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| 1963 Africa Trip |
At age 75, I traveled solo through southern Italy with
meager Italian skills and a limited budget. After completing my artist
residency, I traversed Campania, Sicily, Puglia,
Tuscany and Umbria in search of the roots of Mediterranean culture. One purpose of the trip was about letting go of the past by challenging myself to move out of my
comfort zones. I placed myself in different settings than I would normally
encounter.
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| Traveling by train and bus I covered a lot of southern Italy. |
The Challenge of the Residency
In choosing to do a month-long artist residency in Assisi, I
challenged myself to create the largest single piece I have ever done, to do it
on canvas - something I rarely use, and to tackle environmental subject matter
rather than the historical content with which I am more familiar. Working in shared studio space was difficult
for me until I figured out that by rising early in the morning and working late
in the evening, I could have the privacy I need when making creative
decisions.
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| Perilous Majesty - two faces of Mother Nature |
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| Detail for Perilous Majesty |
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| With my banner at the International Exhibition |
Being up on Mount Subasio, isolated from
town, was a gift in that it allowed me to walk 1-3 hours every day in fresh air
and beauty. Because one of our hostesses did not speak English, I had an
opportunity to practice my limited Italian. Being a vegetarian and on a
gluten-free diet, I passed up communal suppers and mostly had nuts, fruit, and
cheese with rice crackers in the evening. This, plus the walking, enabled me to
lose another ten pounds this year. Yeah!
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| Cover, exterior, and interior of quintych on Assisi residency (Mt. Subasio). |
The Challenge of the Travel
Unlike tourists, artists and writers travel alone. What I
did may seem odd to those who have only traveled as a tourist, but professional photographers, artists, and writers do it all the time. You cannot get the story or the picture if
you are following someone else’s lead or subject to the whims of a travel mate.
Although I was alone during my travels, I was not lonely. I immersed myself in
small Italian communities where I rarely met tourists.
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| Exterior of quintych on Italy travels. |
In this way I was able to see how Italy is struggling economically
and artistically. The years of Berlusconi’s corruption set back southern Italy
enormously. Everywhere I observed the global culture of young people, the
resilience of the Italian family, fashionable women and casual but not sloppy
men. I saw communities that were stuck in the past and some, such as Lecce,
that are using the past to springboard into the future.
I quickly realized that Sicily is the best place in
Italy for understanding the Mediterranean region. Having spent only one week in Sicily makes me wonder if I
need to go to Spain to better understand the Arab and North African migrations.
Through many museum visits, I learned that indigenous Italians were not Greek in origin but came from earlier migrations.
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| Sorrento and Palermo panels |
Getting Lost to Find the Unexpected
Because I have a poor sense of direction, I allowed myself an extra day in each
location just for wandering - going from place to place with no particular direction
or goal, not knowing quite where I was or what I might find. I allowed local
people to suggest places of interest. During these “lost” explorations, my soul
was nurtured in Palermo by Roger II’s 30-year ecumenical vision in the Palatine
Chapel and the Mediterranean exhibition in the Norman Castle. In Lecce my spirit
was refreshed by wonderful contemporary art and an amazing archeological
museum.
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| Lecce-Otranto panel |
I was present to geopolitical and social predicaments in
Sicily where the raw potential of its multi-cultural population and history is
undeveloped, and in southern Italy where Northern Europe uses it for
vacationing rather than to assist local economies. Everywhere I witnessed how
the United States, Northern Europe and China dominate retail through ubiquitous
advertising.
In embracing my solitude, my two months in Italy became in
many ways a spiritual retreat. My daily journal and walks helped me stay in
touch with what I was experiencing. Weekly timeline reflections and bi-weekly
blogs helped me track the history I encountered. Constant photographing and random
sketching complemented the visual feast that Italy provided.
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| Bari-Matera panel |
By not carrying a purse or dragging suitcases, I avoided
unwanted attention from pickpockets. By following a rule of being in my lodging
by the time it got dark I allowed my natural cowardice to keep me safe. My poor
Italian language skills kept me humble and allowed me to discover, as a friend
of mine reminded me, “the kindness of strangers.”
