Curriculum IN Orvieto

An orientation towards the arts has marked the curriculum of Gordon IN Orvieto since its beginning over a decade ago. The program’s pairing of the visual arts and the verbal arts is certainly as relevant for our contemporary cultural landscape as it was in the Renaissance, when visual art almost always referenced texts, and poetry often focused on art. Hence courses in drawing, painting, sculpture, and graphic design are set alongside courses in poetry, narrative literature, and theater.

This relationship between “word and image” suffuses the entire curriculum. In one sense Gordon IN Orvieto unfolds as an extended meditation on Christ’s identity as both the Word (Logos) and the Image (Icon) of the Father. The motto of the program might be Dante’s memorable description of God’s artwork as “visibile parlare,” visible speech (canto 10 of Purgatorio).

All students take an introductory course that uses drawing to introduce the themes of the entire program. Students then select three among a set of courses offered in the visual arts and humanities. We take every opportunity to create connections among these courses, perhaps working towards a common collaborative project. In addition, students with no background in the Italian language will be expected to take a 2-credit tutorial-based course in Italian Language Studies.

Courses occur in a month-long intensive format, typically following the pattern of 3-hour class sessions from Monday through Thursday mornings. The three-day weekends are generally available for personal travel, unless course-related excursions are planned. (Program costs include, at a minimum, excursions to Florence, Rome, Siena, Arezzo, and Assisi. Other excursions are arranged in relation to the needs of particular courses.)

 CALENDAR

Spring 2012

Arrival: February 24
1st month class: February 27–March 22
2nd month class: March 26–April 19
3rd month class: April 23–May 17
4th month class: May 21–June 14

Fall 2012

Arrival: September 2
1st month class: Sept 4–Sept 27
2nd month class: Oct 1–Oct 25
3rd month class: Oct 29–Nov 22
4th month class: Nov 26–Dec 22

Spring 2013

Arrival: February 25
1st month class: February 27–March 21
2nd month class: March 25–April 18
3rd month class: April 22–May 16
4th month class: May 20–June 15

SPRING 2012 Curriculum

Throughout the semester, students without previous Italian language study will take ORV101: Italian Language Studies, a course in conversational Italian with the central purpose of assisting students' full participation in the life of the Orvieto community. [2 credits]

1st Month
All students take ORV 270: Disegno in Orvieto (Instructor: Matthew Doll)
This drawing-based course is taken during the first month of the semester by all students, art majors and non-art majors together. The course prepares each student to engage deeply with his or her surroundings, giving the visual language of description a lead role in forming our relationship to the landscape and townscape. It sets the stage for deepening these connections made through eyes, mind and heart in each succeeding course by initiating the relationship to the texts and images and fusing the historic setting of Orvieto with our community life. [4 credits] View syllabus

2nd Month
Students choose between:

ORV 374: (Special Topics in Art)  Painting Narrative in Oil (Instructor: Philippe Fretz)
An advanced studio in the methods and materials of oil painting, with historical attention to the narrative tradition of Renaissance painting. [4 credits]

ORV 350: Poetry and Ekphrasis (Instructor: Marilyn McEntyre)
This creative writing class renews a lively conversation in the Renaissance concerning the relation between poetry and the pictorial arts, between word and image. Ekphrasis is the classical term for poetry written in response to works of visual art. [4 credits] View syllabus

3rd Month
Students choose between:

ORV 371: Painting Studio at Orvieto (Instructor: Marie-Dominique Miserez)
An advanced studio in the methods and materials of tempera painting, with historical attention to the devotional tradition of Renaissance painting. [4 credits]

ORV 241: (Cultural History of the Renaissance) Studies in Renaissance Narrative: telling stories in word and image (Instructor: John Skillen)
This course compares the ways in which stories were told in the literature and in the visual art of medieval-Renaissance Europe.  A specific focus will be on the fresco cycles so famously marking the civic, religious and artistic landscape of Renaissance Italy.  These murals existed as visual interpretations of influential written narratives that were known almost by heart by the communities for whom they were made, stories fundamental for European Christian culture such as Gregory's Life of St. Benedict, St. Augustine's Confessions, St. Bonaventure's Life of St. Francis, Dante's Divine Comedy. [4 credits] View syllabus

4th Month
Students choose between:

ORV 376: (Special Topics in Art) The Book of Hours (Instructors: Donald and Christine Forsythe)
This course considers the form and content of the book as art form.  Starting with familiar historic structures and moving on to non-traditional book formats, students will practice the techniques of fine bookmaking and binding.  A variety of hand printing processes will be introduced specifically for the creation of progressive state proofs that record the steps in the development of an image.  The resulting prints will be integrated into appropriate book formats, creating unique pieces that must be experienced in time, and whose subject embraces the revelation of time through visual means and not with words. [4 credits]

ORV 378: (Special Topics in Art and Art History) Liturgy & Art (Instructor: Tanja Butler)
This class explores the function of liturgical art, examining with an eye both theological and artistic how and why art has been used throughout Christian history, not just to illustrate Scripture, but as a means of enacting the work of the people (which is the definition of liturgy) in worship and devotion.  In collaboration with other classes, students will create a Book of Hours: a sequence of brief daily services of prayer and scripture used as a way of "praying without ceasing," of keeping focused on the life of Christ throughout the day, and of binding individuals together into a single community. [4 credits] View syllabus