Adventures in Orvieto, Italy | Irene Tyson The Poetry of Place

The Poetry of Place
A Painted, drawn, and written journal

Dates: September 21 - 27, 2008
Instructor/Leader: Irene Dumas Tyson

Trip Description
Irene Tyson, artist, designer, and planner practicing architecture and planning, leads an exploration of the poetry created by the great people places in our communities. Irene uses the tools of artists to guide artist and non-artist alike in engaging the senses to fully experience Italy. By sketching, painting, and writing, participants learn to see and understand how the piazzas, streets, architecture, parks and vistas of Orvieto create places in which we love to linger, relax, and enjoy. You will learn to see anew, to appreciate the places man has made, and to recognize the poetry created by place.

Participants will look for and record their very own special places in Orvieto, and share them with the rest of the group. During the week you will:
• Develop your skills with watercolor
• Build your ability to sketch
• Learn to see details with new eyes
• Understand the role of architecture, its details, and physical
    spaces in the creation of places that give people pleasure
• Create a memorable journal of watercolors, sketches and
    writing of your Orvieto journey.

Irene will supply a list of reading materials, from children's books to great writers, to reveal meaningful ways to see and experience the beautiful spaces of Orvieto.

No experience necessary, just a willingness to pick up a brush, pencil or pen and to look at the world differently!

Itinerary
September 21 - Arrive Orvieto, group dinner
September 22 - Watercolors, Introduction to Italian culture, wine tasting
September 23 - Sketching, watercolors, architecture tour, cave tour
September 24 - Building skills in sketching & painting, cooking class
September 25 - Search for special places, weekly market, vineyard
                         tour/wine tasting
September 26 - Show and share at the local wine bar
September 27 - Lessons learned, taking it home, depart Orvieto

Details
Cost - $2250. Fee includes six nights double occupancy lodging and basic course materials. Single occupancy available for an additional cost. Because the tour is meant to expose you to the local culture, meals are not prearranged or included. Travel costs are not included.

Click here for registrations and terms, or contact us by e-mail, phone or writing at the contact information below.

A trip for companions is available for $1650.

Meet Irene Dumas Tyson
Irene is a student of place, particularly small towns and those places that evoke memory and cause us to remember. Her professional career has centered on architecture. As a community planner, design advocate, practitioner and leader of national education and advocacy programs, Irene has molded her architectural education into a passion for place.

During the past ten years, Irene has used her painting, writing and creative energies to interpret place, to teach classes in journaling, creativity and community design, and to inspire citizens to see their communities as places of authenticity.

Irene believes that we truly see when we are still and present in a place. Being present reveals the details that define place and memory. Painting and poetry become the interpreters.