San Gemini

Preservation  Studies

May  23     -     June 30

2     0     1     0

Course Schedule

           Opening available in both Programs A & B

Session 1:

May 23 - June 19  (4 weeks)

Program A :  Building Restoration

Courses:

• Introduction to Art  &  Building Restoration in Italy (3 Units)

• Surveying and Analyzing Historic Buildings in Italy (3 Units)

Program B:  Ceramics Restoration

Courses:  

• Introduction to conservation of archaeological ceramics  in Italy (3 Units)

• Workshop on ceramics  and ceramics conservation in Italy (3 Units)

Field Trip

June 22 - June 30 (9 Days)

•  Trip to Siena, Florence, and Rome (1 Unit) **

Session 2:

(this year there will not be a Session 2)  

Notes: 

All students must take both courses offered in a program for a total of 6 Units. Class sizes are limited. This course list and schedule are tentative, awaiting approval and enrollments.

** Only students from session A or B can take part in the intersession trip 

Schedule Summer 2010

Travel

An important component of our program is travel, so students will have an opportunity to visit significant cities and preservation sites in central Italy. Our trips include stops at places of general cultural and artistic interest, such as major monuments and museums, as well as visits to sites closely related to our study, such as active restoration sites, historic gardens and centers for restoration research and education.

This year the travel has been reorganized to be separate from the other sessions. This has allowed us to keep prices contained and give more flexibility to students about their program choices. 

Near San Gemini there are a number of important places of cultural interest that can be easily reached in day trips that students can take on weekends when they have free time. These places include: Todi, Perugia, Spoleto, Orvieto, Assisi, Fabriano, Cortona and Rome.

Course:

Introduction to Art and Building Restoration in Italy (3 Units)

Session 1 - Program A - Course # S1-1

Course:

Course:

Introduction to Archaeological Ceramic Conservation in Italy - 

Workshop (3 Units)  

Session 1 - Program B - Course # S1-4  

(May 23 to June 19) 4 weeks

Prof. Bianca Fossa  and Prof. Jane Whitehead

E-mail: bfossa@tiscali.it

Course description:

The ceramics conservation workshop  offers students the opportunity to become familiar with traditional methods of working clay materials and fabrication technique  of clay objects. Such  knowledge will allow students to better understand the nature and the properties of archeological material they will handle. The  workshop will also give students first hand experience identifying ceramic materials and analyzing pottery fragments and documenting the materials; lastly students will  spend time working on the cleaning and restoration of archaeological ceramics. Some of the materials students will be archaeological material from the excavation at the Public Baths of ancient Carsulae.

The objective is to familiarize directly students with some of the basic tools and methods in the conservation and study of archaeological ceramic objects.

This courses are aimed at students of: Archaeology, Historic Preservation, Architecture, Engineering, Art History ,Restoration and Conservation, Cultural History, Anthropology, , Museum studies

COURSE STRUCTURE:

After noon 4 hr. workshop sessions, Workshop projects, Assigned reading, Written assignment  

Learn more about this course: Syllabus 

Course:

Course:

Traditional Painting Methods and Restoration Techniques (3 Units)

Session 2 - Program C  - Course # S2-2
( This course will not be offered in the summer of 2010)

Instructor: Nikos Vakalis  

E-mail: nikosvakalis@libero.it

This course is an in-depth study of traditional painting techniques and materials common in Italy during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and their restoration. It includes a detailed study of all the  pigments, preparatory and support materials used in paintings. The different techniques of painting and gilding  on fresco and secco murals, temperas on wood boards and oil paints on canvas. The course also explores the of factors that hastened their deterioration of the these materials and  the common approaches to their restoration.

The course focuses on the methods and materials. It includes lectures, field trips and a workshop in which students create paintings using traditional methods. This workshop is not art class, it is a class on painting techniques. 

This course is aimed primarily at students of: Restoration, Art History, Art, Curatrial Sciences, Cultural History, History, and Anthropology and Material Sciences

Learn more about this course: Syllabus

Course:

Introduction to Restoration of Paper in Books and Artwork (3 Units)

Session 2 -  Program D - Course #: S2-3

( This course will not be offered in the summer of 2010)

Instructor: Prof. Konstantinos Choulis and Marta Grimaccia

E-mail: 

This course is an introduction to the restoration of paper  in books, archival material and artwork. It gives student an understanding of the nature of paper as a material, its history and the evolution of its use over time. The course  focuses on paper as writing media, its use in books the structure of books and their binding it also explores the use of paper as two dimensional  support for various types of two dimensional artwork.

