TASTE Florence Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),
A couple of Sundays ago, I had the kind of day in Italia that makes me feel that life here is simply surreal. At least it is often spontaneous! Originally, I had thought to visit a dear friend outside of the city, but I had also received an invitation to see the current exhibit inside the Palazzo Strozzi here in Florence, Italy. What is a girl to do, but try to squeeze in both social occasions on my one day outside of the studio?

So, my friend Roberto (another artist) and I met at the carousel in Piazza della Repubblica early on the Sunday morning and together we went to see the art exhibit “Americans in Florence: Sargent and the American Impressionists” (on exhibit 3 March-15 July 2012). We also had a gander at the Strozzina.

Between Roberto's amused observation that Sunday morning by the name "Strozzina" (the Contemporary Art Section inside the Palazzo Strozzi) as a curious play on words (he believes was intended) and another friend Luca's subsequent explaining to me of the Italian language (esp. Tuscan), I am getting a fun education. The suffix "ina" means "little" -- so "Little Strozzi" is a cute way of saying "not the main gallery." But the verb "strozzare" means 'to choke' (or 'to strangle') and strozzina is also Italian slang for a (female) LOAN SHARK (someone who will cause you a lot of pain)! So, if indeed intended, is that Palazzo Strozzi's official comment on contemporary art? [Or just the stuff they exhibit? ha!] But I digress… we were not as impressed with the American Impressionist mostra as we had hoped to be, but there were several remarkable works of art in the exhibit.

Well, in any event, my other friend cancelled our visit, so Roberto and I sauntered on over to one of his favorite places for lunch – Antonio’s, near Piazza Salvemini. I have known Roberto since 2006 and he introduced me to Antonio that New Year’s Eve as we ducked under a half-closed door to buy some last minute goodies for our all-night party that night. Antonio even let Roberto take a picture of me with him behind the counter (that image is on another laptop at the moment or I would share). However, I include here a snapshot that I took of Antonio and his wife after Antonio took one of Roberto and me (see that one in my Facebook albums…). We ate quite well and Roberto even topped it all off by ordering for us this lovely cheese that is a specialty of the region outside of Firenze (but still in Tuscany). Served on a bed of rucola. Mmmm.

And then we experienced Lagniappe: Antonio told us that he and his wife had to stay there to work, but had two tickets to TASTE, a food festival that was happening that afternoon and into the early evening. He offered them to us. Roberto and I looked at each other and thought, “Perché no?” I had only intended to be out for the morning before getting ready to take the train, so we headed over to Roberto’s closer home to get some coats and caught a bus over to the event.

It was a lot of fun – free tastings of wine, cheeses, tea, (they had beers there too), meats, and foods that are all fresh and from Italy. Yum, yum, yummy! Of course, once we finally closed that place down, we decided to head to a new bar and discovered that we knew the twin bartenders from another place. Lovely to see that their dreams to own their own bar had come to fruition! Anyway, here are some snapshots from TASTE in Florence, Italy. There are more on my Facebook pages. Enjoy and happy Spring!

Italy New Year’s Eve Tradition

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),
On the morning on 31 December, I read on a Facebook posting about Florence, Italy, that there was an Italian tradition for New Years: According to: Freya's Florence Tours - Freya Middleton: Don't forget to wear your red underwear to ring in the new year! Italians say it'll bring you luck in the coming year. Red wards off the malocchio (Evil Eye) and is a symbol of love, prosperity, and fertility... but it must be thrown away after New Year's Eve!

I was fortunate enough to have received four separate invitations for New Year’s Eve, each different in activity and energy. I wanted to try them all! But a girl only has so many hours in the day. Before bicycling into Scandicci to catch the Tramvia, I stopped in at my neighbor’s home. Giuliana had invited me to share dinner with her and her husband Renato. Their children all had other plans and I had told them that unless I could find a couch to sleep on in the city, I was not sure if I could go into central Florence for the huge casino (mess, chaos) that occurs there each New Year’s Eve. Everyone I knew was having guests.

But that day I received the invitation from a friend and decided to go into town. After expressing my regrets to Giuliana, she asked me to wait because she had a little gift for me. Imagine that! Can you imagine my surprised joy when I opened the wrapping and discovered a small pair of red panties! Oh, I was delighted! [My mother had guessed on Facebook that I would be going commando, so this was quite funny.] So, here is an image that Giuliana’s grandson Marco took of us. The image is not so happy as we worried about his ability to use the camera, but these are my sweet neighbors.

