In this 8 - day Alchemy Studio Workshop in the rural hills of Italy, participants will
create their own unique cyanotype exposed stitched book.
The cyanotype printing will be facilitated by Carol Panaro-Smith and James Hajicek, artists and co-directors of Alchemy Studio. Participants will be invited to print unique cyanotypes using transparencIes, botanicals, and other found objects.
A variety of mixed media techniques will also be shown to aid you in discovering a loose narrative that will evolve intuitively as you fold and order the pages of your book. Prompts and exercises will be introduced to guide you through the process.
You will produce all the pages for a hardbound book, facilitated by JaceGraf of Cloverleaf Studio, Austin Texas.. Students will also create a hardbound journal using the same book style - giving you plenty of time to practice, understand, and use these basic hand bookbinding concepts.
You will be nourished daily by home cooked meals prepared by “Mama P” and “Marcello”, who really know their way around a kitchen. Daily meals are created in the Italian tradition of locally grown ingredients being freshly prepared and served either “a tavola” (together at the table) , or casually as you move through your creative practice. You will also have two meals at local restaurants to sample the regional cuisine – all included in the cost of the workshop.
This will all happen in the small hilltop village of Benabbio, Tuscany, Italy, at the Villa San Rocco, a 10-bedroom Baroque villa with a 14th century monastic art studio (open 24/7) situated at the top of this beautiful medieval village. The Villa San Rocco is the ideal artist’s haven with charm, ambience, and history embedded in every wall. The Villa is a grand house with many places to gather in groups or to spend solitary time. There are two living rooms with fireplaces, a balcony with a breath-taking view of the marble mountaintops of Carrara, a media room, and a lovely yoga/meditation room. There’s a spacious dining salon and two kitchens – your kitchen, where you will get your breakfast, and the main kitchen where your meals will be prepared for you. There’s a scenic backyard garden area with a soaking pool and a lovely outdoor dining area.
We will take a break one day to visit the beautiful city of Lucca. On the way we will stop to visit The Devil’s Bridge, and while in Lucca, we will do a bike ride/walk on the famous wall and have an outdoor picnic. The rest of the day you can site see, eat a gelato (or two), sip an Aperol spritz, and visit the numerous shops.
We believe that all aspects of life can be a creative pursuit, the food you put on the table, your living space, and the community you surround yourself with. This artful immersion is created to energize you and inspire you throughout the 9 magical days and beyond. We invite anyone wishing to explore with us the joy of artful living.
WORKSHOP INCLUDES:
All breakfasts, lunches, and dinners All materials for the workshop Pick up and drop off at Florence Airport, group travel to Lucca, all local travel Airfare to and from Florence and trip insurance (required) NOT INCLUDED.
COST:
PRIVATE ROOM (SINGLE) WITH ENSUITE BATH: $3595
PRIVATE ROOM (COUPLES/SHARED BED) WITH ENSUITE BATH: $3295
EACH SHARED ROOM/SEPARATE BEDS WITH SHARED BATH: $3295
Artist Bios
JAMES HAJICEK is a Professor Emeritus at Arizona State University where he taught
fine art photography for 34 years. He received his BFA from the Kansas City Art
Institute and his MFA from the University of New Mexico. His area of specialization is
late 19th century photographic printing processes. His work has been exhibited
internationally over the last thirty years and can be found in many significant public
collections including the International Museum of Photography
at the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York, the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, and the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France.
He has received several National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships for his own
Photography and his work with obscure photographic printing processes.
James loves riding his vintage Moto Guzzi motorcycle and intersecting with “anything Italian”.
CAROL PANARO-SMITH received her MFA at Arizona State University.
Her area of specialization is alternative photographic processes, mixed media and book arts.
She has held a number of positions both as an art instructor and administrator
throughout the valley for over 30 years. Some highlights in her career include
establishing Alchemy-Studio, a working and teaching studio in Phoenix
and her position as program director and curator at Art Intersection until 2015.
Her own work along with collaborative work with partner James Hajicek
has been internationally recognized and collected.
Her passion for cooking, traveling, and art making are testimony to a life of interconnection.
JACE GRAF owns and operates Cloverleaf Studio,
a book arts business located in Austin, Texas. He completed a graduate book arts degree at
Mills College in 1990 and then went to work for five years at BookLab,
the premier edition bookbindery in the country at the time.
In 1996 Jace started Cloverleaf Studio, where he specializes in hand bookbinding,
box making and book design. His work is now held in many private collections,
library special collections and museums across the country. In the past twenty years
Jace has worked with hundreds of commercial and fine art photographers to create portfolios,
limited edition books, deluxe versions of trade editions, and enclosures for suites of prints to be sold in galleries.
