News
Friday, March 23, 2018
Three museum exhibits in Italy cover topics from fashion to politics
If your travel plans this spring include Milan or Florence, you're in luck. Whether your interest is in politics or in fashion, you'll enjoy any of these recently opened exhibits.
In Milan at Fondazione Prada, you can view "Post Zang Turm Tuuum: Art Life Politics: Italia 1918-1943." The exhibit features more than 600 paintings, sculptures and design objects from Italy’s Fascist era, by the likes of Giorgio di Chirico, Giorgio Morandi, Gino Severini and dozens of unknowns, displayed amid countless historical documents that map the rise and fall of the interwar art world. The exhibit will be on view through June 25.
In Florence, there is "Dawn of a Nation," through July 22 at Palazzo Strozzi. The New York Times calls it "a less ambitious exhibition" that offers a window onto Italian art amid postwar reconstruction. Unlike “Post Zang Tumb Tuuum,” documentary material is displayed in an initial gallery where a newsreel montage takes us from the foundation of the republic in 1946 to the “dolce vita” of the 1960s.
Read more about both exhibits here.
A more light-hearted exhibit, also in Milan, tells the history of Italy through its clothes. "Italiana: Italy Through the Lens of Fashion,” unsurprisingly, opened as part of Fashion Week in Milan in late February.
The exhibition at Palazzo Reale runs through May 6. You can read more about the exhibit in this question-and-answer feature with the exhibit curators that appeared in the New York Times.
Sunday, March 4, 2018
Hobaica will work on site at the Moretti ceramics studio in Deruta, a town outside Perugia famous for its beautiful ceramics. She will be hosted by the City of Perugia, Chiara de Poi and the members of the Perugia-Seattle Sister City Association in Italy. Additional support is provided by Accademia delle Belle Arti and the Moretti Foundation. We thank all our partners for their efforts.
Seattle ceramic artist heads to Perugia in the spring
Seattle ceramist Lynne Hobaica was recently selected as the 2018 De Poi Award recipient, the third artist to participate in the exchange program. Hobaica travels to Umbria in May.
The De Poi Award brings together artists from Seattle's Pottery Northwest, the region's premier pottery facility, with artists selected by the Accademia delle Belle Arti (Academy of Fine Arts) in Perugia. The sister cities alternate hosting artists each year for three-week residencies.
Hobaica (below, right), a native of Phoenix, received a BFA from Syracuse University, N.Y., and an MFA in sculptural conceptions/ceramics from the College of Fine Arts in Linz, Austria. In 2017, she won a $2,500 Wally Grant from Pottery Northwest.
"My work is primarily functional ceramics covered in elaborate illustrative decorations inspired by fairy tales and religious mythologies," she said. "I would love to study the churches in Perugia along with the art and architecture of Rome to deepen my knowledge of the traditions of visual storytelling within Catholicism."
Hobaica will work on site at the Moretti ceramics studio in Deruta, a town outside Perugia famous for its beautiful ceramics. She will be hosted by the City of Perugia, Chiara de Poi and the members of the Perugia-Seattle Sister City Association in Italy. Additional support is provided by Accademia delle Belle Arti and the Moretti Foundation. We thank all our partners for their efforts.
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Royal Opera's production of Tosca at theater March 13
Puccini’s classic thriller Tosca can be viewed at a live screening on Tuesday, March 13 at 7 p.m. at Crest Cinema Center in Shoreline. Tosca is one of the great evenings of opera, and from its strident opening chords conjures up a world of political instability and menace.
Director Jonathan Kent’s production for The Royal Opera, recorded live, captures the dangerous political turbulence of Rome in 1800. Gia
como Puccini’s dramatic work was a hit with audiences when it opened in 1900 and it remains one of the most performed of all operas with a gripping plot and glorious music.This production is sung in Italian with English subtitles.
The show begins at 7 p.m. at the Crest Cinema. Tickets are $15. More information, opera trailer and advance ticket purchases are available here. The Crest is located at 16505 5th Avenue NE at 165th Street in Shoreline.
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Meet former Perugia mayor at Feb. 17 event
Many of you know that 2018 marks the 25th anniversary of our sister city friendship with Perugia. We hope you can join us on Saturday, Feb. 17 at 10 a.m. to kick-off a year of celebration and remembrance.
That morning, former Perugia mayor Mario Valentini will be at Caffe Umbria in Pioneer Square to meet with our members and friends. Born and raised in Perugia, Valentini served as mayor from 1990 to 1995. In support of the sister city arrangement, Valentini traveled to Seattle to sign the first sister city agreement with former Seattle mayor Norm Rice. Since then, he's kept in contact with many people involved in the sister cities on both continents.
Valentini worked for many years in the Regione dell'Umbria, where he was head of environmental planning. Today he is president of the Fortebraccio Association, a sports and community club. He is the author of three books, enjoys gardening and cooking, and is an avid hiker and skier. He is also the father of board member Elisabetta, shown with her father in the beautiful countryside outside Perugia.
This is a no-host event and open to all members. No RSVP is needed.
We are currently planning other anniversary events that will take place in both Seattle and Perugia. Watch for upcoming issues of Il Grifone or check in on Facebook to get complete details as they become available.
Date: Saturday, Feb. 17, 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Location: Caffe Umbria, 320 Occidental Avenue S, Pioneer Square
Tuesday, January 23, 2018
"Dining and Dancing: Etruscan Funeral Art": Feb. 27 lecture
Much of our knowledge of the pre-Roman Etruscan civilization comes from their tombs. Music, dancing, feasting: All were featured in their funerary art. The famous Sarcophagus of the Spouses, for example, shows a couple sharing a banqueting couch.
Join us for a close-up look at these fascinating ritual objects in "Dining and Dancing: Etruscan Funeral Art" with art historian Rebecca Albiani. The lecture will be held Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.
Albiani was featured last year in Italo-Americano newspaper. Read more about her art background and her lively lectures in this Italo-Americano article: italoamericanodigital1262017_selected-pages
So if you dig Etruscan tomb art, join us at this Feb. 27 lecture. It is FREE to SPSCA members. RSVP here if you are a member.
The cost is $5 for non-members. Pay online here.
Date: Tuesday, February 27
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: 1120 8th Avenue, 4th floor, Seattle WA
Street parking is available.