I roamed around in town until meeting up with my friend Jacopo at Giubbe Rosse, a famous café and artist hangout for at least a century. The café is situated off to one side of the famous Piazza della Repubblica and as I approached, I could see the band playing already on a stage set up in the square. Once inside, I met some new friends and saw some other people that Jacopo had introduced me to the week before. I have to say that I was still tickled by Giuliana’s sweetness that I enthusiastically pulled out of my backpack the red panties to show everyone at the table. Hearty and understanding laughs all around – I wondered later if “my momma raised me right” and was grateful that my friends did not think me too forward.

I had to leave them before I really wanted to because I was due at Susan’s flat. Once there, I went to put on my good luck charm. And so it went that the last night of the year was spent visiting wonderful people and roaming the streets of the city. I got kisses and vodka. I watched couples dancing together in the streets and people emptying their champagne and other boozy bottles before throwing them down into the streets, smashing the glass to pieces.

Loudly booming fireworks were going off all over the city and as I walked along the Oltrarno side of the river, I had this image in my mind that this must be a small sampling of what it must have been like when the Germans bombed the city back in World War II, destroying all of the bridges except the Ponte Vecchio. We always have yin and yang . . . we destroy with bombs and on this night, we celebrated with bombs, of sorts.

The following images were taken in Piazze della Signoria AFTER the year had changed over, perhaps around 1:30 a.m. since I was elsewhere at the hour of midnight. The orchestra playing was a new addition from other Capodanno celebrations that I have attended in Firenze. The musicians were positioned inside the Loggia dei Lanzi, among the famous stone and bronze sculptures. I suspect that was to protect them and their instruments -- even drunks here will have a strong sense of respect towards the art, if not each other.

On the other hand, I am not sure what to make of this: an interpretation or disrespect? On Via Calimala where two of my street painting colleagues had created artworks earlier in the day, I thought that I saw Claudio’s Madonna crying. Well, she was, but because someone had spit on her face in order to give her this emotional response.

I did not wake until almost noon today. But I wanted to follow the Italian tradition to the full extent. This last image was taken of me right next to the Basilica di Santa Croce, moments before I put the red panties in the trash bin. Hours later, I returned to my home and went to give my auguris to Giuliana and her family, who were all finishing up their holiday dinner. I was invited to join in the meal and while enjoying a lovely afternoon with the entire family, I entertained them with my story about the fate of the red panties. Susanna laughed and said that it really is not necessary to disgard them in order to become “in fortuna,” I only needed to wash them! [Would one not do this anyway??? Where is the drama in that? Had I just insulted Giuliana?] They also agreed when I told them that my mother suggested that this tradition was created by those in the clothing business. So, Giuliana helped the local economy and I have my cherished memories. Happy 2012!

La Giostra Pastel Art

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

Hello! I suspect you are busy like me, so I just want to spend a short amount of time introducing you to my newly completed pastel and charcoal drawing. She is one of the current Italy-inspired series, specifically of Florence (Firenze, as she is known in her own language). The title of this original artwork is “La Giostra” which means “Merry-Go-Round.”

One of my friends remarked that this is a cool merry-go-round because it invites all ages. The kids will enjoy riding on the horse while the grown-ups can snuggle up in the moon-shaped carriage. In reality, I first fell in love with this giostra in Piazza della Repubblica when I noticed that there was a painting of a bare-breasted woman on the inner wall, between the mirrors. I cannot imagine that even existing in America and I found that quite charming.

However, for various reasons, I decided to replace her with a male nude figure (except for his headband). I borrowed him from Michelangelo, as a nod to one of the most famous offspring from the Renaissance City.

“La Giostra” is 23 x 17 inches. The pastel and charcoal drawing was created on the Roma-brand paper that I brought back to Texas from Italy. She will debut this weekend at my Open Studio here in central Texas. So, please come on out!

Some people have commented that they thought the event was Saturday only, but no – it is both Saturday AND Sunday from noon to 5 pm or so.
More information: www.borsheimarts.com/exhibits.htm

You are Invited -- and Bring Your Friends!

Borsheim Arts Studio
223 Greystone Lane, Unit A, Cedar Creek, Texas 78612
Phone: 512-303-3929

6 & 7 February 2010, Saturday & Sunday
noon - 5:00 p.m. each day

NOTE: In effect now through 28 Feb 2010:

9-year Anniversary Celebration:

January 11 marks the 9th anniversary of when artist Kelly Borsheim sold her beeswax candle business and "took the plunge" to a life as a full-time artist. Here are the ways you can benefit:

• Enjoy a 20% Savings on ALL Giclée orders taken before 28 February 2010! Details: www.borsheimarts.com/giclee.htm
  
• FREE Giclée up to 18" long (up to a $200 value) or 20 FREE notecards with each painting commission received. (Your choice of available images.) Offer expires 28 February 2010. Information about how to commission a work of art, as well as some images of my past commissions, is online at:
  www.borsheimarts.com/commission.htm
  
• FREE shipping and handling on all art purchases (sculpture and 2-dimensional art) arranged from today through 28 February 2010.
  
