Rome, Italy with students

Our annual AP Art trip for the 2017-18 school year was Rome, Italy. Over the past three years, I’ve been developing the concept of IB and AP art centered academic trips for my students. We basically immerse ourselves in the culture and art of the cities we travel to…we eat, sleep, drink art. We learn history, meet contemporary artists, visit galleries, walk through alleys sniffing out street art, taste the local cuisine, take in a concert, or a film…we go in a 100%. Then we step back, reflect, and then ask the hard and serious questions because art, music, sounds, fashion, film, and overreaching culture for that matter are not standalone ideas, but fall under the giant umbrella of visual culture. 

To see our past trip: Click here for Barcelona, Spain and here for Athens, Greece 

No thanks to Egyptair for canceling our early flight and having us miss an opening at a gallery celebrating Rome Arts Week. The good news was that we had an opportunity to walk over to San Lorenzo to sample pizza, people watch, and see some art on the streets. It was interesting to hear the kids comment how they wished they could walk around Alexandria freely.

@Varsi Gallery-installation by Polish artist Sepe-from the exhibit, Sleeping Through The War.

@Varsi Gallery-painting by Sepe-from the exhibit Sleeping Through The War.

Getting around the city via public transportation.

@Museo d'Arte Contemporanea di Roma-see description below.

Description of above.

@MACRO from Cross the Streets exhibit.

@MACRO from Cross the Streets exhibit. The day before we stopped at the Dorothy Circus Gallery who specializes in American Pop Surrealism and we were told about a couple of their artist who were part of the Cross The Streets exhibit. 

Wandering around the Roman Forum looking for a lost student-true story

Swoon @ MACRO Cross the Streets exhibit

 Installation of graffiti hoodlum jumping the fence to a railway @ MACRO. The figure has a strong resemblance to Napoleon Dynamite, I think.

Roman Forum on a fantastic day. The grassy area looks like a great space to play a game of bocce ball.

@ MACRO

 Spanish Steps-climb up and head back down to shop til you drop or until the stores close.

My students looking for their lost classmate at the Roman Forum. Sarah where art thou?

A trip to Rome isn't complete without checking in the Colosseum. We were hoping for a lion show.

Confrontational bird looking for a handout.

Art @MACRO

The Vatican tends to have nice exhibits of contemporary art prior to walking into the Sistine Chapel room.

Group shot in front of Shepard Fairey @MACRO

Human canvas aka suffering for art.

Mickey and Marilyn rolled into one @MACRO

Decks @MACRO

 Crafty ideas what to so with old storage lockers @ MACRO

Revisiting La Dolce Vita. Silvia..

@Colosseum

@Dorthy Circus Gallery. Carlo was a great guide in explaining all the works.

Student with the giggles. It could have been the tasty black olive or blue cheese or garlic flavored gelato we had beforehand.

Altar of the Fatherland

 Inside the Vatican-the calm before the storm of weeding through 1000s of people crammed in slow moving stream headed towards the Sistine Chapel.

The small and indoor version of, In Art We Trust @MACRO

 Skate culture meet urban culture @MACRO

@MACRO

Helping a friend in need.

Ceiling of MACRO

Detail of a sarcophagus @ The Vatican

Contemporary art at the Vatican.

Church near Trevi Fountain.

 Sten Lex made these interesting photocopied, layered, and torn images @ MACRO Cross the Streets exhibit.

How much skate culture and street art can you take?

Christmas in Rome, Italy

The first time Ana and I visited Rome we were freshly married. Our honeymoon also included Madrid, Sevilla, and Istanbul. We were staying in hostels and eating from supermarkets. The Euro and the heat were brutal that summer. Romantic isn't it?

Almost 8 years later, we have an infant and Ana's parents in tow. Ana's dream has always been to take her parents to see the Pope. While we didn't exactly catch the Pope delivering Christmas mass, we did manage to pay a visit to Vatican City. This has officially been scratched off the list.

While we weren't quite beggars this time around, we did enjoy the sights, food, and cooler temperatures. What a difference having a couple extra Euros in your pocket can make. In pictures, our visit to Rome.

We opted to plant our roots a couple hundred meters outside the gate in San Lorenzo.  

We were turned on to San Lorenzo during our first visit. It was working class and edgy. I'm happy to report, it is still that way. There are a couple of craft brew places now, newer murals, graffiti on anything standing still, broken out car window, and drug dealers who'll chase you down. 

Tage a wall. 

We did eat our fill of pizzas on the trip along with other dishes. There are no shortages of excellent places to eat in San Lorenzo. 

Spooky

We did manage to catch the tram to the Forum, Roman Colosseum and surrounding structures on no less than three occasions. Due to winter hours it was closed on our first encounter.  

Fountain Trevi was packed with likewise tourists.

Our second attempt was a success.

A top view of the Forum.

Ana's sister joined us. Where's brother Victor?

Ximena was used as bait to attract the black rabbits. 

Speaking of Ximena, she had wider food options including horse, sheep...

...cheese and prosciutto organic baby food. 

The Vatican Museum always is lined with eye catching art. 

Detail of a fresco map on one of the walls. 

A different kind of Last Supper.  

Kinky tapestry art. 

Pope Frances might have curated this exhibition of more modern works.

Sure, why not. 

No collection is complete without a Botero.

There several Latin American works on display. 

Outside the Vatican walls. Almost a perfect statement. 

Outside of Saint Peter's Basilica. 

Inside of Saint Peter's Basilica

Pieta 

The Swiss Guards.  

Fontana del Nettuno in Piazza Navona 

Hummm, didn't quite get the name of this place. 

Fountain on a side street.

Inside the Pantheon 

Fountain outside the Pantheon. 

Artist hustling Euros. 

Trajan Forum

All that walking can build up a thirst.  

We were missing Egypt, so we went to visit the pyramid of Caius Cestius.

Don't discounts the fine landmarks of Fiumicino on your next visit to Rome. Here you have a row of some rather large sculptures our taxi driver drove us past on her shortcut.   

"Ground control to Major Tom" RIP David Bowie. 

Italy's beta version of the Space Shuttle.   

No themes here, just build whatever comes to mind. 

Where does one stay Fiumicino? At the Chopin Hotel of course. It wasn't by accident we stayed here, it was a matter of divine intervention. 

The Chopin houses quite an eclectic collection of paintinsg to cover every inch of its' white walls.   

The only thing missing were the title cards. 

If you're into airplane parts and old Italian motorcycles, the Chopin covers those topics as well.  

You ask. who own the Chopin? The man above and his first wife acceding to the desk clerk.

One last painting for the road.