StARTers

Pamela Lawton will kick off the Siena Art Institute's March 2021 series of StARTers LIVE broadcasts exploring the themes of accessibility and inclusion in art and design.

Pamela Lawton’s 2019-20 Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grant was hosted by the Siena Art Institute. During her tenure here she made art while forging new connections between her own creative process, her engagement with museums, and the city of Siena. During the Fall 2019 semester, in addition to art-making in response to the medieval built environment, she engaged through research and teaching with the community of people with low or no vision and/or hearing loss and the art and educational institutions that serve them in our region of Tuscany as well as in Athens, Greece.

News posts about her Fall 2019 activities: 

• https://www.sienaart.org/News/Fulbright-Scholar-Pamela-Lawton-leads-workshops-at-the-Uffizi-Gallery-and-Pitti-Palace/
• https://www.sienaart.org/News/DRAWING-AS-SEEING-in-Athens/ 
• https://www.sienaart.org/News/Riabilita-workshop-with-Fulbright-scholar-Pamela-Lawton/

Bio: 

Pamela Lawton’s multi-paneled paintings reflect the height of the World Trade Center, the cacophony of Times Square, and the rhythm of the Indian Ocean, all places where she has made art with zeal. Inspired by her students, she shares public art-making practices with them, including in the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), on the streets of New York while teaching for Eugene Lang College, and in places such as Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Corciano, Italy, the latter while teaching undergraduate and graduate students for American University.

She has exhibited in galleries and museums locally and internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Galeria Nacional in San Jose, Costa Rica, The Conde Nast Building, NY, 180 Maiden Lane, NY, The Atrium Gallery, NY, and the Galeria Isabel Ignacio in Seville, Spain. Group exhibitions in NYC include Pierogi Gallery, Sideshow Gallery, and Tibor De Nagy Gallery; also, The Artists’ Museum, Lodz, Poland, and the Emmanuel Heller Gallery, Tel Aviv. Lawton is an Artist-in-Residence (AIR) at Chashama, NYC, and was an AIR at the World Trade Center through the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Collaborations with poets and authors include “Genet at Metray”, Dennis Moritz (United Artist Books, 2018), Sweet-voiced [mutilated] Papyrus, Anne Waldman (Spyuyten Duyvil Press, 2015), “Walking After Midnight”, Bill Kushner (Spuyten Duyvil Press,2011), and "A Place In the Sun" (Spuyten Duyvil Press, 2010), Lewis Warsh. Her work is in collections in the US and abroad. Interviews featuring her exhibitions have been featured on NY1 News, and the BBC.

She received a BA from Bennington College in visual arts and an MFA from the City College of NY and Scuola Lorenzo De Medici in Florence, Italy. While a faculty member at Eugene Lang College, New School University, she created a study- abroad art program in Sri Lanka. She has been teaching at the Met for more than ten years.

For more info:  www.pamelalawton.com

Greek resident artist Fotis Flevotomos will lead an online talk on Tuesday March 9th, part of the Siena Art Institute's March 2021 series of StARTers LIVE broadcasts exploring the themes of accessibility and inclusion in art and design.

On every Tuesday for the month of March 2021, we are exploring the themes of accessibility and inclusion through art and design, speaking with international practitioners through a live broadcast, streaming on the Siena Art Institute's Facebook page and YouTube channel at 6pm Siena / noon NYC or use this time zone converter to know what time it will be where in you are:

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html)  

In his own words:

The Truth and Resourcefulness of a Limitation

Until quite recently a vast number of people in the art world would assume that a visual disorder is generally a barrier for making or experiencing art. To argue against that and imply some sort of originality and resourcefulness in a visual limitation would probably sound eccentric. Bertrand Russell, the great British polymath and philosopher, has stated however that “every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”

A quick look at the way museums are now dealing with the so-called access programs would suffice to prove that Russell is right. A number of multisensory approaches to art is being taken more seriously and hybrid programs that combine music, dance, technology and community engagement have revealed a whole new set of possibilities.

