Arthur Furniss, M.Arch, ‘26
Venice is a city that overwhelms you in every way - to try to see all of it within the span of six weeks is an audacious undertaking, yet as a student of the Pratt in Venice program I certainly was able to give a pretty good go at it.
From the moment I stepped off the train and onto the steps of the Santa Lucia train station, my only goal was to make the most of my short time in La Serenissima. By the end of the first week, I was already beginning to find my orientation within the city - I knew, for example, that the Strada Nuova would take me directly from my apartment in Cannaregio to San Marco, and that the fastest way to get to UIA, the beautiful school on the Giudecca island where much of the program takes place, I would need to take the Numero Due vaporetto (public transport boat) in the direction of Piazzale Roma to avoid the swarms of tourists heading in the opposite direction. These journeys through the streets, canals, and open waters of the Venetian lagoon were a fundamental part of my experience those six weeks, as I attempted to fill the notebook I had made as part of my printmaking class with as many sketches of the palaces and people of the city as I could.
The experience of those six weeks was not restricted to the Metropolitan city of Venice - frequently, we would leave the isolation of the lagoon to explore historic sites on the mainland, from the rich mosaics of Ravenna to the hills and vineyards of the Veneto, where many of the sumptuous villas of the Venetian patrician class still stand. On our trip to Bassano del Grappa, we visited one such home, designed by the ubiquitous Palladio, where we found a pair of beautiful dogs stretched out on the portico, enjoying the sun as it spread its warmth over the vineyard-covered landscape. Once inside, we found that the very same dogs had been painted by Veronese in his beautiful frescoes five hundred years before. For the first time, I began to realize just how much history could be encapsulated in such a small space, that even from a distance of centuries the works of people now long dead, both famous and forgotten, continue to speak to us.
The experience offered by Pratt in Venice is second to none - nowhere else could I have stood inches away from a Tintoretto ceiling under restoration in the Palazzo Ducale, or explored the closed off balconies of San Marco basilica where the tireless restorers of millenia-old mosaics continue to operate. Nowhere else could I have paired the first-hand study of art history with a first-class art making experience, such as the printmaking course taught in the beautiful facilities of the Scuola Grafica. To try to fit so many memories into one page is perhaps just as audacious as to fit the entire city of Venice into six weeks - nevertheless there is no doubt that no matter how limited my experience of Venice was in relation to its vast trove of monuments and experiences, it has carved out a sizeable place in my heart and mind for years to come.
Sofia Rodriguez, Painting ‘26
Pratt in Venice was a deeply transformative and inspirational experience, and I would recommend it to anyone who would benefit from the immersive learning experience of visiting the art that we are so used to learning about from afar. I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to spend my summer on the program and experience profound personal, artistic, and social change. I have gained invaluable wisdom, perspective, and inspiration from my faculty and peers in our mutually supportive community. The experience overwhelmed me with an urge to record every part of the place in any way I could. I would spend my days sketching, writing, and painting with an urgency to capture what I knew was a fleeting experience. Reflecting now after the program, I have found this in-the-moment work to be an important reference as I move my work forward with what I have learned from the program. A change of lifestyle, social sphere, and habit for six weeks led to personal and artistic development that I wouldn’t find otherwise. As a painting student and course assistant, I was able to become deeply involved with the program and focus fully on my painting practice.
The mystery and the novelty of the city were continuously striking. The program was long enough to take in a solid amount of the city, but I would find myself surprised every day, no matter how much of a routine I built up. One of the most striking places we spent time in was at our painting campus, the Università Internazionale dell'Arte on Giudecca, an island on the lower half of Venice. With the guidance of our professor Michael Brennan, our painting class formed a close community and created an environment where we could bounce ideas off of one another. The view from Giudecca was striking; we would sit by the water during breaks and watch boats go by, hear distant conversations, and see the hazy horizon with buildings in the far distance as we would listen to the ambient noise of cicadas chirping all summer.
Exploring the surrounding area through trips with the program along with personal day trips out of Venice formed some of the most lasting and influential memories of the trips as well. The mosaics of Ravenna, the frescoes of Padua, and the master paintings from my trip to Florence were some of the most profound creative influences of the experience. This program brings so much of what we learn in art history along with the contemporary art world—as we traveled during the Biennale—that we typically learn about in a class setting within our reach during a crucial part of our art education.
I am grateful for my opportunity to attend the program and learn from the brilliant faculty that teach with a structure that gives me full freedom to explore the city and develop my practice. I am endlessly glad that I could spend my summer in such a memorable place working within an encouraging environment to learn from talented peers, a city rich with history, and new experiences.