The course also deals with the various agents of deterioration of paper material and the various approaches to the restoration of objects made from this material.

The workshop will include exercises in traditional ways of making paper, Testing , analizing and identifying types of paper, inks, paints, pigments anf printing teckniques. Disassembling books and their bindings and exercises using different techniques of paper restoration.

The course will include field trips to Fabriano and work at the  the San Gemini Library and historical archives.

This course does not cover the many modern uses of paper materials.

This course is aimed at students in the fields of: Paper Restoration and Conservation, Museum Management, Library Science, Art History, Art, Book Binding, Paper Making, Paper sciences, Material Sciences, Cultural history Anthropology.

Learn more about this course: Syllabus

FIELD PROJECTS

Survey and Restoration 

of the Church of Santo Gemine

San Gemini, Italy

Project Director: Max Cardillo 

Restorer: Nikos Vakalis

The church of Santo Gemine, the main church of San Gemini, is called the Duomo (cathedral), although it is not the seat of bishops. The adjacent parish house is the residence of the town priests and holds the parish offices. The church holds the remains of the town’s patron saint, Santo Gemine, a Syrian monk believed to have lived and preached in the area some time between the 7th to 9th Century (sources vary on the dates attributed to his life).

It may be the oldest church in San Gemini. The history is not very clear until the 18th Century. Some sources say it was first built in the 6th Century and in the 8th Century it becomes the seat of the Bishop Carsulae and San Gemini; therefore the name Duomo. It was rebuilt several times in the Middle Ages, probably once before the 13th Century, two times in the gothic period (13th-14th Century) and, most recently, the interior was reconstructed and a new bell tower built in 1817-1847 by the Engineer Livoni, perhaps with some advice from the neoclassical sculptor Antonio Canova.

The façade is an interesting collage of different constructions spanning at least a period of 1000 years. The present configuration of the façade was established by the end of the 15th Century, after the renaissance style entrance door was built. On the lower right is a projecting masonry base that preceded the 14th Century façade. The finely cut stonework could be part of an earlier Romanesque structure. On the lower left is a different rough masonry made with large Roman blocks, very likely built in the early medieval period between the 9th and 13th Centuries. It seems to have been part of a bell tower functioning until the 19th Century when it was replaced by the present one. The stones are clearly Roman, recycled building material from a substantial public structure. We think they were erected in the Middle Ages because they are set on their side revealing the clamp notches, something more probable in the Middle Ages than in Roman times. This bell tower was probably part of an early church that had an orientation perpendicular to the present outer façade. The central section has traces of a gothic entrance door that was later closed. This element hints at an early gothic phase, probably in the 13th Century. It followed the original orientation of the church and was built up against the preexisting tower.  Above the door, cutting into the gothic arch of the older entrance, is a gothic window. This was part of the later gothic phase of construction, perhaps a 19^th Century reconstruction. At this point the church's central axis changes orientation and is slightly angled in relation to the façade. The present entrance door was rebuilt in the late15th Century and probably replaces a gothic style door.

Field work started the church in 2009:

1)       Architectural Survey and Documentation

2)       Restoration of the church façade

Architectural Survey of the church:

The façade and exterior perimeter of the church have been surveyed. The façade was drawn showing all the blocks. This was accomplished through orthophotography and taking measurements using a total station. In 2008 the exterior and interior of the church was surveyed with a 3D Laser scanner and in 2009 we plan to complete drawings based on the scanned data.

Archaeological Survey:

In past years we have excavated 5 archaeological test pits around the church. They have yielded substantial information, revealing  walls and  floor of structures, perhaps part of a medieval abbey adjacent to the church; others revealed a Medieval burial ground that probably preceded the existing church. In 2009 we will be canalizing some of the finds from previous years.

Restoration:

The restoration of the façade commenced by working on the lower left section: removing a layer of plaster that covered the bell tower masonry and revealing the large Roman blocks. The stone was consolidated, cleaned and pointed. Exposing this medieval masonry was very exciting. The plaster was recent, probably done in the early 20th Century. This revelation has added one interesting historical layer to be deciphered in this building. This year the work of cleaning and pointing will continue on the right side of the façade.

Field Work for 2010:

The program for 2010 consists in the continuation of all these activities. The survey will continue on the internal plan of the church. The restoration of the façade will move to a higher portion of the wall and we will be analyzing various finds from previous years.

