it for outselves.

Marina’s mother is a professional woman - an optometrist and optician. Her father was a director in the national postal service. Their attitude is that all work – whether high or low – is noble. They find no discrepancy between their professions and serving the artists. It is a joy to see how they support their daughter in actualizing her vision. 

A procession of flags from each region of Italy and various dignitaries preceded the
speeches and mass that were inside Basilica San Francisco and projected on to a mesh screen. 

Celebration of Birth of St. Francis

On our first Saturday at the residency, we were taken into Assisi to experience the annual celebration of the birth of St. Francis. Assisi was filled with pilgrims who gave the whole town a very reverent atmosphere. Most tourist shops were closed, which added to the feeling of being back in the Middle Ages.