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A Special Term of Study in the Arts at the Hermitage Youth Center: The culmination of the program From 6 June to 16 July 2004 students from the Rhode Island School of Design, one of the oldest and most prestigious American university of the arts, spent a supplemental term of studies at the State Hermitage Youth Center. Hermitage staff and instructors from the university developed a rich program of studies for the young artists, bringing together lectures and field trips dedicated to the history of art and practical work at painting and drawing. Over the course of six weeks there was a series of in-depth visits to the Hermitage’s permanent exhibition rooms, including study of the history of the buildings and collections, history of the Scythians, the paintings of the Old Masters, French art of the 19th and 20th centuries, Russian and Western European jewelry, and the exhibitions housed in the General Staff building. There were also visits to the Russian Museum, where the students became acquainted with icons, Russian art from the 18th and 19th centuries, the Russian avant-garde and folk art. A special class devoted to the Russian way of life took place in the Ethnographic Museum. There were also one-day trips by bus to Novgorod and to the suburban palace and park ensembles of Peterhof, Oranienbaum, Pushkin and Pavlovsk. The students spent time visiting the ateliers of contemporary artists. They saw artists painting at their easels, preparing graphics and working on animated films. Course work also took place in the restoration studios of the Hermitage, where masters were restoring paintings in tempera, and at the department of painting techniques of the Academy of Arts, in the Porcelain Museum as well as in the production facilities of the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory. Alongside lectures and field trips, the course was based on practical studies, which took half of the study time. Students did sketches in the Hermitage rooms and from the roofs of the Winter Palace, out on the city streets and when traveling. Every day, even on weekends and holidays, the Hermitage Youth Center offered students the opportunity to continue their studies at its facilities and in its computer class. This is where the master classes on folk art were held: under the guidance of experienced Petersburg artists the students learned the basics of Gorodets-style folk painting on wood and traditional Russian gold embroidery. The culmination of the program was the Class Exhibition of works by students of the Rhode Island School of Design which opened in the Hermitage Youth Center on 14 July 2004. This is the first time such an exhibition has been organized to show works by professional artists who have followed a special course of studies within the Hermitage under the aegis of the Youth Center. The program received support from the museum management and assistance from the staff of the Education Department. |
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Copyright © 2006 State Hermitage Museum |