Survey and Restoration of the Church of San Giovanni Battista

One of the oldest structures in San Gemini, the church is located at the northeast corner of the town. The church has a very attractive Romanesque façade on its west side built in 1199. Its history is as sketchy as the development of its very irregular plan.

The work started in 1999, focusing on the survey and documentation of the Romanesque façade of the church. Over time the scope expanded to cover the whole church, the adjacent Augustinian monastery, and various other structures that surround the church and the Piazzetta of San Giovanni Battista.

The goal of this project is to produce a comprehensive survey and documentation of the church, reconstruct its evolution over time, and produce a diagnostic study of the present condition of the church that will be used in its future restoration. 

The survey includes:

•  Measured architectural drawings

•  Photographic survey

•  Survey of the art and iconography of the church

•  Survey of the history

•  Study of the urban context and evolution of the church

•  Structural survey

•  Archaeological survey

Partial restoration work was started in 2003. The cleaning and consolidation of the 12^th Century façade was completed in 2004.  

Archaeological Survey and Excavation of the Public Baths - Carsulae   

The excavation of the Public Baths of the ancient city of Carsulae was started by Prof. Jane Whitehead of Valdosta State University in 2004. This summer will be its 5th season.

The public baths  are located at the southeast entrance of the city and have several unusual features: it is a small structure, perhaps as early as the 2nd century BC. It has already been excavated in the past, once in the 18th century and again in the 1950's. The present excavation is the first one generating systematic documentation on the record. In part it is trying to understand what was done in previous undocumented digging and as well as moving onto untouched ground. In 2008 a new area of work was opened near the baths that includes what seems to be an archaic wall (Umbrian) near the southern entrance of the city; if confirmed, this early structure could revolutionize our present understanding of the of the city's origin.

San Gemini Preservation Studies has been collaborating in various ways with this excavation, in particular helping with the surveying of the site. This year Program B, lead by Bianca Fossa who is also the conservator for the Carsulae excavation, will be will be working with some of the ceramic material coming from this archeological site as part of the ceramics restoration workshop.

Faculty

Program Director: Max Cardillo

Teaches architectural design, historic preservation, and urban design. Mr. Cardillo is a practicing architect who has worked in Rome, New York and Milwaukee. Since 1999, he has been Director of the San Gemini Preservation Studies Program and Project Architect for the Archaeological Excavation of the Public Baths at Carsulae.

Education:        

B.A., University of Wisconsin; M. Arch., Columbia University; 

Laurea di Architettura, Università di Palermo

Teaching: 

Adjunct Professor, Parsons School of Design, 1980-1984

Adjunct Professor, University of Wisconsin, SARUP, 1995-2008

John Cabot University 2009     

Nikos Vakalis   

Teaches art restoration in mural painting, stone and wood. Mr. Vakalis is a practicing art restorer, having worked for the past 25 years on many sites in Rome and central Italy.

Education:

Degree of Art Restoration, Istituto Centrale per il Restauro

Teaching: 

Lecturer: ICCROM / ICR  “Project Euromed Heritage 1 Maghreb” Algiers (Algeria), Rabat (Morocco), Beigin, (Cina)

University of Wisconsin, SARUP, San Gemini, 1999-2008

John Cabot University 2009  

Dr. Jane Whitehead

Jane whitehead is presently a professor of Modern and Classical Languages at Valdosta State University. She is also chief editor of the journal Etruscan Studies and director of the archaeological excavation at the public baths in Carsulae. She has been director of the excavations at “ La Piana” an Etruscan agricultural settlement near Spannocchia.

Education:

B.A. Wellesley College

M.A. Trinity College

Ph.D. Yale University, Classical Archaeology, 

Bianca Fossà

Since 1984 works for the Italian Cultural Heritage Ministry and since 1997 at the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione ed il Restauro (previously Istituto Centrale per il Restauro), where she’s Director of the Conservation Laboratories for "Ceramic & glass" and "organic material finds and artifacts". She’s also Didactic Coordinator of the Conservation Courses-Objects Area of ISCR post-graduated School for Conservators. She’s been director of numerous laboratory and field didactic activities, tutor of degree-thesis and member of Entrance and Degree Commissions.

Education:

Degree in conservation from the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro in Rome (Italy, 1980)

Degree in “Cultural Heritage Conservation”, University of Paris I-Sorbonne (France, 1995)

Internship at the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University (USA, 1981/82)

Experience: 

National Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia in Rome (1991/95)

National Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum Luigi Pigorini in Rome (1984/1991)

Coordinated and realized conservation activities  on the  archaeological and ethnographical collections and conducted  conservation assessment  of the museums and collections.

