Creative Convergences takes to the road with OSL and the Art Club in a Saturday morning trip to Milan on April 6th to take part in the Milano Painting Academy’s Open Day. The event will be led by Professor Clarice Zdanski, Instructor of Art History and Studio Art at Franklin University Switzerland, and Calysta Warner, Studio Assistant and RA.
About the Academy and its founders:
The Milano Painting Academy is an innovative, professional academy that revisits the methods of the great Renaissance masters. It was created in the spring of 2021 through the combined efforts of the founding members and the Maimeri Foundation, a working group committed to promoting artistic practice as an expression of its social responsibility. Born of “anti-academic” values, the academy “brings doing back to the center of experience” and sees drawing as “a planning and fact-finding process, and not a purely aesthetic experience.”
The founders bring a diverse array of professional expertise to the academy, Silvia Basta, who had the original idea for the school and functions as its head. With a wealth of experience fostering the non-profit Maimeri Foundation in its mission of organizing, promoting, and communicating cultural and artistic events with particular attention to the social impact of its activities, at MPA she plays the fundamental role of consolidating the relationships with institutions, universities, research centers, companies, and museum, as well as financing and encouraging projects in the tertiary sector. Emanuel Ingrao, CEO of the advanced design studio for social innovation, Shifton, is responsible for managing the innovation process inside the organization that identifies strategies, business opportunities, and emerging technologies. Aysel Annagi, born in Azerbaijan and educated in England, brings her talents as painter and sculptor to bear on international relations, adding a creative dimension to the academy’s global outreach efforts.
Event Highlights:
Participants will become acquainted with the MPA method, which allows everyone - people approaching drawing and painting for the first time as well as experienced artists – to discover and enrich their own personal creative process. After a warm welcome by the MPA staff, presentation of the founders and teachers, and explanation of the MPA method, everyone will participate in a Sketching Workshop with a live model.