Back in the saddle...I hope

It would be an understatement to say that I have been struggling to work in the studio after Italy.

First, it was because we moved over the summer, and I have a hard time getting motivated when my life is in upheaval. The other part of my problem is that I don't have a proper work space at the moment; I'm working out of our bedroom, which is not ideal.

But really the problem was not knowing what to make. I'm tired of my old work and really don't want to work with plastic for a while, so I've been searching for a new source of inspiration. The most inspiring thing I've seen this past year was the amulet collection at the National Archeological Museum in Perugia, Italy, which I mentioned on this blog in March.

You'd be hard-pressed to find the jeweler or metalsmith who isn't at least partially interested in amulets, but contemporary versions are often so cliché that I have typically avoided them like the plague.

And I'm still avoiding them. I am not making amulets.

I have finally started a project partially inspired by the sense of fragility and vulnerability of those amulets, however. My goal is to make at least 100 copper quatrefoil charms that will be altered using some simple, straight-forward method. I plan to enamel them and hang them on a handmade safety-pin.

Time will tell if these pins have the feeling I want, but so far, I'm enjoying it and keeping busy. Which is good.

Last Venice photo

an image into a canal.

St. Mark's, Venice

St. Mark's.

A glorious courtyard in Venice

A couple photos of Venetian walls

I realize that anyone can and does take amazing pictures in Venice; it's just that picturesque. I saw many of those photos before I went and they gave me pretty high expectations for the city. I wasn't disappointed.

Venice Canals

from my Venice set on flickr.

Ah, Venice.

I have lots of other pictures of Italy, like these from all the towns we visited on the weekends, and these images of reference pictures we took- basically stuff we want to remember- but I'm going to end my Italy blog posts with images from my favorite place in Italy.

We ended our 3 months in Italy with Venice. I was excited to see it, because it is so unusual, but I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. I heard the "elegant decay" description used before we got there and it is appropriate.

Above is the Grand Canal.

Do you have a ticket?

...to the gun show? Well, not that gun show, but N and I did accumulate a fine collection of photos of Italian guns and weapons. See them here.

Cortona, encora

We spent the bulk of our time in Italy in Cortona, a little town in Tuscany and it was every bit as charming as one would expect.

The photo is above is the view from our apartment window showing the bells of the church of San Francesco.

Fun facts about that church: built in 1245, it was designed by Friar Elia Coppi, who was the same person that designed the famous Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi.
This friar was excommunicated twice during his lifetime and died in Cortona in 1253. After he died, the church sort of 'lost track' of where he was buried until Renaissance renovation on the church dropped a beam through the choir floor revealing a body in monk's robes. There was no name, but they suspected that it was Brother Elias.
In the 1960s, researchers from the university in Perugia were able to verify that the bones belonged to a man who died approximately 700 years prior and who was between 70 and 80 old when he died, confirming it was most likely Brother Elias.

For the rest of our images from Cortona, look here.

Vespa means wasp, in Italian

Not surprisingly, we saw many Vespas and other beautiful scooters in Italy. N loves the shapes and details of such things as inspiration for his work. Here are the pictures we took.

After Rome

We went to Florence.

It was a welcome change, I thought. The people were friendlier, and the pace was slower.

Here is the green Arno.

And the obligatory photo of the Duomo. It's kind of busy, don't you think?


But our favorite place in Florence was by far La Specola, a natural history museum opened on February 21, 1775! It had taxidermied animals unlike anything I've ever seen before and is famous for its collection of 18th century anatomical wax models.
Here is a flickr set (by someone else) with great photos of the models.

For more pics from our time in Florence, visit my flickr set here.

Not to be morbid, but...

reminders of death and the dead were pretty prevalent in Italy. Which is OK by us, 'cause we think that can be interesting.

We especially enjoyed the representations of skulls, which were everywhere.


And, as metalsmiths, we were excited about all the reliquaries, which are containers for holding all, or part, of a saint's body.

