The Florence Biennale
This was written for anyone interested in Florence or specifically the Florence Biennale. But you'll need a cup of tea and a cookie or two to read it all the way through. Information about the Biennale is at the end, and if you are thinking of going…read all you can about it first and talk to people who have gone. I was told that every year it got a little better. It is not supported by the Canada Council.
FLORENCE AND THE INVITATION BY EMAIL: how I received it!
The "Arte Studio" business that organized the exhibit has a committee of professionals who search the web for major art sites and invite the artists whose work appeals to them. I was found through the Women Artists In Canada website and was one of two from the Maritimes. Rosi Jory of Saint John was the second artist.
FLORENCE: THE EXPERIENCE
I decided to pay the fee and be part of the Biennale for the experience of seeing Florence. In Florence, the older area was mostly for tourists and through the internet there are thousands of choices in hotels and apartments; I wanted something that would make me feel as though it was a foreign city. Not a modern hotel/motel. I searched and looked at possibilities for weeks and kept returning to this one building on Via Scala. By the map it looked close enough to the exhibition grounds that I could walk easily. It was.
The apartment was a wonderful, small, clean, with a renovated kitchen area and bathroom. BUT it had a surprise… not something that occurred to me when I agreed to rent it. Old Florence is a low-lying area on both sides of the River Arno and we smelled evidence of that as we walked the many narrow streets. Our apartment also informed our noses of that fact when we went through the heavy large old door into the hallway. It stunk of sewage!
All five of us ran the stairs like Olympic champions to the door of the Santa Maria Novella apartment. The young girls who opened and quickly closed the door told us that it had rained heavily in the past few weeks and hence the smell. I looked around at my companions…and no one said a word. I felt bad, but no one complained because the apartment itself was perfect and had no odour what so ever.
We (I) ooohh and aaahh at every niche on the sides of corner buildings, some contain Madonna and child sculptures or part of a fresco, at every excessively trimmed large wooden door, most with brass or iron ring- knockers, at every archway in various shapes, some are part of truly ancient sections of old walls. The stone(?) bust of a man over a second floor window who sports a rusty iron halo becomes a marker, one I watch for so that I know I am on the right street… and to turn right after getting groceries at the UPAC
The old city is easily walk-able, from the Fortezza and Santa Maria Novella Stazione across the Ponte Vecchio over the Arno River to the Piazzale Michelangelo and up to the church, San Miniato Al Monte and back through the Giardino di Boboli is no more than 5km. From our apartment on Via Scala with its old beam ceilings and elegant window treatments (unfortunately all we could see from our windows were rooftops, some with gardens and a small palm covered grotto, but even that was fine with me!) to one of the two main markets and then on to Santa Croce near the Arno wasn't tiring. It was exhilarating actually.
Everywhere you looked were buildings of slightly different coloured stone, many with enclosed window-like areas containing sections of frescoes or sculpture, archways looking through to parts of the old city wall or to another arch, marvellous wooden doors with extravagant door knockers and windows, many covered in wrought iron reminding me of old Montreal.
“My most emotional experience was the day at Santa Croce, our first day of exploring the city, the first cathedral with the first Giottos. Perhaps it was the stress of getting ready this past fall, our Saint John Studio Tour "Art In The City", the long days and nights to produce work for my pottery sale, etc that led to the tears. Here before me were the genuine images of Giotto, the wonderful individualized faces, not stylized as artists before him had done, the small trees and strange flat rocks; this huge darkened church that felt ancient and sacred... here were all the reasons why I wanted to go to Florence! At the end of our two weeks we returned to Santa Croce and found the Chapel with Donatello, Giotto and the Della Robbia ceramic art. My friend(s) (Peggy Woolsey & Chris Struthers), sang, faces turned toward the curved arched ceiling and let the notes ring and ring and ring. Such a wonderful experience for all of us and a perfect ending to a trip I will remember forever.”
TRAVEL:
We saw Pisa , not planned but worth it, the slim tower of the postcards is massive, so much larger than one would think. It still leans, but the whole European community of countries contributed to its restoration. It is now stable. Pisa was a port at one time, but now approximately 15 km from the sea. Its buildings tend to settle; the Cathedral when looked at side-on is also settling on both ends. We took a bus to Fiesole , one of my favourites. Saw the Etruscan ruins, I can still see Peggy standing at the foot of the Etruscan/Roman theatre, singing a line or two of "Oh Canada" backed by Chris's deep voice, the sounds echoing over the hill. The Museum was worth the visit for me, because of the Etruscan pottery. The site is only partially uncovered. It is also the site used for the excavation scene in the movie "Tea With Mussolini." That day was cold and windy and bargains were to be had in the open-air market at Piazza Mino da Fiesole.
