In July 2024, my partner, Sam Teeter, and I traveled to Assisi, Italy as artist-and-writer in residence at Arte Studio Ginestrelle, founded by Marina Merli. We spent the week creating work and exploring this sacred village and its many winding cobblestone paths, forts, cathedrals, and the Roman and Etruscan archaeological sites below. As St. Francis is the patron saint of animals and nature, this hillside village was overflowing with greenery, with olive groves and grapevines abounding over stone walkways. There were many adorable cats to be found, taken care of by the lady next door to us. We hiked the Bosco di San Francesco, a forest path and nature preserve connected to St. Francis Basilica. It led to the adjoining grounds of the Benedictine chapel, Chiesa Santa Croce. Here the land was turned into olive groves and orchards as a sanctuary for travelers.
My monotypes were heavily influenced by these sights, especially the lushness of the olive trees and the everpresent layering of history found in the landscape. Our residency was even built with stone previously used for Roman buildings. In the work I made here, I responded to the local environment and drew on my collected research from my recent travels through Rome, Florence, and Siena. I studied the Tuscan landscape and the ways it was portrayed in Renaissance paintings to create a series of landscape-inspired gel-plate monotypes and drawings that capture the emotion and energy of my experiences within these places, particularly Assisi In my work, I also used gold ink to evoke the ever-present gold-leaf found in the Byzantine and early Renaissance paintings found in the many cathedrals.
On our last night, Sam and I encountered a group of musical therapy students playing music in the square outside San Rufino Cathedral. Despite the language barrier, I communicated that he plays the fiddle, and immediately one of the musicians handed him her instrument. They delighted in his playing and many joined in while others invited me to dance. We ended the evening enjoying cookies brought out to us by nuns and sharing our stories in broken English and Italian. I cherish our adventures here and hope we shall return.
