MASTER CLASS OF GLASS - IMPERIAL TRASPARENCIES
2 Weeks - 83 Hours

(Glass objects in table-settings from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages)

As artistic handicrafts, glass products have had an important role in table-settings over the centuries. The earliest finds in this field date back to the 4th millenium B.C. and come from Mesopotamia and Egypt.Some of the most important glass art centers in ancient times were Tyre, Alexandria, Sidon and Rome. Glass objects from Roman daily life (small glass vases in luminescent colors, plates, cups and glasses from 100 to 400 A.D.) have been found in Roman necropolises. With the expansion of the Roman Empire, the art of glass spread all over Europe, but from the Middle Ages to the 18th century Venice was the uncontested center of this art and the refinement and elegance of Murano glass outdid the work of its rivals. In analyzing this millenarian art, the Master Class will trace the development of glass production from its origins to the Middle Ages and consider the typology of glass objects in relation to specific themes as well as various research projects connected to the use of glass in the rites of daily life. The focus of this course, therefore, will be on glass as an important part of domestic activities and on the acquisition of historical knowledge in relationship to contemporary design, an essential aspect for the increase of awareness of this art in the field of modern interior decoration.

The History of Glass
The origins of glass - Historical notes on the principal centers of glass production - Glass in Rome and in the provincial workshops - The Roman glass called "Millefiori" - Medieval glass - Symbology and alchemy in the Middle Ages.

Design
Working plans - Elevations - Sections - Drawings representing the forms and showing the dimensions of glass objects for the table - Designing glasses, plates, cruets, bottles and candlesticks - Glass types: glass like hard stones; multistrata glass.

Production and decoration
Characteristics and preparation of the glass-paste - Ancient techniques of glass production - Matter, fusion, cooling - Blown glass (revolutions in production methods) - Variations in the processes of glass production used in the Mediterranean area - Cutting - Grinding - Polishing and opacification with bone powder - Similarities to marble, alabaster and precious stones (haida) - Potassic glass - Imitation - Glass types - English, Bohemian and Venetian crystal - Coloring - Glaze-painting - Cold-painting - Incision - Applied decoration - Color applied with mordant - Stained glass - Chromatic effects - New possibilities provided by modern scientific knowledge. (For further understanding about the production and decoration of glass, there will be guided tours of glass factories.)

GUIDED TOURS

• Venice - Aquileia (two days)
• Montalcino - Colle Val d'Elsa (one day )
• Altare (near Savona) (one day )

Duration: Two weeks - 102 hours (Arrival and departure Saturday afternoon)
Number of participants: Min. 14 - Max. 18


The Master Class is open to designers, architects specialized in this field, professional interior decorators.

MATILDE TRAPASSI
Matilde Trapassi, after getting her diploma in Decoration at the Fine Arts Academy in Palermo, taught as assistant-professor at the same Academy.In 1988 she moved to Milan where she worked as an assistant-professor at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. Subsequently, she qualified as a full professor and taught at the Bologna Academy of Fine Arts until 1992 when she went back to Milan where she has taught Decoration and has been the coordinator of the Decoration Institute since then. In addition to her teaching engagements she works intensely as an artist: through a personal and original process of symbiosis, she achieves an evocative synthesis of painting, sculpture and architecture. She has participated in many national and international collective exhibitions: "Nuovi Materiali, Nuove Tecniche" (Venice, 1969); "Mediterranea" (Messina, 1976); "Villa Malfitano" (Palermo, 1986); "Città di Brera" (Milano, 1993). She had a personal exhibition in 1994 in Bodegraven (Holland) and her work has been in many collective shows, "Trush Trento Museo" (Trento, 1997) is the latest. She is also a representative of the International Relations Office at the Academy and is responsible for the Socrates/Erasmus Program. She devotes herself to the furthering of art competitions both in Italy and abroad. She has also held many seminars (Bristol, 1992; Granada, 1992 -1997).

CECILIA CAMICI
Cecilia Camici, a graduate of the University of Florence with a degree in the Literature of Ancient Oriental History, in 1990 organized lessons on the Religions of Ancient Peoples at the University of Caen (France). In 1991 she went to Wurzburg (Germany) to do research on Ancient Languages. In the same year she obtained a Foreign Ministry scholarship to do research at the Linguistic Institute of the University of Vienna. In 1993 she returned to Florence to teach Italian at the University of Michigan's program in Italy and also began participating in several archaeological excavations in Tuscany and organizing lecture cycles on archaeology and territorial stewardship at the Florentine National Archeological Museum. In particular, she has held specific lectures about everyday life and everyday objects in ancient times and about the materials and decorative techniques (such as mosaic, pictorial art and the decoration of pottery) of the ancient peoples of Asia Minor, Egypt, Etruria and Rome. Among other activities, she edits a didactic catalogue on Etruscan daily life for the educational section of the Tuscan Archaeological Administration Agency (Soprintendenza Archeologica della Toscana). In 1997 she became President of CO.IDRA (Cooperativa di indagine e ricerca archeologica) in Florence and she organizes cultural training courses co-financed by the European Social Fund and the Province of Ancona. The author of several publications, she is in charge of Didactica and Learning Methods related to Archeology for both Italian and foreign schools, several cultural associations and local agencies.