Introducing the FUS Faculty: Clarice Zdanski

Instructor, Art History and Studio Art

Ph.D. The University of Chicago, USA
M.A. The University of Chicago, USA
B.F.A. The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
Dottore, Istituto Universitario di Lingue Moderne, Feltre (BL), Italy
Diploma Conservatorio di Novara, Italy

Office: Kaletsch Campus, Graduate Studies
Phone: +41 91 985 22 69
Email: czdanski@fus.edu

Clarice Zdanski is an artist, art educator, art historian, writer, and translator. Her academic degrees include an MA and Ph.D. in the History of Art (University of Chicago), a BFA in Painting and Printmaking (UNC-Greensboro), an Italian university degree in modern languages (IULM-Feltre, Italy), and a Diploma in Music (Conservatorio G. Cantelli, Novara, Italy). Her research work in art history, which ranges from the Italian Renaissance to art and travel in late nineteenth-century Europe and current practices in art education, has always been concerned with how art is studied and its place in society. Zdanski has published in scholarly journals and websites, and her artwork is in private collections in Europe and the USA. Prof. Zdanski was awarded the FUS "Excellence in Service" Faculty Award for the academic year 2023/24.

2024-2025 Courses

STA 115	Introductory Painting	FALL 2024
This introductory course explores basic painting techniques and attempts to assist the development of visual awareness through various experiments and media, thus providing a foundation for further art study. With a combination of theory and studio practice, the course investigates the properties of color, line, point, plane and texture in an effort to free students from dead convention and at the same time encourage their creative abilities. The course will incorporate structured exercises on the nature of paint and the rudiments of color theory, while encouraging students to study the painting of past and present artists to develop their own creative identity. Visits to museums, galleries or ateliers may be organized if possible. The course carries a fee for art supplies.
STA 215	Intermediate Painting	FALL 2024
Intermediate course aimed at further developing the basic skills learned in STA 115. More emphasis will be placed on developing individual projects and exploring different media and genre as students work towards finding a personal identity through creative experience. The course carries a fee for art supplies.
STA 240T	Sustainability and Art in Europe (Finland)	FALL 2024
Over the past few decades, sustainability has become a movement in the visual arts, shifting from a purely ecological to a larger cultural context and covering a vast range of ecological, economic, political, moral and ethical concerns. Sustainable art is usually distinguished from earlier movements like environmental art in that it advocates issues in sustainability, like ecology, social justice, non-violence and grassroots democracy. This studio course will approach sustainability and artistic practice from a number of viewpoints and modalities. In addition to providing a general introduction to sustainability in the arts and the evolving role of the arts in today's society, students will engage in creative projects, presentations and papers on current social issues and/or environmental concerns (including for example the use of sustainable materials, recycling materials, community outreach, local environmental and sustainability initiatives). During the travel period, students will have the opportunity to see exhibitions and to visit institutions, organizations and artists who are concerned with sustainability and related issues. This part of the course may also involve a creative project that seeks to envisage art as a catalyst to stimulate discourse and foster change. There is a studio fee for art supplies for the on-campus part of the course. NOTE: This Academic Travel course carries a supplemental fee: CHF 400 (for students invoiced in CHF) or USD 475 (for students invoiced in USD).
STA 315	Higher Painting	FALL 2024
Continuation of the previous painting courses to more advanced levels. The course carries a fee for art supplies.
STA 114	Drawing Related Media	SPRING 2025
The course will explore various media related to drawing, like pen and ink, charcoal, colored pencils, felt tip markers, tissue paper and glue, collage, crayons, oil and watercolor pastels, watercolor, tempera, gouache, spray paint. There is virtually no limit to the media that may be employed during the semester. At the same time, the course also reinforces the rudiments of drawing, but with primary emphasis on materials and new media rather than theoretical questions. The course carries a fee for art supplies.
STA 115	Introductory Painting	SPRING 2025
This introductory course explores basic painting techniques and attempts to assist the development of visual awareness through various experiments and media, thus providing a foundation for further art study. With a combination of theory and studio practice, the course investigates the properties of color, line, point, plane and texture in an effort to free students from dead convention and at the same time encourage their creative abilities. The course will incorporate structured exercises on the nature of paint and the rudiments of color theory, while encouraging students to study the painting of past and present artists to develop their own creative identity. Visits to museums, galleries or ateliers may be organized if possible. The course carries a fee for art supplies.
STA 214	Drawing Related Media	SPRING 2025
Intermediate course aimed at further developing the basic skills learned in STA 114. More emphasis will be placed on developing individual projects. The course carries a fee for art supplies.
STA 215	Intermediate Painting	SPRING 2025
Intermediate course aimed at further developing the basic skills learned in STA 115. More emphasis will be placed on developing individual projects and exploring different media and genre as students work towards finding a personal identity through creative experience. The course carries a fee for art supplies.
STA 314	Drawing Related Media	SPRING 2025
A higher course aimed at further developing the basic skills learned in STA 114. More emphasis will be placed on developing individual projects. The course carries a fee for art supplies.
STA 315	Higher Painting	SPRING 2025
Continuation of the previous painting courses to more advanced levels. The course carries a fee for art supplies.

