When she was 10 years old, senior Sarah Utt took a trip with her grandparents that she never forgot. They traveled to Disney World, and one park in particular stood out: Epcot.
All the different countries put on performances. One day Utt and her grandparents went for the Italy performance, in which artists were doing chalk art on the ground. Since that day, Utt has wanted to do art like this on the sidewalks in Italy.
Utt was one of 15 art students and two art professors, Scott Anderson and David Hannon, who traveled through Italy from May 11 to June 13 to experience and create art inspired by Italian culture.
A combination of those pieces and reaction pieces to the trip has been on display in the Atrium Gallery since Nov. 10 in an exhibit called "Findings."
Some went to grow. Some went to see a different culture. Some went for the opportunity of a lifetime. All 15 students went to see the art they've been studying in classes and throughout their lives.
The group first arrived in Venice, went down to Rome and Pompeii and ended the trip in Rome. During their trek across Italy, the students ventured into many other towns and cities.
A typical day for the students consisted of walking around the town for the day visiting museums, basilicas and monasteries. The group also saw its fair share of towns and cities.
"We would stay in a hotel for maybe two nights or one night, and get up in the morning and go to a new place," fifth-year senior Allison White said.
The trip involved a lot of walking in the heat, creating an exhausting journey. But none of the students cared, Karla Hughes said. They just wanted to see as much as they could.
One of Hughes' favorite parts of the trip was something not on the agenda. The group went to a classical concert in Cesi one night and afterward was invited to a restaurant behind the church where the concert was held. There, a local artist showed them his work. The students watched him draw and hung out with him for three hours that night.
"There were a lot of things to see, and it was overwhelming at first," Utt said.
The trip has become a semi-annual one for the art department, and students come away from the experience changed. Leonardo's sketches, for example, have influenced Utt's sketches, she said.
"You look at a Picasso and you compare it to a Dali, or you look at a Leonardo drawing and compare it to another artist's painting," Utt said. "You compare and contrast techniques and you can see how skills evolved through time. And then you take what you see and put it into your own work."
The colors were inspirational to both White and Bethany Hosbach. White said she found herself in Italy.
"It kind of helped me become who I am," White said. "I became more of an adult. I grew up."
While Karla's heart stopped at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, senior Liz Kurtz found real inspiration in the little things.
"Even the small things that may seem insignificant are important," Kurtz said.
Through that, she gained a lot of confidence in her own work, she said.
"I am more confident in what kind of art I want to make," she said.
While Kurtz found confidence in a drawing style, which is showcased currently in the "Findings" exhibit, Utt submitted one three-piece drawing, a watercolor landscape and four other pieces completed in Italy. White focuses on the colors, landscapes and buildings in Italy while Hughes, an art photography major, showcases all different mediums, from photography to watercolors and drawings. Hosbach, however, features still life images she encountered in Italy.
"I like to think of them as snapshots of the trip," she said. "I know every time I look at them, I will think back to that moment and relive the experience."
Her artwork in other media also serve this function.
"I've got 500 photos and half of a journal filled with memories from the trip ... it was the best adventure that I could and most likely will ever go on in my entire life," she said. "You can't even imagine the beauty and history that pulses through Italy and brings to life its culture."
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