During this short talk I will try to give some examples of my work with artists and curators in the field of museum access practices and will attempt to explain how low vision has helped me to more confidently explore the connections between art and ability.

For more information: visit the residency profile page of Fotis Flevotomos

The work of the Siena Art Institute's Greek resident artists' is co-sponsored by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

Greek resident artist Vassiliki Spachou will lead an online talk on Tuesday March 16th, part of the Siena Art Institute's March 2021 series of StARTers LIVE broadcasts exploring the themes of accessibility and inclusion in art and design.

On every Tuesday for the month of March 2021, we are exploring the themes of accessibility and inclusion through art and design, speaking with international practitioners through a live broadcast, streaming on the Siena Art Institute's Facebook page and YouTube channel at 6pm Siena / noon NYC or use this time zone converter to know what time it will be where in you are:

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html)  

Vassiliki Spachou is a dance artist and educator whose work extends from choreography, to educational/access programs, multisensory experiences and community engaging projects. Fascinated with nature observation, somatic inquires, visual art, cultural and everyday rituals she wishes to develop practices that foster collective healing and inspire new ways of observation, creation and learning. Her later work includes video pieces, photos, digital sketches and site specific movement interventions.

Recently she was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to conduct research in choreography, somatic and museum practices in New York. During her grant period she collaborated with the Museum of Arts and Design leading a movement workshop based on the exhibition “45 Stories in Jewelry”.

Since 2015 she has been collaborating with the Benaki Museum in Athens for educational programs that use movement as a tool for art interpretation and has contributed to a series of access programs for visitors with visual impairments. She has conceived “Dance in the Museum”, a program that allows participants to express themselves physically and interact with key pieces from the Benaki collections.

As a performer she has participated in art projects and dance performances for Chantier d’Europe, the Danse Élargie Competition, Théâtre de la Ville-Paris, the ΝΕΟΝ organisation, the Onassis Cultural Centre, the ARC for Dance Festival, the Benaki Museum, the European Dancehouse Network and other institutions.

Vassiliki studied Dance at the Greek State School of Dance and the Rallou Manou Professional Dance School. She also holds a BA in Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art.

For more information: visit the residency page of Vassiliki Spachou

The work of the Siena Art Institute's Greek resident artists' is co-sponsored by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

Elena Aparicio è storiografa dell'arte per l'Università Rovira i Virgili di Tarragona e museologa e gestora culturale per l'Università di Barcellona (UB), specialista in educazione di musei da istituzioni come il MoMA di New York o il Museum of Fine Arts di Boston, ed esperta di accessibilità educativa e culturale per l'Università Internazionale di Andalucia e diverse entità specializzate come Fondazione ONCE Madrid, Società Federata di Sordi di Malaga, Plena Inclusión Madrid o Dançando com a Diferença (Maderia).

Dal 1995 crea programmi educativi e curatorialli dove si promuove la partecipazione attiva e l'inclusione effettiva attraverso l'arte: nella XII Cairo Internazionale Art Biennale (Egitto); nel ciclo “Musei per l'uguaglianza, la diversità e l'inclusione” del progetto La Cultura del Governo di Baja California e nel 5º Simposio Internazionale: “Ozio, Musei ed Uguaglianza” di Città del Messico; nell’Espacio Fundación Telefónica (Madrid); nel Museo Grao Vasso di Visseu (Portogallo); nel Museu Picasso di Barcellona, nei I, II e III Seminari Internazionali d’Arte Inclusiva (Almería, Siviglia e Madrid), nella II e IV Biennale di Arte Contemporanea della Fondazione ONCE (Madrid ); nel II Incontro internazionale di Arte e Teatro come Terapia a Brandeburgo (Germania); nella IV Summer of Photography Bienale di Bruxelles (Belgio), nella No Format Gallery di Londra (GB), nella Collezione Peggy Guggenheim e alla 49º e 50ª Biennale Internazionale d'Arte Contemporanea, entrambe a Venezia; nella Fondazione Cittadellarte Michelangello Pistoletto (Biella), nel Museo Univ. Leopoldo Flores de Toluca o all'Istituto Culturale di Tijuana (Messico), tra altre entità ed eventi internazionali.