Publications:

English texts for Meadows: Une nature, un monde - SOS Biodiversité, issued for the Salon des Beaux Arts 2019. Societé nationale des Beax Arts. Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, 12-15 December, 2019. Macerata: Edizioni Simple, 2019.

A.A. V.V. Salon des Beaux Arts 2019. Societé nationale des beaux arts. Beaucouzé: SETIG-Abelia, 2019.

VEDERE LE PAROLE - CODEX Il sacro dell'Arte. Omaggio al Codex Purpureus Rossanensis. Teo de Palma and Ombretta Gazzola, curators. Baronissi (SA): Gutenberg Edizioni, 2019.

"Constructivity and Restitution: A Reflective Essay on Socially Engaged Art and ISEAS Finland." In ISEAS - Finland, edited by Katja Juhola, 124-146. Mauritius: Scholar's Press, 2018.

A.A. V.V. Salon des Beaux Arts 2018. Societé nationale des beaux arts. Beaucouzé: SETIG-Abelia, 2018.

Second edition of Meadows: Personal Structures - Art, Space Time, Existence, issued for the Salon des Beaux Arts 2018. Societé nationale des Beaux Arts. Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, 13-16 December, 2018. Macerata: Edizioni Simple, 2018.

English texts for Meadows: Personal Structures - Venice Palazzo Mora (Macerata: Edizioni Simple, 2017) and Meadows contribution to Venice 2017 PERSONAL STRUCTURES: Open Borders (n.p.: GAA Foundation, 2017).

"Finding the Place of Art in Society: The Value of On-site, Hands-on Experience in Art Education in the Digital Age," The International Journal of the Arts in Society: Annual Review, Volume 9 (June 2015) http://ijaar.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.288/prod.19

“Intercultural Communication in Art Education.” Arts and Crafts Education: Materials of the International Conference 9-10 June, 2011. St. Petersburg, Russia: The Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts, 2011.

“The Role of the Arts in Shaping Europe’s Future: Intercultural Communication in Art Education.” The Language of Art and Music: An International Symposium on the Potential for Artistic Expression to Cross Cultural Barriers and the Relationship between Art, Culture and International Relations. Berlin 14-20 February, 2011. http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/acd/index.php?en_loam2011_review_papers

“What to Draw? Inducing the Thrill of Creation and Making it Last.” Arts and Crafts Education: Materials of the International Conference 13-14 June, 2010. St. Petersburg, Russia: The Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts, 2010.

“Samuel Butler, Local Identity and Periodizing Northern Italian Art: The Travel Writer-Painter’s View of Art History,” (chapter in Samuel Butler, Victorian against the Grain: A Critical Overview, ed. James G. Paradis), The University of Toronto Press, 2008.

“Art in Milan and Lombardy,” and “Sightseeing (with Anne Hanley),” Milan: The Lakes and Lombardy. Time Out Guides. Harmondsworth: Penguin Guides, 2002.

“Alps and Sanctuaries Revisited,” Culture: Annali dell’Istituto di Lingue della Facoltà di Scienze Politiche dell’Università di Milano, 7(1993): 31-45.

“Giulio Campagnola umanista: una reinterpretazione alla luce di nuovi documenti,” Culture: Annali dell’Istituto di Lingue della Facoltà di Scienze Politiche dell’Università di Milano, 1 (1987): 115-20.

“A Document Pertaining to the Question of Giulio Campagnola’s Clerical Service,” Bollettino del Museo Civico di Padova, 75 (1986): 61-66.

Recent Conferences, Workshops, Papers Delivered:

Moderator, "Vivere la Musica." Round table, open concert and interactive musicla performance workshops with jazz musician Giovanni Falzone. Milan, 3 March 2018.

"A Bestiary in Masks: making Fossils of the Future." Virtual poster presented at the Eleventh International Conference on the Arts in Society (10-12 August 2016, UCLA, "The Practice of Art in the Age of the Anthropocene."

