Professors of Architecture at the Rome Global Gateway continue to find ways to connect with students and create art, even with the limitations of quarantine. See their work below.
Ettore Mazzola virtually tours Italy through watercolor paintings
Though travel is not currently possible, Professor of the Practice of Architecture at the Rome Global Gateway Ettore Mazzola has found a unique and beautiful way to transport his students across Italy during the quarantine. He decided to initiate a personal challenge to create one work of art each day and has been posting his artwork on Instagram to share with others. Most of his recent sketches and watercolor paintings are dedicated to his students and feature locations of field trips and site visits the class would have taken together.
“Creating art, for me, is really therapeutic. What is really important is not to be in a hurry. So many times we are in a hurry and we are not really appreciating what we are seeing and doing,” Mazzola explains. Each new sketch or watercolor painting Mazzola created was an opportunity to revisit certain sites and focus even more intently on unique details.
“Drawing is a great exercise to memorize a place. Whatever is passing through the eyes, through the brain, through the arm, through the fingers, through the pen to the sketchbook becomes a part of our genetic code. These places literally become part of us.”
Unable to work onsite as he prefers, Mazzola has been using photographs from previous years and altering them in one special way, changing the original light. For instance, some original photos were taken on a rainy or cloudy day. In these cases, Mazzola infused more light and positivity into the recreated image. “The intention of this challenge was to bring beauty but also bring happiness into the minds of those who could see these images,” notes Mazzola.
Field trips and site visits around Italy are an essential part of the classes Mazzola teaches, giving students the opportunity to experience the impact of local culture on period architecture. Over the year, these visits touch almost every region of the country, allowing students to see how “everyplace has a specific character. There is not one style that is uniform everywhere. There are so many interpretations that create a sense of belonging.” This identity and connection, Mazzola teaches, is key to traditional architecture and often missing in modern architecture.
Some of his paintings feature sites from a field trip to Sicily the group would normally have taken during the spring semester. “Within the same region they (the students) can see how the same language is changing. Normally, they can see the incredible difference between the baroque in Palermo to the examples they can see in Noto, Modica, Ragusa, Siracusa, and Catania,” recalls Mazzola. Such architectural differences are shaped by the use of materials, the location, the builders, and the distinct local needs during that period. This reflects one of the foundations of the architecture program, teaching students “the way to respect places and respect people,” upholding the traditions upon which so many sites were built, according to Mazzola.
Mazzola’s “watercolor a day” has also been a personal challenge, encouraging him to practice and study specific elements like clouds and water. On Easter Monday he created his own version of Fontana della Barcaccia, a fountain at the base of the Spanish Steps in Rome.
“I never had the opportunity to spend so much time thinking about the way to represent water, especially the jets of water.”
Before creating the final version, he drew many fountains, practicing the water’s movement and reflection, an exercise he often asks students to partake in during their projects. Mazzola explains, “Giving them a personal example can be a good lesson. As we say in Italian, ci metto la faccia, which closely translates to ‘putting oneself out there.’”
David Mayernik experiments with creative techniques in this challenging period
Mazzola is one of three School of Architecture faculty members who have been coping with the pandemic and expressing their sentiments by creating art.
Associate Professor and Rome Program Alumnus David Mayernik has been using this time similarly. When not in quarantine, he enjoys creating frescoes and paintings en plein air (outside), both which require being onsite. With many art and architecture projects currently on hold, Mayernik has been encouraged to experiment with different drawing and painting techniques.
“Since the quarantine, I’ve been able to do more creative, imaginary things,”
Mayernik has been using a program on his iPad called Procreate which allows him to digitally paint and sketch before using watercolors for the final version. One of the pieces he’s made using this method is an image of the Archangel Michael, inspired by the figure atop the Castel Sant’Angelo near his apartment. That particular statue is associated with plague in the time of Pope Gregory the Great and was once a plea for relief, a particular symbol that David and others relate to currently. Working on sketches on his iPad also allows him to record the process and create timelapse videos, a unique way to experience the artistic process. These videos have been a wonderful resource for Mayernik to share his sketching process with students.