Il suo lavoro gli ha permesso sperimentare strategie educative e comunicative basate sull’apprendimento collaborativo e su lo sviluppo del pensiero crítico, tra la psicologia cognitiva, la pedagogia costruttivista, le dottrine sociale, le strategie di pensiero visive o l'educazione inclusiva.

Attualmente è docente di Storia dell'Arte presso l'Escuela Universitaria Musical Arts Madrid; docente di Arte e Accessibilità Cognitiva nel progetto "Inserlab" rivolto a studenti con diversità cognitiva, dalla Cattedra di Inserimento Sociale dell'Università Rovira i Virgili in collaborazione con il Museu d'Art Modern di Tarragona. E dalla sua creazione nel 2017, è docente di Musei e Accessibilità Culturale nel Titolo di Proprio "Tecnico Ausiliario in Ambienti Culturali" per giovani con disabilità intellettive, del Vice-Rectorado degli Studenti dell'Università di Màlaga.

A novembre 2019 ha partecipato nella I “Patrimonio artistico e persone sorde: oiettivi e percorsi per l’accessibilità e la partecipazione”, colla conferenza “Persone sorde e Lingua dei Segni: nuovi paradigmi nell'accessibilità dei programmi museali” nel Progetto “LISten”, presso l’ARTDATE Festival di Bergamo.

Fra apprile e ottobre 2019 ha lavorato nel progetto europeo ARCHES (Accessible Resources for Cultural Heritage EcoSystems) insieme al team Educathyssen dil Museo Nazionale Thyssen-Bornemisza (Madrid).

Da 2016 a 2019 é stata consulente d’Accessibilità dil Museo Nazionale Centro d’Arte Reina Sofia, responsabile dello sviluppo della programmazione inclusiva per le persone con diversità sensoriale, cognitive e fisiche. E ha programmato la Settimana dell’Accessibilità 2016, 2017 e 2018, attorno alla celebrazione della Giornata internazionale della Disabilità il 3 dicembre.

Dal 2015 è responsabile dei programmi educativi inclusivi di The Art Factory Inc, un'associazione socioculturale specializzata nell'accessibilità universale e nell'inclusione di tutte le persone attraverso l'arte e la cultura.

Nel 2010 è stata curatrice spagnola alla XII Biennale Internazionale d'Arte Contemporanea del Cairo, con il progetto "Places of Origin" dei fotografi Bleda e Rosa. Museo d'Arte Moderna del Centro Nazionale di Cultura e Teatro dell'Opera, sull'isola di Gezira (Zamalek).

Dal 2003 al 2011 è stata coordinatrice dei programmi pedagogici, contenuti educativi e responsabile del programa d’Accessibilità dil Museo Picasso di Malaga.

Ha lavorato con artisti e registi come Peter Greenaway, Bigas Luna, M. Pistoletto, C. Pietroiusti, Multiplicity, Evru/Zush, il collettivo d'arte commestibili Ali & Cia., la performer Esther Ferrer, i fotografi Bleda & Rosa o Fernanda Fragateiro, ma anche con giovani artisti emergenti.

La sua esperienza di didattica museale l'ha portata a collaborare con esperti internazionale: Philip Yenawine (creatore del dipartimento educativo del MoMA, NY), Amelia Arenas (programma MITE nel Kawamura Memorial Museum of Art), Abigail Housen (psicologa cognitiva delle Visual Thinking Strategies VTS, Boston-NY) o Dory Jacobson dell‘Art Institute di Chicago.

E 'stata professoressa ospite da museologia, didattica museale e accessibilità culturale presso la London Metropolitan University (London MET), l'Università Nazionale Autonoma del Messico (UNAM) l’Università Complutense (UCM) e l’Autonoma di Madrid (UAM), l'Università Internazionale di Catalonia (Barcellona) o l'Università del Mar (Murcia).