"Finding the Place of Art in Society: The Value of On-site, Hands-on Experience in Art Education in the Digital Age," The Ninth International Conference on the Arts in Society, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy, 25-27 June 2014.

Peer Review; Editing:

Editor, International Balzan Prize Foundation, www.balzan.org

Referee, The International Journal of New Media, Technology and the Arts, http://ijamt.cgpublisher.com

Associate editor, The Arts Collection http://ija.cgpublisher.com and The International Journal of Design in Society http://ijgs.cgpublisher.com

Exhibitions, Performances and Symposia (2014-2019):

MEADOWS: Une nature, un monde - SOS Biodiversité. Salon des Beaux Arts 2019. Societé nationale des Beaux Arts. Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, 12-15 December, 2019. (Group show; catalogues)

"Tempi burrascosi". Favola musicale di Nicola Campogrande sul testo di Dario Voltolini. Live painting during performance with New Made Ensemble. Teatro Sociale, Como, 5 December 2019.

"Vedere Parole: CODEX - Il sacro nell'arte." Exhibition of artists' books inspired by the Codex Purpureus Rossanensis. Complesso monumentale San Bernardino. Rossano (CS). 21 September-20 October 2019. (Group show; catalogue)

Final Show 2. PATA summer Workshops. Kobro Gallery, Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz, Poland. August-September 2019. (Group show)

"Lufalafo - a dystopic vision of equality." Musical-theatrical-choreographical work by Davide Coltri and Giovanni Bertelli. Performance organized by the Divertimento Ensemble, Milan, for the project "Le nuove voci", 12 June 2019. (Performance; social engagement project)

Second edition of "MEADOWS Personal Structures." Organized by MEADOWS (Mediterranean Endeavours Advancing Development of Widespread Sustainability) for the Salon des Beaux Arts 2018. Societé nationale des Beaux Arts. Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, 13-16 December, 2018. (Group show; catalogues)

Final Show 2. PATA Summer Workshops. Kobro Gallery, Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz, Poland. August-September 2018. (Group show)

"MEADOWS Personal Structures." Palazzo Mora, Venice, 13 May-26 November 2017. Organized by MEADOWS (Mediterranean Endeavours Advancing Development of Widespread Sustainability) in collaboration with GAA (Global Art Affairs) and the European Cultural Center with the endorsement of the Lebanon Ministry of Tourism during the Venice Biennale 2017. The show was also presented at the Villa Giulia in Verbania (Lago Magigore, Italy) in April 2018 and at the Casa Bossi in Novara, Italy, from 13 October - 3 November 2018. (Group show; catalogues)

ISEAS Finland - International Symposium of Socially Engaged Art), Raseborg, Finland. August-September, 2017. Exhibition held at Galeri Perspektivet, Ekenas, 2-30 September, 2017. (Group show; social engagement projects; symposium; catalogue)

"Quel che resta di Milano EXPO dal 1906 al 2015, "Villa Giulia, Verbania, 8-26 February 2017 and Complesso monumentale del Broletto, Novara, 14-29 October 2017. (Group show)

"Polar Self-Portraits: The Curious Case of the Vanishing Ice Caps", traveling group show organized by Zsuzsanna Ardò and Creatives without Borders. 2016-2017. (http://www.ardo.org/new-page-1)

"Arte da Indossare", 4 December 2015-24 January 2016, Spazio E., Ghemme (NO), Italy. (Group show)

"Milano EXPO dal 1906 al 2015: 110 artisti raccontano l'Italia", 8-29 August 2015, EXPO IN CITTÀ, Palazzina Liberty, Milan, Italy. (Group show; catalogue)

"Water is Life", International Art Symposium, Lago d'Orta, 2015. (Group show; symposium)

"Body and Soul: dialogo d'arte tra artisti russi e italiani", Palazzo Pietromarchi, Marsciano (PG), 2015. (Group show; catalogue)

Art and Social Engagement:

Board member MEADOWS - Mediterranean Endeavors Advancing Development of Widespread Sustainability

Board member EOFed - European Orchestra Federation (www.eofed.org)

President, Associazione Culturale Variazioni Goldberg, Milan. Cultural association acting as governing body for the chamber music group Ensemble Hornpipe (also member), in its fourteenth season of free concerts of classical music

Vice President, AIMA - Associazione Italiana di Musicisti Amatoriali, Milan

Links:

https://sites.google.com/site/claricezdanski/home