News & Media Center

Italy trip expands SFA’s exchange with Florence art school

Robbie Goodrich, director of arts information
•
August 4, 2017
SFA students at the top of the Dome of Florence Cathedral.

SFA students at the top of the Dome of Florence Cathedral include, front, from left, Korey Burns, Grayson, Louisiana, graduate student; Jacqueline Morales, Plano senior; Bethany Sailer, Mineral Wells senior; Kate Bretches, Longview junior; Cynthia Silva, Dallas senior; Sharon Robinson, Nacogdoches graduate student; back, from left, Jacob Thornton, Lufkin junior; Kenzie Kwiatkowsky, Marietta, Georgia, freshman; Jacob Moffett, Hockley junior; Michelle Galvan, Austin junior; Madison Green, Flower Mound junior; Austin Cullen, Cypress sophomore; and Sarah Jentsch, Etoile junior. Not shown is Emily Payne, Winnie senior.

SFA faculty toured the painting studio in the LABA facilities.

SFA faculty toured the painting studio in the LABA facilities. Shown with Dr. Mauro Manetti, second from right, director of LABA, are, from left, Dr. David Lewis, SFA art professor; a LABA painting professor; and Christopher Talbot, director, SFA School of Art.


NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Fourteen students from the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art traveled to Italy earlier this summer to study European art first hand and further develop the School of Art’s ongoing exchange program with the art school in Florence, Libera Accademia di Belle Arti (LABA).

Led by Christopher Talbot, director of the School of Art, and Dr. David Lewis, professor of art, students visited Florence, Siena, Arezzo and Rome, Italy, where they toured numerous museums, churches and monuments, including the Uffizi Gallery and the Cathedral and Baptistery of Florence and the Roman Forum and Colosseum, Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. During their travels, the students completed the course, “Italian Renaissance Art – Then and Now,” taught by Lewis.

Since 2015, LABA has hosted two SFA students for two weeks in May, and the SFA School of Art has hosted two LABA students for two weeks in September. This trip expanded SFA’s exchange with LABA. Students toured LABA facilities, attended the fashion show of designs made by LABA students and got acquainted with the four LABA students who will visit SFA this coming September. Talbot and several students presented a program about SFA and the School of Art for LABA students, and Talbot and Lewis also critiqued the work of photography students.