Student Artists, Orientamenti Project
Fall 2014 Student Participants
We had a wonderful group of Student Artists participating in our Fall Semester program, working alongside Wafa Hourani, 2014 Fall Fellowship Artist. You can follow the work of our students on the class blog: http://sienaartstudents.wordpress.com
Alexa Katz, USA
Alexa Katz is a recent graduate from Brandeis University finishing with a Bachelor of Arts as a double major in Biology and Fine arts, with honors in Fine arts. She was born and raised in Philadelphia, but is an avid traveler amongst many different cities and countries. She was originally studying to become a doctor at her university, but after her second year of college she decided that she would like to pursue the arts in hopes of maybe one day combining the sciences and the arts as either a medical illustrator, product designer, or even quite possibly being an architect.
She has been exposed to many different fields within the art world, including a fashion design company Bagir as well as the HandsHouse Studio Making History: The Wooden Synagogue Replication Project in Poland. She is currently being commissioned for painting by several different companies and individuals, and hopes to expand her horizons and possibilities as an incoming student at the Siena Art Institute. Her artistic background began with a lot of drawing, painting, and printmaking, however she has advanced within drawing and painting the most throughout college, specializing in many different mediums as well.
Anna Fabrizi, Italy
Born in Carrara in 1971, Anna began her career working as a management consultant at Italian and multinational companies.
In 2006 she began working with a study of interior styling, creating sets for furnishing magazines such as D Home, Elle Decor, Casa Facile. Her activities related to the research of design led to her work in drafting articles for magazines such as Prima Casa and Cherie Bimbi and with the establishment of a web platform for the mediation between companies and designers.
In 2010 she organized an exhibition of photography, sculpture, and history inspired by the rescue of the monuments of Abu Simbel by the quarrymen of Carrara, inviting Georg Gester, one of the first aerial photographers who documented the operation and the Egyptian ambassador in Italy.
In 2010 Anna began the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara, with a concentration in design. Meanwhile she has pursued various design projects, together with the collective of designers TIVD (This is very dangerous) realizing various exhibitions during the Salone de Mobile, such as "My Grandmother" and "Pic Nic".
One of her creations "Connecting Dots" was published in the magazine Wallpaper in July 2013. Other objects, such as "Tales Box" will be exhibited at the next " Festival della Mente"( Festival of the Mind) in Sarzana, eleventh edition.
Her works produced in china have been published in the anthology " “Macchie d’Acqua” (Water Stains) from Mds Publishers and are present at the Biennale d'Arte di Montone.
Antonis Tasoulis, Greece
Born in the city of Athens, Greece in 1993, he came in touch with art from his early years, due to his background. At present, he studies in the School of Architecture of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Believing in the strong connection between contemporary art and architecture, he tries to balance between issues of art and architecture. He forms his architectural thesis through the senses of symmetry-asymmetry, solidity and materiality.
Eleonora Rotolo, Italy
Born in 1988 in Villaricca in the province of Naples, currently she lives in Carrara where she graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts.
In her work she explores the hidden sides by the individual in trying to expose what lies behind the appearance of quotidian life.
Her attempt is to symbolize the hidden process it in conversation and in collaboration with others, where the construction work becomes an excuse to address the issues that involve disturbance in the lives of everyone.
Giorgos Apostolopoulos, Greece
Born in the city of Chania, Crete, Greece in 1993, from his first years he navigated under different professors, coming in touch with the arts of painting, sculpture, and architectural drawing. The last three years he studied in the School of Architecture of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Through this period he co-works in different studios and architectural competitions with renowned academics such as Costas Varotsos, Tasos Kotsiopoulos, Dimitris Fragkos and Dimitris Xonoglou.
His synthetic procedure based on the senses of transition, time, and the meaning of materials, aims to provoke new forms of experiential space.
Sofia Bteibet, Italy
Sofia Bteibet was born in Milan in 1990 to a Palestinian father and Italian-Greek mother.
She received her diploma in sculpture in Milan with high honors in 2013 and is currently enrolled in the program of Specialization in sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera. In 2011 she pursued a course of study with Erasmus in Lisbon, Portugal.
Her works are often reflections on social issues and problems. She works with materials that are very fragile and ephemeral, using time as an element of her work. She plays with illusion to imagine different realities and rules. Precariousness and deception are the tools she uses to tell her stories and those of others.
She has had the opportunity to participate in several group exhibitions in Italy, Spain and Portugal. In 2013 she was selected among the artists Under 25 for the Arte Laguna Award.
Sreyashi Bhattacharyya "Tinni", India
Tinni Bhattacharyya is a rising junior at Oberlin College, where she is an Art History and Visual Arts double major with a concentration in Cognitive Sciences. Tinni grew up as a bit of a nomad, moving every three (sometimes two) years to a new country and a new home. This experience has shaped a lot of her work, as she enjoys exploring the processes behind the development of ones’ identity and of varying perspectives.
Tinni often draws upon her knowledge of biology, neuroscience and psychology to investigate these concepts primarily through printmaking, mixed media drawings, and multi-media installations.
Yichong Hu "Della", China
Della was born in Hangzhou, China in 1991. She spent most of her high school years and college years in many states around USA. She went to Brandeis University in Massachusetts from 2010 to 2014. Art was never her consideration for her life career, but one drawing class in Brandeis changed her mind and she decided to change her major to studio art and art history in her junior year. She worked as a studio assistant after her graduation for a short time.
Della's main focus is oil painting but she is also deeply in love with drawings. Her art works are very personal. They are all pieces of her inner worlds. She is very inspired by German expressionism even though one might not see it directly in her art works. She loves to manipulate spaces. Composition is probably one of the most important elements in her paintings.
