The International School of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture in Umbria, Italy offers intensive studio programs for developing painters and sculptors from around the world. Distinguished artists teach and critique, and visiting artists and scholars lecture. Students work full-time in their studios and classes, and take weekly trips to study and draw from the great art of Italy. Students, residents and faculty live and work in Montecastello di Vibio, a hill town in Umbria, one of Italy’s most beautiful regions.
The School is one of a very few of its kind: a school of modern art with in-depth training in drawing, painting, and sculpture. Enrollment is limited to about twenty-five students per session, with a 5:1 student/teacher ratio. This positive and intimate environment offers students substantial contact, both formal and informal, with their faculty mentors.
Thanks to our dynamic faculty, students come from all over the world. International School artists are of diverse ages and backgrounds: they include undergraduate and graduate art students from premier art schools, artists considering an MFA program, postgraduates, art professors, and working artists. The International School is an ideal environment in which developing artists can completely devote themselves to working and learning. The time spent working at the school has always been extremely productive and conducive for breakthroughs, for students and faculty alike.
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Overlooking the lush Tiber River valley, Montecastello di Vibio is a hill town in central Italy, in the province of Perugia. Halfway between Rome and Florence, our location provides students the chance to see first hand some of the world's greatest art. A beautifully preserved medieval borgo, Montecastello looks much like it did 500 years ago. A fortress wall surrounds the tiny heart-shaped town; vast panoramas can be seen in every direction, and a tranquil little park sits at one edge. This delightful village is our campus, and a complex of historic buildings houses the School’s facilities.
Montecastello is a safe and friendly town, very favorable to painting. The village is not a tourist town. It has hosted the International School for the last 20 years, and the people in the community are very supportive of of painters and students. The town is situated on top of a 400 meter high hill and is surrounded by a breathtaking landscape. The light is unique, and the weather is mild.
Preserving over 2,000 years of history, the cities and hill towns of Umbria and nearby Tuscany are landmarks of European culture. Many were built over four eras—Etruscan, Roman, Medieval and Renaissance. The surrounding landscape is patterned with vineyards, olive groves and sunflower fields, and etched with rows of cypresses and umbrella pines.
In this environment, you will paint and sculpt under the same light that spawned the Western world’s greatest art. Here is the architecture and countryside that inspired Renaissance artists and later masters like Poussin, Ingres and Corot. One can see why the region still attracts artists from all over the world.
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The International School curriculum centers on intensive daily studio work, with instruction and critiques by renowned artists, and weekly trips to Italy’s cities of art.
Our living and working situation in North Central Italy is ideal for an artist. It offers breathtaking surroundings, marvelous light, quiet, privacy, wonderful food, and of course, Italy’s rich cultural heritage.
In the School’s supportive yet rigorous studio environment, students can focus and concentrate on their work, uninterrupted by the demands of daily life back home. Students can work full-time in the classroom and in their studios, and make dramatic progress. Those who stay for several consecutive sessions benefit tremendously. For many artists, the International School is more than a summer program—it is their continuing professional education.
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For undergraduate and graduate art students, committed high school students, and artists wishing to work independently in a stimulating school environment. CE students and Residents may also work independently in the School programs.
Students can work full time in well-lit studios, as well as participate in offered classes and work from the landscape if they wish. Experienced models are available as needed. Faculty teach in offered classes as well as meeting individually with students. Each student is assigned a private or semi-private studio to study, and develop their own personal work. Studios are open seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Art materials are available locally in close proximity to the school.
In the evenings, visiting artists and faculty give slide lectures on their work, lead open discussions and readings, as well as give preparatory talks for art study trips. Students participate in the slide talks, and group and final critiques.
The School emphasizes the importance of drawing as the foundation for the development of one’s individual work. Students may draw or sculpt from the model or in the landscape in three-hour classes, four afternoons a week, and in the mornings paint in the landscape or from the model in four-hour classes. On non-teaching days, students are strongly encouraged to work independently. Students have 24-hour access to their studios for independent studio practice, in a safe and work-conducive environment at the school. Or they may paint outdoors in the beautiful Italian light. Instructors teach at least twice a week and are accessible for individual consultations and critiques.
Fridays are trip days to Italy’s cities of art, to study and draw from the great art of the past. Students may use the International School’s extensive art library, and video collection, and have 24-hour access to a telephone, Wi-Fi, and computers with broadband DSL Internet.
Because of the close and communal nature of the school, students and faculty have constant interaction during meals, slide talks, trips, as well as in the open air piazzas in the town, where students, faculty and townspeople congregate. There are frequent slide talks and lectures in the evenings, as well as group critiques with faculty members. A final group critique with faculty and the students, and a final exhibition in the school’s gallery, which will be attended by local artists and people from the surrounding area, formally concludes the program.
For artists who wish to work independently in a community of artists.
The Residency program provides the ideal combination of seclusion and community in a setting of breathtaking beauty. Artists can work intensively and independently for three or more weeks in a supportive, inspiring environment. A distinguished visiting artist or member of the School faculty joins us as Senior Artist in Residence and studio critic, and a model poses for open drawing sessions. Visiting artists critique and lecturers provide preparatory talks for the weekly trips to Italy’s cities of art, which inspire and inform the work in the studio. The Residency Program also enables students to continue to work and progress independently.
During non-working hours, residents have access to the school’s art library, telephone, computers with Internet access, and video collection. Residents enjoy meals together in the dining room and develop a close sense of community. Residents’ rooms are single-occupancy and their studios are open seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Independent Residencies may also be taken during the School programs.
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CE (Continuing Education) is designed for adults with some background in art who want to create more time in their lives to paint and draw, or to deepen their engagement. This program offers shorter term instructional sessions, and is appropriate for people whose involvement with art was interrupted or limited by career or family demands, but who are eager to begin to study and practice again with our outstanding faculty. Advanced students and professional artists are also welcome in the CE Program.
CE students explore and enrich their interest in art, working and living in the heart of Italy, surrounded by a landscape of unparalleled beauty, in close proximity to great masterpieces of art and architecture. The emphasis is on work in the landscape and the studio, with classes in drawing and painting, and weekly trips to Italy’s cities of art. After-dinner talks by our eminent lecturers and visiting artists enhance the program. The CE fee includes a single room.
While we have tried to make clear the differences between the programs, in practice we see that people move freely between them. If you are willing to work and are open to new experiences you will find any and all of our programs worthwhile. We try to make everyone's experience as rich and productive as possible.
Next Page: Fees, Accommodations, Workspace, Trips, Admission| W | hile I’m seeking conscientious imitation, I do not for one minute lose the emotion that overtook me. Reality is part of art; emotion completes it. If we were really touched, the sincerity of emotion will pass unto others. Corot  |