Venice, Florence, Milan — November 2019

Looking back now, I am more grateful than ever that we had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks in one of my favorite counties. We never could have guessed back in November that five months later, the country and the world would be ravaged by a highly contagious disease.

We planned the trip around the Venice Biennale. We would spend the first 5 days in Venice taking in as much art as humanly possible. Days before we left, Venice began experiencing the highest floods since 1966. The city is accustomed to some ‘acqua alta’ in the Fall and Winter, but this high water was extreme. So extreme that the Biennale was forced to close for a few days before we arrived and just slowly began to reopen the day after we got there. Our original accommodations were canceled while we were enroute and the whole situation was looking pretty bleak. Luckily we found a great AirBnB on the third floor of a building designed for high water with nothing on the ground floor except a marble entry way and a raft for tenants to borrow. Even with all the drama in the hours leading up to the trip, this ended up being one of the most amazing times I have had in Italy, and that is saying a lot! It doesn’t hurt that we were traveling with good friends and excellent travel companions.

Here are a few of my favorite visual memories from the trip. (Click the image to move forward.)

iTrip 2016 – Iceland to Italy (for the Floating Piers on Lake Iseo)

This year Stewart and I were invited to join some friends at a house they had rented on Lake Iseo in Italy during Christo's installation of The Floating Piers. WOW Airlines was offering great prices on flights, so we decided to stop in Iceland on our way there. We had about five days in each location. The time flew by as we clocked loads of adventures. Here's some of what we saw. 

The Secret Lagoon. Our goal in Iceland was to soak in hot water at least once a day. This was our first night. 

A path to the geysers at The Secret Lagoon.

Greenhouses near The Secret Lagoon. This is 10:00 at night. Though it was cloudy, the nights never got dark.

The Lupin or BlueBells grow like weeds all over the countryside.

Midnight outside of the second nights soak at Laugarvatn Fontana.

Under a waterfall looking up.

Scar on path to soak for day three at the oldest swimming pool in Iceland, Seljavallalaug Pool.

Met this guy on our hike up the hill to find soak number four.

After the 2.5 mile hike up, this view and the hot flowing river made the whole climb worth it.

Our fifth and final soak was the famous Blue Lagoon.

Then it was off to Italy for The Floating Piers!

Amazing experience being out on the water with hundreds of thousands of people and seeing Christo & Jean Claude's dream become a fantastic reality.

The swans loved it too.

We interacted with so many different people each time we ventured out to the Piers. These two were recipients of noses we brought from the whythenose project.

We lucked out with the location of our house. Rather than wait on the hours long line that many people had to endure to get to The Floating Piers, we were able to take a ferry to the large island in the center of the lake and walk a mile to the island entrance of the piers.

The house was also a great place for dinner with a view.

...and to just relax and watch the water.

We took more than just a small piece of the Piers home with us.

2015 Set Design — European Study Tour

During the first two weeks of May I had an amazing opportunity to join students from FIDM's Advanced Study Program in Set Design & Decoration on their European Study Tour. For two weeks we traveled through London, Florence, Venice, and Rome going to various theaters, museums, and historic sites. Seeing some of my favorite cities through the lens of this trip was a truly exceptional experience and it was a fantastic group of women to share the adventure with.

High Tea at Fortnum & Mason.

The displays in Fortnum & Mason are beautiful sets.

We rode on the top of the bus as we explored Central London.

Had an amazing tour of the National Theatre stages and art department.

Tour of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

Next was Florence where in addition to lots of history and art, we had two days of mask making workshop. Here we were getting inspiration from the Masks of Agostino Dessi's shop. 

Then we went to his daughter Alice's Workshop to learn the process first hand.

The process starts with choosing a plaster cast and lining it with layers of felted paper.

This is the mask I worked on, a bird-like face.

Once dry, these will be cut and stringed for masks. 

Each day we also had a walking tour with art historian, Rocky Ruggiero.

Our first day with Rocky included the history of Florence and the David. 

I fell for this interpretation of David, "HERO for Florence — Homage to David: Saracino interprets Michelangelo", 2015. In the courtyard at the Accademia.

Everyone loved Florence.

The Duomo from the roof of our hotel at sunset.

While in Florence we took a day trip to Venice. A highlight from this study tour, seeing one of my favorite cities through their eyes,

So much inspiration in this beautiful city.

Final stop, Rome. Collage of the Spanish Steps. 

Learning about the spectacles that would have been witnessed in the Coliseum.

Temple built upon temple in the Forum.

More beautiful ruins in the Forum.

From the Hall of Maps in the Vatican Museums.

Detail of tapestry from the Vatican Museums.

All dressed up for dinner and the opera on our last night in Italy. Memories that will last a lifetime.