ONLINE YOUTH ART HISTORY CAMP
Italian Masterpieces Jr.
SUMMER 2020
Instructors: Prof. Rocky Ruggiero, Ph.D. and Ms. Katie Stack, M.Ed.
ONLINE YOUTH ART HISTORY CAMP
Italian Masterpieces Jr.
Looking for a fun way to get your kids interested in art and history? Our virtual art history camp will have them coming back for more! Choose any number of the following week-long programs that focus on specific works of art in Italian history. From the beginning of the Renaissance all the way through to the Baroque period, Dr. Rocky and Ms. Katie will make art and history come to life! Whoever knew that learning could be so much fun!
Sessions:
– WEEK 1: 7/20/20 – 7/24/20 | ITALIAN MASTERPIECES JUNIOR – PART 1
– WEEK 2: 7/27/20 – 7/31/20 | ITALIAN MASTERPIECES JUNIOR – PART 2
– WEEK 3: 8/3/20 – 8/7/20 | ITALIAN MASTERPIECES JUNIOR – PART 3
– WEEK 4: 8/10/20 – 8/14/20 | DISCOVERING FLORENCE
Schedule:
Monday-Friday from 2-3pm Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Virtual meetings will take place on Zoom Video Conferencing platform.
Format:
– 1 hour Zoom + 1 hour screen-free. Meetings will consist of a combination of presentation and activities. Additional screen-free optional activities will also be provided.
– Certificates of Completion will be provided to all campers at the end of the week.
– This is not your ordinary distance learning! Each day our campers will follow me on a journey into the past to meet historical celebrities, to learn about famous paintings, sculptures and buildings, and to discover one of the coolest cultures in the world.
– Teaching meets story telling meets time travel! Our “story telling” presentations will use beautiful images to animate history and bring it to life!
– Campers will decipher secret codes on virtual scavenger hunts, create their own artwork inspired by Italian artists, explore famous works of art, and each Friday we will have a Kahoot! game where campers can put their Jedi skills to the test!
– Our campers get their medicine with a lot of sugar in it! We provide high-quality academic information in a fun and entertaining way. You’ll be having so much fun, you won’t even realize how much you are learning.
Location: LIVE INTERACTIVE ONLINE SESSIONS ON ZOOM PLATFORM
Ages: YOUTH (8ish – 13ish)
Price for 1 week:
$490.00/child | $390.00/additional children
ITALIAN MASTERPIECES JUNIOR – PART 1 | July 20-24, 2020
– Monday July 20, 2020: THE COMPETITION THAT IGNITED THE RENAISSANCE: BRUNELLESCHI VS. GHIBERTI
What happens when two young and hungry artists square off for hottest contract in Renaissance Florence? Sparks fly! And those sparks may have ignited the artistic movement that we call the Renaissance. The two artists were Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi, who are considered two of the greatest in history. In this session, we will explore the panels of each, in order to discover why losing sometimes actually means winning.
Camp activity: Campers will compete in a contest too!
– Tuesday July 21, 2020: THE WORLD’S MOST BEAUTIFUL DOORS – GHIBERTI’S GATES OF PARADISE
It took the artist nearly 30 years and millions of modern-day dollars to create what have often been described as the most beautiful and famous doors in the world – the Gates of Paradise. Ghiberti’s ten bronze panels depict bronze subjects like scenes from a Hollywood movie. In this session, we will learn why the golden doors are so famous.
A special guest, direct from Florence will be showing us live images of the doors!!
Camp activity: Campers will design their own doors!
– Wednesday July 22, 2020: RISING ABOVE THE HEAVENS – BRUNELLESCHI AND THE DOME OF FLORENCE CATHEDRAL
They thought he was crazy! They thought that it couldn’t be done! They thought that they had bitten off way more than they could chew when they built the world’s biggest church and finally had to put a roof on it! But along came a man with a real genius cap named Brunelleschi, and his dome is still the largest in the world! Towering 32 stories tall, no other work better reflects how Renaissance artists surpassed the ancient Greeks and Romans than does the dome! This session will explore the history of the construction of Brunelleschi’s great dome and unravel the secrets behind its design.
Camp activity: Campers will try some engineering of their own!
– Thursday July 23, 2020: WALKING THROUGH WALLS – MASACCIO’S HOLY TRINITY
Although not as famous as other Renaissance paintings, the Holy Trinity by Masaccio might just be the most important painting in Florence. The reason is that it is the first painting to ever apply linear perspective. Suddenly, painting no longer looked 3-dimensional, it WAS 3-dimensional!!! This session will explore how Renaissance artists figured out a way to make it look like you could walk through walls!
Camp activity: Campers will create their own single-point perspective masterpieces!
– Friday July 24, 2020: PUSS-IN-BOOTS DAVID
Donatello’s bronze David is one of the most beautiful, but weirdest sculpture of all time. Just what exactly is going on with those boots and that hat? My students appropriately nicknamed the statue as “the Puss in Boots David”. This session will examine just what Donatello was trying to express when he created this crazy statue.
Camp activity: Campers will also have the chance to create a weird and unique work of art, just like Donatello did with David!