We went to Siena by train; it's an "Esher" town with a wedding cake cathedral at it's top. The town is built on hills so that as you walk and look through the archways on either side you see other streets going up or down, narrow streets we navigated on tip-toe going up and with careful feet flat to the cobbled streets going down. Not always with railings to help. How they are navigated on the few days when it snows is anyone's guess. A young couple told us it took them two hours to find their car, the streets are so winding and seemingly interwoven. The cathedral was a mix of too many styles, but on the sides of the floor were graves of white marble decorated with black engraved drawings of figures. Beautiful, they looked like pen and ink drawings.
Florence in December was cool, except for one cold, windy weekend when we were not dressed for it we were fine in fall jackets and scarf. We found everyone friendly, if guards in the public places didn't speak English, often they had some French... and when Peggy, who lived and studied two years in Montreal was with me, we never had much trouble finding our way and having questions answered. There seemed to be policemen and women on every corner who were always helpful.
Italy, a country twice the size of New Brunswick but with almost 60,000,000 people plus tourists seemed un-crowded in December. We stood in front of paintings as long as we wanted in the Pitti Palace and the Uffizi. Lots of tourists everywhere, but no line-ups, and no bumping into people on the streets. The sidewalks are exceptionally narrow compared to ours and were lined with scooters, bicycles and three wheeled trucks; usually parked on both sides of one way streets. Parking was even allowed on both sides of the bridges.
For meals, the easiest way was to do as the Italians, stop at a FORMO for a sandwich or piece of freshly made pizza and then go to a coffee-shop and have an espresso. We did find a "convenience" type grocery store called UPAC not far from us... it was continually busy, a convenient store for both locals and visitors. I drank mostly bottled water, the same price everywhere, app $1 Canadian for a small size. NO coffee as we know it. When we did eat at a restaurant, knowing we were tourists they asked if we wanted a "long" coffee or an "American" coffee... which was an espresso in a larger cup and a small pitcher of hot water. Mauro, said they know for sure we are tourists when we ask for milk for the coffee... Italian don't, he said. Prices in restaurants and small grocery shops... either for bread and sandwiches or for meat and fresh vegetables… looked like our prices but one had to add the difference between our money which was then almost double.
NOTE: I didn't eat much meat while there, we didn't buy it at a meat shop and restaurants used little (I felt) in their dishes. There was lots of wild boar and prosciutto but one of the favourite dishes was a Tuscan old style vegetable soup… which varied depending on where it was bought and the day…but always had dried bread in it, so it was thick and stew like. Only once did we have to ask to have it reheated.
Peggy Woolsey, art teacher and artist who accompanied us, said: "We saw them all -- Michelangelo, DaVinci, Durer, Brunallesci, Bottecelli, Giotto, Gaddi, Duccio, Donatello and most emotionally, four Artemesia Gentileschi paintings."
PRATO HIGH SCHOOL
One of the important aspects of my Florence visit was making contact with people living there. As teachers have always had such an impact on my life and I have contributed many hours doing workshops and presentations to NB schools I decided to try and find a contact at an Italian high school. Peggy came with me. Here is how she saw it:
"Carol (Taylor) was able to arrange a visit to a high school in Prato , a small city near Florence. I signed on to the Florence trip with Carol partly because I have been making a film about her and her work, and partly because as an artist and art teacher, a chance to spend time immersed in the grand Italian cultural experience was irresistible. I teach art, grades 10 - 12 at Kennebecasis High School in Quispamsis, N.B. Last year I taught art history and the NB College of Craft & Design in Fredericton.
We met Mauro, our teacher contact, for coffee in Florence, to arrange our visit to his school. Mauro taught languages -- English and German, and we were to explain ourselves, show slides of our artwork and converse with the students. None of these students studied art, but the history of art was a part of the regular curriculum. One of the most impressive features of the school was class size. Mauro's two classes each had 15 students. This was apparently the norm for all classes. The school housed roughly 1200 students. Mauro started class at 9 am and was finished for the day at 1:00 pm!!! During the morning break teachers are expected to meet for brief but regular meetings with parents. Mauro was not so fond of these meetings, but the school conducts no other parent-teacher sessions.
The layout of the school was attractive. As one enters the building, a courtyard provides a large open space for gathering and numerous activities including school plays and community meetings. The classrooms we saw were small. One held a sitting area and a bank of modern computers. Out the windows small banks of trees were planted. The students were polite and welcoming and shy. Perhaps my videotaping made them a little reluctant to make mistakes with words. They were reluctant to use their English, but like kids in Canada, they were full of life and their energy charged us up. They loved the KVHS web site and were especially interested in our sports sites and our on-line galleries of student work. We have arranged for some students to become pen pals with our students at KV and hope this initial meeting can blossom into a real exchange between our two countries. Ciao!," Peggy Woolsey
Mauro Ciulla, is a young teacher, not yet forty who is open to new ideas and his enthusiastic teaching methods are respected by his students, they do admire him. His was a class of girls and one young man in a wheelchair. He kept the session going by including the students in the conversation, expecting them to answer and ask questions in English about the slides of Saint John art we were showing. He said the high school students do not make art as a subject but take the history and theory of art. One young woman in the class showed us her sketch-book and said she planned to go to art school. Mauro Ciulla, originally from Sicily is a poet and has written two books on learning Italian.