Conducted several didactic activities in Italy and abroad

University of Siena-Archaeology Department, Regional Courses

ICCROM PREvention for Museums of Africa course and others) and abroad (Paris I-Sorbonne University, Ghana, Morocco, India, Israel, China, Egypt) in Italian and ICCROM projects.

Konstantinos Choulis

Is currently an Assistant Professor of Book and Paper Conservation & Restoration - Department of Conservation & Restoration of Antiquities and Works of Art, Technological Educational   Institution, Athens.  

Education:

2001-Present Doctoral candidate, PhD in the History of the Book, University of London.

1990 International Course of Lectures on Book Restoration organized by UNESCO, Venice.

1986-1988 Scientific Research on Byzantine Bindings of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, financially supported by the Italian Institute of Culture in Athens 

1984-05 Diploma in Greek Palaeography - Scuola di Paleografia, Diplomatica e  Archivistica, Vatican City.  

1983-06 Scholarship obtained by the Hellenic Scholarship Foundation (I.K.Y.) Specialisation in Paper Conservation and Restoration - Istituto Centrale per la  Patologia del Libro, Rome

1982 - 1983 Diploma in Mosaic Techniques, University of Athens - School of Fine Arts.

1977 - 1982 BA in Fine Arts, University of Athens - School of Fine Arts. 

Visiting Lecturers

Paolo Renzi                    Biblioteca Augusta, Perugia

Jane Whitehead              Valdosta State University

Marco Corradi                 Università di Perugia, Facoltà di Ingegneria

Margherita Romano         Soprintendenza BB AA SS Umbria, Perugia

Bianca Fossa                  Istituto Centrale per il Restauro, Rome

Alessandro Bianchi          Istituto Centrale per il Restauro, Rome

Marie Jose Mano             I stituto Centrale per il Restauro, Rome

Francesco Bedeschi        Università di Roma, Facoltà di Architettura

Rosalia Varoli Piazza       ICCROM, Rome

Collaboration

 Historic Preservation Institute - University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

 Facoltà di Ingegneria, Università di Perugia            

 Valdosta State University                                  

 Associazione per la Valorizzazione del Patrimonio Storico, San Gemini

 Parrocchia Santi Gemini e Giovanni Battista            

 Comune di San Gemini                                          

 Soprintendenza per i Beni Ambientali, Architettonici, Artistici, e Storici dell’Umbria

 Soprintendenza Archeologica dell’Umbria 

Language

All classes and required readings are in English. Speaking Italian is desirable but not required.

Accommodations

Students will stay in apartments or dorms that are available in the town of San Gemini. Students share bedrooms that can vary from two to four beds. There are also shared bathrooms. Although meals are not provided by the program, we provide cooking facilities that enable students to eat for a very moderate price. In town there are also bars and restaurants where students can eat.

Tuition and Costs

Tuitions vary according to various factors such as: academic level. course taken, and residence..

Student Eligibility

 The program is open to the following:

• Students from accredited colleges and universities

• Continuing education students who already hold a college degree

Students must submit an application. After application review, SGPS will accept those students that have the most appropriate background for our program. All students must be at least 18 years old and capable of independent travel in Europe.

Useful Educational Backgrounds

Architecture, Preservation, Art History, Architectural History, Archeology, Civil Engineering, Agronomy, Food Science.

Useful skills

Drawing, AutoCAD drafting, Surveying, Photography, Photoshop, Archeological excavation

Warning

1) The present schedule and costs are not final. They are subject to variation or cancellation due to student enrolment, availability of persons or institutions, changes in prices, and currency variations.
2) Courses may be cancelled if minimum enrolments are not reached or if all necessary approvals are not obtained.
3) All information obtained on this web site may not be current or accurate and must be verified and confirmed by contacting SGPS directly.
4) All courses include field work, field trips and workshops that may entail risk of accident higher than those normally found in a classroom environment. All students wishing to enroll in our courses must sign release forms before they can participate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Contacts

http://www. sangeministudies.org

For academic information:

Prof. Max Cardillo mcardillo@sgsmail.org

For application information:

United States

Polly Withers

Associate Director

San Gemini Preservation

Tel. (718) 768-3508

pwithers@sgsmail.org

http://www. sangeministudies.org

Leaflet 2010

Application form

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