Fà anche consulenza di arte, didattica, musei, inclusione, i programmi partecipativi e accessibilità culturale, in entità nazionali e internazionali.

• Twitter: @lea_luns
• Facebook: Ele Aparicio | Facebook
• Instagram: aparicioele
•  
• Associazione:
• Twitter: The Art Factory Inc. (@art_factory_inc) / Twitter
• Facebook: The Art Factory Inc. | Facebook

Dr. Tom Bieling, is a Postdoc senior researcher and lecturer at ZfD – Zentrum für Designforschung (HAW Hamburg). Visiting Professorships and Lectureships worldwide. In his research he mainly focuses on the social and political dimensions of design, particularly on aspects of inclusion and exclusion. Research Fellow (Head of Social Design) at Design Research Lab / Berlin University of the Arts (2010 - 2019), previously at T-Labs / TU Berlin (2007 - 2010). Chief Editor at DESIGNABILITIES Design Research Journal, which he founded in 2008. Co-Editor of the book series Design Meanings (Mimesis). Founding member of the Design Research Network. He is a regular member of juries, research and expert committees (including the Scientific Advisory Board of the German Institute for Human, Ethics and Science) and author of numerous publications. He was elected Young Innovator of the Year by the Falling Walls consortium. His work, which has received several awards, is exhibited worldwide. Recent books: “Design (&) Activism” (Mimesis, 2019), “Gender (&) Design” (Mimesis, 2020) and “Inklusion als Entwurf” (Birkhäuser, 2019). www.tombieling.com

Our series of online talks StARTers LIVE continues on Tuesday April 13th. SART teachers Irene Lupi and Jacqueline Tune will be speaking with Academic Director Lisa Nonken to kick off our April-May series of talks on the theme of Art & Education. We will discuss ways of engaging in creative and critical thinking through art in a variety of subjects and contexts. The conversation will be live-streamed on the Siena Art Institute's Facebook page and YouTube channel at 6pm Siena / 7 pm Athens / noon NYC / 9:30 Delhi.As always, comments and questions from viewers are very welcome during the broadcast. We hope you can join us!

Click here for more info.

Our series of online talks StARTers LIVE continues on Tuesday April 20th with Indian painter and educator Indrapramit Roy, part of our April-May series of talks on the theme of Art & Education.  We will discuss ways of engaging in creative and critical thinking through art in a variety of subjects and contexts. 

The conversation will be live-streamed on the Siena Art Institute's Facebook page and YouTube channel at 6pm Siena / 7 pm Athens / noon NYC / 9:30 Delhi.

As always, comments and questions from viewers are very welcome during the broadcast.  We hope you can join us! 

Indrapramit Roy studied printmaking (BFA) at the Visva-Bharati University of Santiniketan and painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of M.S. University of Baroda, India. Subsequently he was awarded Inlaks Scholarship to study MA Painting (1990-92) at the Royal College of Art, London, which included a term at Cite des Arts, Paris. He also spent a term in Berlin on an Erasmus Exchange Scholarship.

In a three decade long career he has had 16 solo shows, 2 duo shows and over 90 Group shows and several art camps and workshops to his credit. 

He has taken part in Group shows in New York, London, Melbourne and Yangon and has represented India in Asian Art Exhibition in Macao and the Cairo Biennale, Cairo. In 2013 completed a 12 x 26 feet mural for Terminal-2 of the new Mumbai International Airport (now rechristened - Jai Ho Museum).

Honours and fellowships include Kanoria Centre Fellowship, Inlaks Scholarship, Govt. of India-Junior Research Fellowship, the Fulbright fellowship, USA and more recently Artist-in-Residence at The Siena Art Institute. 

Indrapramit has an abiding interest illustrating for children. 

Two of his illustrated books won Museum publishing award in the US and Alcuin Children’s book award from Canada. 