ITALIAN MASTERPIECES JUNIOR – PART 2 | July 27-31, 2020
– Monday July 27, 2020: BIRTH OF THE VENUS AND THE PRIMAVERA BY SANDRO BOTTICELLI
That flowing hair. That crazy pose. What is it about the Birth of Venus that makes Botticelli’s painting so famous? And what about his not-quite-so-famous, but still-unbelievable Primavera? Who are all these crazy characters? What are they doing? Find out all this and more in this session about two of the most famous works from the Italian Renaissance.
Camp activity: Scavenger Hunt and Matching Game!
– Tuesday July 28, 2020: LAST SUPPER BY LEONARDO DA VINCI
Leonardo was definitely a genius, but he was also the type of guy to start 50 different projects at once and never finish any of them – and his painting of the Last Supper is no exception. Discover why one of Leonardo’s most famous works took such a long time to paint, and why it has always been in terrible shape.
Camp activity: Campers will create their own single-point perspective masterpieces and Who is Who Game!
– Wednesday July 29, 2020: MONA LISA BY LEONARDO DA VINCI
Ah, the Mona Lisa. The world’s most famous work of art. Over 8 million people journey to the Louvre in Paris to see this painting every year. But how did Leonardo’s portrait of a young woman named Lisa become so famous? Is it that “mysterious” smile? Her shocking beauty? Discover what all the hubbub is about in today’s session.
Camp activity: Campers will compete in a Calcio Storico Contest!
– Thursday July 30, 2020: PIETÀ BY MICHELANGELO
The Pietà is one of Michelangelo’s greatest works, and he was only 23 years old when he carved it! The marble masterpiece reflects the sculptor’s incredible knowledge of the human body and was the work that got Big Mike on the road to becoming a Rockstar! Learn the story of Big Mike’s first masterpieces in today’s camp session.
Camp activity: Campers will sculpt their own Masterpiece with a bar of soap!
– Friday July 31, 2020: DAVID BY MICHELANGELO
Pound for pound, it might just be the greatest sculpture of all time. Big Mike’s 17ft. tall, 5-ton statue shows the underdog David about to take on the world’s most famous bully – Goliath! In today’s session, learn why Big Mike’s most famous work is the most celebrated sculpture in the world.
Camp activity: Kahoot Game!
ITALIAN MASTERPIECES JUNIOR – PART 3 | August 3-7, 2020
– Monday August 3, 2020: SISTINE CHAPEL CEILING BY MICHELANGELO
A sculptor who was asked to paint the largest painting in the world – and on a ceiling no less! Four years of back-breaking work suspended 70ft. above the ground. A grumpy Pope who didn’t like to pay on time. An endless need for inspiration! This is the story of Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. In today’s session, learn why everyone can’t stop looking up at the world’s most famous ceiling.
Camper Activity: Release your inner Michelangelo by recreating a Sistine Chapel ceiling of your own! We hope your arm doesn’t get too tired!
– Tuesday August 4, 2020: SCHOOL OF ATHENS BY RAPHAEL
What if you took all the smartest guys to ever live and smooshed them all together in one painting? Gaze at Raphael’s School of Athens long enough and you might just become a genius yourself! Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras, Socrates… it’s like an all-star team of history’s biggest brains. Learn why Raphael chose to depict the world’s greatest thinkers in this famous painting in today’s session.
Camper Activity: Learn to draw with 3D perspective like Raphael, and identify all of history’s biggest brains in Renaissance-style “Guess Who?”
– Wednesday August 5, 2020: APOLLO AND DAPHNE BY BERNINI
As the myth goes, the god Apollo fell madly in love with a beautiful young nymph named Daphne. Unfortunately for him, Daphne did not like him back – as a matter of fact, she wanted nothing to do with him. But Apollo couldn’t take no for an answer – so rather than be with him, she had herself turned into a tree. Learn how Bernini’s magical special effects in sculpture makes it seem as if it’s happening for real!
Camper Activity: Explore and create optical illusions to tell a story as dramatically as Bernini! Then compete in some virtual Etruscan Olympics!
– Thursday August 6, 2020: BOY WITH A BASKET OF FRUIT BY CARAVAGGIO
Apples, peaches, pears n’ plums… and figs, grapes, and pomegranates, too. The fruits in Caravaggio’s Boy with a Basket of Fruit look positively delicious – and surprisingly realistic, too. Learn why Caravaggio was so interested in such simple, everyday objects like fruits in today’s session – and why this was such a new idea in his day.
Camper Activity: Capture a still life through drawing or photography and play with the effects of light.
– Friday August 7, 2020: ECSTASY OF ST. THERESA BY BERNINI
Whoever thought pain could cause such intense…pleasure? Wait… what? Pain causing pleasure? Well, for St. Theresa, there was no experience more enjoyable than to have an angel plunge a spear into her belly. According to the Spanish saint, this pain/pleasure feeling was magical. In today’s session, learn how Bernini created another of his special effects masterpieces when he carved St. Theresa’s favorite divine experience.
Camp activity: Turn your room into an interactive work of art! Then compete in a contest of knowledge during our weekly Kahoot game!
DISCOVERING FLORENCE | August 10-14, 2020
– Monday August 10, 2020: FLORENCE BAPTISTERY MOSAICS
– Tuesday August 11, 2020: BASILICA OF SANTA CROCE
– Wednesday August 12, 2020: SPANISH CHAPEL
– Thursday August 13, 2020: MEDICI FAMILY
– Friday August 14, 2020: THE RENAISSANCE CONVENT – FRA ANGELICO AND SAN MARCO
Detailed schedule TBA