Timelapse of Mayernik’s sketch of Archangel Michael
Another method that Mayernik has been exploring during the quarantine is the creation of inventive images, capricci, inspired by a collection of real experiences and architectural ideas. Many of those that Mayernik recently completed are based on sites around nearby Tivoli, a location many students visit during their time in Italy. To begin, he first sketched on his iPad and then developed sanguine drawings on paper with watercolors. One, called Canopus, combines the large fountain-pool at Hadrian’s Villa with a temple from Tivoli.
L'Isola della Speranza, translating to “the island of hope,” has a particular personal significance to Mayernik. Using the symbol of hope as the center of the fountain inspired other aspects of the painting including the island and the fountains surrounding it. As Mayernik explains, he was able to generate positivity through this piece: “You can feel pretty hopeless when you’re stuck inside and creating this was very therapeutic. It was a way to create a bit of hope in this time.” He too, has been sharing many of these pieces through social media and with students with an intent to inspire a positive outlook and even a possible impetus for others to create.
Another technique that Mayernik has been employing is the creation of drawings and paintings based entirely on readings, particularly those on the Holy Triduum during the Easter season. These moments allow him to connect his faith with the therapeutic and creative benefits of creating art. In such pieces, Mayernik has been focusing on creating a dynamic relationship with the viewers, inviting them into the scene. For example, his Sulla Croce (On the Cross) is drawn from the perspective of the Good Thief on the cross next to Jesus, as described in the Gospel of Luke. Such a piece allows the audience to contemplate and experience a particular moment in time from a unique viewpoint.
Although he doesn’t usually enjoy creating watercolor paintings from photos, Mayernik, like Mazzola, has been using this technique not only to virtually revisit beautiful sites across the country, but also to provide examples to his graduate students who are attempting the same task. Such is true with his recent version of the Loggia dei Cavalieri di Rodi.
Mayernik’s recent creative endeavors span beyond drawing and painting, also including writing. Recently, he has been developing a manuscript on how creativity was understood in the Renaissance.
“This time in quarantine has been a chance to reflect on creativity generally, or as they would have called it in the Renaissance, invention, since they would have said that only God can create, or make something out of nothing. We humans, instead, invent, meaning we find ideas, discover them. This quarantine period has been a challenging time, but in one way or another, a time of discovery.”
Jonathan Weatherill
Joining Mazzola and Mayernik, Associate Professor of Architecture Jonathan Weatherill has also been using the past few months to create art. Now joined by his wife and two daughters, all working from home, Weatherill admits that it has not always been easy. “Everyone has a different situation and way of responding.” Weatherill has been spending more time with his family and teaching Notre Dame courses online. He’s found the little remaining free time he has as a valuable moment to create art, an important coping mechanism.
“Creating is therapeutic. Great art, across history, often comes from troubled minds. It’s a way of ‘switching-off’ from everyday problems when we are so focused on what we are creating and doing. It frees your mind and is very regenerative."
Aside from photography and playing the piano, Weatherill has been creating watercolor paintings. Though he prefers to paint in a live setting as opposed to from a photograph, Weatherill has been creating imaginative images. He uses inspiration from previous designs he’s seen in the past, combining different architectural solutions to meet a new, unique need. “It’s always different. There’s never only one solution,” Weatherill shares.
Weatherill has also been using this time to catch up on professional projects, including the restoration of a monastery with a nearby garden and villa. “The interesting coincidence is that the garden of the villa was made as a homage to those who survived the plague. Now, with coronavirus, this project has taken a new significance,” notes Weatherill.
Like others, Weatherill has found the ability to share and view art through social media a largely positive aspect of the quarantine. “It helps us connect with each other in a time when we are all at home.”