The rest of the pictures are in my Reliquaries and Skulls set on flickr.

One of the coolest places we visited, dealing with the dead, was the Cappuchin Crypt in Rome. We couldn't take pictures there, so this one is from itthing.com.

A very interesting place, to say the least.

In Rome

I started telling my story of Italy in non-chronological order. We actually started our trip in February, in Rome.

I don't know if I was tired, or stressed, or intimidated by my meager language skills, but I didn't love Rome. I still have some good memories of it, like Sant Eustachio coffee , supposedly the best coffee in Rome and I have no reason to argue with that, since it was delicious.

And the Pantheon; absolutely spectacular. Completed in 126 C.E., it was originally a temple to all the gods, and is now a Christian church--probably why it wasn't destroyed during the Middle Ages. This photo is a view of the oculus (opening) in the top of the domed cieling.
It was an amazing space because it is spherical inside: the height from the floor to the oculus is a tall as the diameter of the dome and the effect makes the ceiling feel like it's simultaneously very light and open, and closing in on you. Awesome.



I also really enjoyed the Roman Forum and Coliseum. Crowded with tourists, yes, but truly impressive.
The English literature professor with the program read some poems by Lord Byron when we visited and this was my favorite section:

CXXXIX-- from Lord Byron's "The Coliseum"

And here the buzz of eager nations ran,
In murmur'd pity, or loud-roar'd applause,
As man was slaughter'd by his fellow-man.
And wherefore slaughter'd? wherefore, but because
Such were the bloody Circus' genial laws,
And the imperial pleasure. -- Wherefore not?
What matters where we fall to fill the maws
Of worms -- on battle-plains or listed spot?
Both are but theatres -- where the chief actors rot.

Italian Jewelry and Metalwork

We saw tons of wonderful metalwork and jewelry in Italy. And we took many illegal photos of them.

There were pinhole spectacles in the Galileo Museum in Florence. You can take a virtual tour of the museum and look at the objects here.


A golden earring in the Archeology Museum in Perugia.


These pierced bowls from the Villa Giulia in Rome.


And, my personal favorite, amulets from the amulet collection at the Archeology Museum in Perugia. I blogged about them once, already, but it was such a cool collection that it bears mentioning again.

More images here.

Proof that it really is us who took all these pictures in Italy.

Here is a flickr set of us, in Italy.

We took the above shot at the Peggy Gugenheim sculpture garden in Venice.

So, how was the food?

Number one question people ask me about our trip is, "how was the food?" Well, it was pretty delicious.
I won't lie, three months of strictly Italian food gets old for Americans who are used to lots of variety, but in general, we had some pretty fantastic treats.

Like pecorino cheese from Pienza. Our favorite was the variety with black peppercorns.


And, from our favorite haunt in Cortona, Bar 500. N exclusively ate the pizza 500, which had sweet corn, roasted red peppers, spicy sausage, red onion and pecorino and mozzarella cheese.


Of course, there was gelato.

And wine and drinks galore; this is a festive sangria.

For more photos of our food treats, visit this set on flickr.

Like a party in a town.

Burano Italy, outside Venice, is known for its lace production, but the most interesting thing about it, in my opinion, was the bright coloring of the houses. More photos here.

That Tuscan sun does make for a pretty sky

a sunrise


a sunset


a storm.
All in Cortona. More pics here.

Oh, the animals!

Italy did not disappoint on the cooky animal front. See the flickr set for my complete collection.

This little fella is an Aye-aye and was in the collection of La Specola in Florence.


Here's a cowardly looking lion from Venice.


And a cow/prairie dog thing in Siena.

Italian Signs

This flickr set has pictures we took of signs in Italy, either because they were funny, or had interesting graphics.

This sign was in the Duomo museum in Siena.


This is from the Doge's residence in Venice. That's guy has a pretty impressive stream, if you ask me.


And in Viterbo, they have giant birds dropping babies onto cars. Scary stuff.