• Interested in trying out my Layaway Plan? From now until 28 February, enjoy a reduced down payment of only one-third the full price instead of the normal half. As always, no finance charge if payments are made on time. For details, visit: www.borsheimarts.com/pricelist.htm
  

THANK YOU for your interest!

Happy Birthday, Great Aunt Lil!

Parade in Florence, Italy

Cari Amici (Dear Friends),

The Friday night before (September 26), Giovanni (another madonnaro [street painter] – from Brasil) and I left up little cardboard tents in an attempt to persuade the street cleaner in Florence, Italy, not to drive over our street art. Did not work, or maybe it did. I only had one large tire print over my face of a sibyl of Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.

So, Saturday’s work was not so bad. I just added more pastels and tried to feminize the face once more. And then I added hair and background.


I knew that my friend Martinho, a bandieri (flag waver), was performing on this day, but I had no idea that the parade would pass right by me on Via Calimala! How exciting this was, even if I did not get to see their performances in Piazza della Repubblica or the Duomo or in Piazza della Signoria. Gotta love the costumes and men in tights ;-)

By the time I finished in the night, I was exhausted. I had street painted Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. And I was scheduled for Monday again.
I finished out the composition in the street and even added the subtle cracks that now appear on the original fresco of the Sistine Chapel. How could Michelangelo have anticipated such beautiful wreckage?

Easter in Florence, Italy

Cari Amici,
Well, I started off my morning watching men in tights throwing flags around in Piazza della Repubblica in Florence, Italy. Not a bad way to go. Buona Pasqua!

Another artist friend Martinho joined the Florentine flag wavers, so some of my friends and I went to go watch him. And after we “had a coffee” at Donnini, we headed out to the Duomo to watch the festivities there.


Apparently, each Easter, a cart drawn by oxen is paraded through the streets of the city centro until they reach the Duomo. They stop in front, between the Duomo and the Baptistry. [The animals are led away shortly thereafter.] Il Scoppio del Carro (Explosion of the Cart) dates back to the First Crusade. A Florentine soldier Pazzino de’ Pazzi was the first person to climb the walls of the city of Jerusalem. He was rewarded for his bravery with a piece of stone from the Holy Sepulcher (the burial site of Jesus).

[An aside here: pazzo is italian for ‘mad’ or ‘insane’ and usually an ‘i’ is plural for a masculine adjective. I wonder if this soldier earned his name AFTER his brave act. Forse (maybe) Pazzino de’ Pazzi means “the little crazy one of the crazies.”]

Pazzino returned to Florence and decided to start a ‘holy fire’ during Holy Week, using these stones. The fire was carried throughout the city until around 1300, when the Fiorentines constructed an elaborate cart to carry the flame. Today, the cart is attached to a wire that hangs from either side of the piazza. At the proper time (11:00 this morning), a sculpted colombina (little dove) holding an olive branch swoops down this wire into the cart, setting her off. Firecrackers abound and a perfect explosion indicates a positive year ahead. I think it should be one this year! We were quite lucky that the day was overcast because the lighting was better for the fireworks. And the rain hit afterwards for extra safety (and visual stimuli, from my point of view).

The crowd could have been worse, but the first image at the Duomo I took was because a man held me up on the edge of a bench full of standing viewers. He was rather funny. He said, “I will hold your elbow, not your waist. But do realize that I will be taking your wallet while you are busy taking your photograph.” I just laughed and responded, “I do not have a wallet.” I snapped off as much as I could, not seeing a thing as my camera was held high over my head. This first shot was one of these. The rest were taken from another vantage point, but I still could see very little.

I was amazed that they would set off fireworks so close to such significant and cherished historical artworks, but then, as one friend pointed out, the Duomo and Baptistry survived World War II bombings on Florence, so . . .

Dopo, five of my friends – one newly met on the street – came over to my flat for Easter lunch. It was sort of planned, but only Anna and I were from the original bunch. The other four accepted our invitation this morning. We had a great time – and I had help cooking (which is always appreciated). It was a good Italian lunch. Not the food, but the atmosphere: sitting around for hours enjoying good company. Lunch was over around le ora18:00.

I have tried to include a video here, but not sure if it will work. But I do hope that you enjoy the images.

Allora, happy Easter. I must go out now and see this charming city at night! Ciao, ciao.