The artist has been teaching Painting at his alma mater Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU of Baroda since 1995.

https://www.instagram.com/indrapramitroy/

Our series of online talks StARTers LIVE continues on Tuesday April 27th with American choreographer, artist, and educator Rodney Veal. This online event is part of our April-May series of talks on the theme of Art & Education, discussing ways of engaging in creative and critical thinking through art in a variety of subjects and contexts. 

The conversation will be live-streamed on the Siena Art Institute's Facebook page and YouTube channel at 6pm Siena / 7pm Athens / 9:30pm Delhi / noon NYC / 11am Chicago/ 9am L.A.

As always, comments and questions from viewers are very welcome during the broadcast.  We hope you can join us! 

Rodney Veal is an independent choreographer and multi-disciplinary artist based in Dayton, Ohio in the US.  He serves as adjunct faculty & Career Community Coordinator at Sinclair Community College. He is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University with a B.S in Political Science and Visual Arts. He received his M.F.A in Choreography from The Ohio State University. Rodney currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Ohio Dance as President and on the boards of Levitt Pavilions Dayton, HomeFull, Dayton Live! and WYSO.

He is the recipient of several Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District grants and fellowships, including a MCACD Fellowship for 2010-2011.  He was one of five artists chosen nationwide to participate in the Blue Sky Dayton Project Artist in Residency Program held in collaboration with the University of Dayton in the summer of 2009.  

Rodney has choreographed and presented numerous performance installations; recent notable projects being Reveal: Five Zones of Beauty presented at the Springfield Museum of Art in 2011 and the GHETTO installation at the University of Dayton’s ArtStreet in 2015.  

Rodney can currently be seen as the Host of the Emmy© Award winning Television series THE ART SHOW which is currently in production for its 12th season and can be viewed at thinktv.org/theartshow/ on the YouTube channel The Art Show- ThinkTV and CET.

For more information:

Links for Rodney Veal:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodney-veal-491a973/
• https://twitter.com/Artshowguy
• https://www.instagram.com/rodveal2013/
• https://www.facebook.com/rodney.veal.9

Links for the TV show he hosts The Art Show/ ThinkTV:

• https://thinktv.org/theartshow/
• https://www.facebook.com/thinktv
• https://twitter.com/thinktv
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK4KMPJbJSaRtRY_MxSUzlw
• https://www.instagram.com/thinktvPBS/

Our series of online talks StARTers LIVE continues on Tuesday May 4th with creativity coach, painter, and photographer Michael Eldridge. This online event is part of our April-May series of talks on the theme of Art & Education, discussing ways of engaging in creative and critical thinking through art in a variety of subjects and contexts. 

The conversation will be live-streamed on the Siena Art Institute's Facebook page and YouTube channel at 6pm Siena / 7pm Athens / 9:30pm Delhi / noon NYC / 11am Chicago/ 9am L.A.

As always, comments and questions from viewers are very welcome during the broadcast.  We hope you can join us! 

Michael Eldridge is a painter, photographer and creativity coach. He is a Fulbright scholar, Fellow of the FRSA and has taught in the UK and USA. He currently teaches in Italy where he runs art workshops in the Sibillini mountains. During the Pandemic, he has created online studio workshops which are principally about the good and bad times in the life of an artist and what it really means to be creative. And they include practical, playful tuition on image making and advice on how to get your stuff out there.

He connects with folk from his studio near Civitanova and in the summer at his mountain retreat. His online sessions are both individual one to one sessions and are also for groups via ZOOM webinars and whatsapp. They are always lighthearted and playfully challenging.

As an artist, he exhibits his work internationally and lectures on the subject of Creativity at conferences in the USA and in Europe.

A Londoner by birth, he has lived in New Zealand, South Africa and in the USA. Currently his home is in Italy

You can find him on Whatsapp + 39.3283535358, on Instagram and Facebook.