THE BIENNALE:
This invitational exhibit, "Biennale Internazionale dell'Arte Contemporanea" the 2003 Florence Biennale, was held Dec 6 to 14 in the Fortezza da Basso in the old section of Florence Italy.
The Arte Studio: "The 4th Florence Biennale is regarded as the world's most comprehensive exhibition of contemporary art representing 891 artists from 71 countries. This 10 day event's mandate is to promote dialogue and diversity, offering a cross-section of global art production in any style, from traditional to digital and any genre, from conceptual to portraiture, permitting the work to speak on its own, without any single curatorial vision.” : Arte Studio Florence Biennale. Carol Taylor and Saint John artist and writer Rosi Jory received their invitation to attend through: http://collections.ic.gc.ca/waic/
The catalogue, which each artist received, hard cover with a white jacket features the Palazzo Vecchio, symbol of Florence. It is a thousand 8 1/2 x 11" pages, with one glossy full colour image by each artist representing their work. There's an amazing diversity of art, and I would love to see the other three catalogues from the past three Biennales. I am sure they will make great research material for historians and curators. These catalogues went to 71 countries. The 891 artist bios are printed in the language they were sent, British, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Swedish, etc. The text about the exhibit is in Italian although John Spike printed his introductory remarks in English too.
The Biennale itself wasn't without its problems. Perhaps because this was only their 4th exhibition and relatively new to the game they didn't allow enough time for all the work to be hung and lights adjusted; I hung my work in the morning and the opening ceremonies took place that night. Not everything arrived in good condition through the recommended importers and not everyone was happy with the number of people who attended, which was not close to the 40,000 we were told to expect. Most artists felt that the cause of poor attendance was a lack of media attention and marketing. The Canada Council and Foreign Affairs, as far as I can understand, do not support this Biennale because it does not have a single curatorial voice and no genuine peer jury system. If it did, the Florence Biennale would be one of professional art by professional artists according to our country's definition of a professional artist. I do want to thank the NB Arts Board jury for awarding Rosi Jory and myself each a $2000 "art-by -invitation" grant. This helped cut the fee to a manageable size.
At the end my experience of the Biennale was a good one. I met many of the Canadians including Lilian Broca (a 4th medal winner) from BC whose traditional mosaic work Peggy and I both admired. Zolic Zijo from Bosnia who now lives in Sweden, his art, an 8ft canvas in oil with overlays of printed images; I really felt the combination worked well. Several from the US including Mitsuyo Moore and Peter Hubbard, and a lovely young woman and her family, Marie Tolosa from Argentina. I went to a gathering of about half the Canadians and we are planning further adventures that I hope will come to fruition.
The afternoon the awards were handed out at the Biennale, Peggy Woolsey and I were enjoying Siena. Except for a lecture by David Hockney I decided not to" hang out" at the show itself, there too many marvellous sights to see; as a consequence I didn't know I had been awarded a medal until I returned to the apartment that evening. Peggy asked me if I had been talking to Rosi, I said no. So grinning broadly she said, "Great, I get to tell you! ...the Biennale has given you a 5th prize in Mixed Media". It was a nice surprise and made for an exceptional ending of the exhibit for me.
Rosi told me that during John Spike's critique sessions, if it was someone who had received an award he knew that person's background and their art-making history…so it seems, they did their research.
Florence, I would go back again tomorrow, the hedges are made of bay leaves, the oak leaves are miniature and their pine cones massive; the people friendly.... and best of all you are completely surrounded, comforted by the history of architecture, and the greatest sculpture and art from the world's past.
Carol Taylor
PS: anyone who wants to go and enjoys walking, finding an apartment on the Boboli Garden side of the Arno (Oltrarno) would be less expensive. Bus service is great so even one outside of town would be enjoyable. It was about a half hour to Fiesole by bus.
WEBPAGES:
http://collections.ic.gc.ca/waic/collection.htm#t
http://caroltaylor.thedrawlyn.com
http://www.umoncton.ca/gaum/hpluc104.html
http://www.umoncton.ca/gaum/catalog/delta/delta_p10.html (plus pages 11 and 12)
http://freshpilot1.nbed.nb.ca/
http://freshpilot1.nbed.nb.ca/taylorartstudio/index.htm