His personal website is www.michaeleldridge.net

On Tuesday May 11th the Siena Art Institute's series of online talks StARTers LIVE continues with Allen Frost and Will Schutt, teachers of English, creative writing, and humanities! This online event is part of our April-May series of talks on the theme of Art & Education, discussing ways of engaging in creative and critical thinking through art in a variety of subjects and contexts.

The conversation will be live-streamed on the Siena Art Institute's Facebook page and YouTube channel at 6pm Siena / 7pm Athens / 9:30pm Delhi / noon NYC / 11am Chicago/ 9am L.A. As always, comments and questions from viewers are very welcome during the broadcast.  We hope you can join us! 

On Facebook: www.facebook.com/SienaArt/videos/471160487484371

On YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urq8fKS3kQo 

Allen Frost is the Director of the Innovative Teacher Program at The Nueva School, a PreK-12 school for gifted students in the San Francisco Bay Area. He works with teachers across the school, helping them to grow their pedagogical practice, and he also teaches several humanities courses, including "Rage, Romance, and Resilience: A Cultural History of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic" and "Close Readings in Everyday Life." Before Nueva, Allen received his PhD in English at Stanford University in 2015. His dissertation focused on representations of geography and space in 20th century American novels, from William Faulkner to Jonathan Franzen.  While pursuing his doctorate, Allen spent several summers teaching literary theory to high school students at the Arkansas Governor’s School in his home state. He began his teaching career in public high schools in Pennsylvania and then taught at the Chinese International School in Hong Kong. Allen received his BA in English literature and educational studies from Swarthmore College. He lives in San Francisco, where he plays oboe in the San Francisco Philharmonic and the Bay Area Rainbow Symphony.

Will Schutt is a poet and translator. His book of poems, Westerly, received the 2012 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition. His most recent translations include My Life, I Lapped It Up: Selected Poems of Edoardo Sanguineti (Oberlin College Press, 2018), Atlantis by Carlo and Renzo Piano (Europa Editions, 2020) and Fleeing for Safety: From Mantua to Switzerland by Corrado Vivanti and Clelia della Pergola (CPL Editions, 2020). He lectures at Goucher College, where he directs the Goucher College Young Writers' Camp. He is also the co-curator of Policromia, the Siena Art Institute's poetry and translation festival in Siena. 

Sara Maccagnan è docente di ruolo nella Scuola Secondaria di Secondo Grado, dove insegna Disegno e Storia dell’arte. Nel 2012 ha ideato il programma di educazione permanente  Più Arte curando anche l’attività dell’omonimo blog dedicato alla didattica dell'arte per la Scuola. Dal  2018 coordina  Più Arte Studio e  si dedica alla progettazione didattica innovativa per le arti visive seguendo numerosi progetti in ambito scolastico e ideando  corsi di formazione per Insegnanti ed Educatori.

Svolge attività di studio e ricerca sui temi della cultura dell’educazione visiva in ambito scolastico e museale, i suoi progetti sono stati premiati in numerosi concorsi e i lavori realizzati esposti in diverse realtà.

Ama inventare giochi didattici e sperimentare nuove contaminazioni educative.

su Instagram @piuartestudio

Our spring 2021 series of online talks StARTers LIVE concludes on Tuesday May 25 with Dr Lyndsey Bakewell. Join us for the live broadcast at 6pm Siena / 5pm London / noon NYC / 9 am LA / 9:30 pm Delhi. Streaming simultaneously from the Siena Art Institute's Facebook and YouTube channels.

Dr Lyndsey Bakewell is a Lecturer in Drama at De Montfort University, Leicester. Her research focuses on the exploration of key societal issues through applied storytelling and performance. 

She is currently working on two international research projects that consider how storytelling, drama and creative practice can teach lifelong educational skills for higher education and employment, and is currently developing a new strand of research into the experiences of parenting and motherhood through the pandemic. 

She has published in the area of applied practice on a range of topics, including mental health, education and environmental issues.

Faculty profile page: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/about-dmu/academic-staff/art-design-humanities/lyndsey-bakewell/lyndsey-bakewell.aspx