Anna Mahler: Schools Project 2023
Liceo Artistico, Spoleto
Accademia di Belle Arti, Perugia
“There is a beautiful picture on an American fashion magazine which shows my mother sculpting in the background while a model, apparently Dennis Hopper’s wife, poses in the foreground. These are two very contrasting visions of what a woman is. My mother in the background is somehow a more striking figure than the model in the foreground because she anticipates what a woman will be: the strength of woman.”
Marina Mahler in Anna Mahler: Notes on Stone
This spring we are working with the Liceo Artistico di Spoleto to deliver a sculpture module for forty 16–17 year olds, inspired by the work of Anna Mahler. The course is led by professors from the liceo in collaboration with Spoleto based ceramic artist Annalisa Guerri, as well as Guy Robertson and Tommaso Faraci from the Mahler & LeWitt Studios. Having become familiar with the work of Anna Mahler and the ways she incorporates both figurative and abstract motifs, the students will create their own work engaging with portraiture and landscape. Additionally, Guerri is using the studios to lead the students in a ceramic workshop.
We also host students from the academy of fine arts in Perugia. As well as visiting the former studios of Anna Mahler and Sol Lewitt, they will attend studio visits with our residents, including artist Cecilia Ceccherini and geographer Dr. Alberto Valz Gris who are working on a collaborative project investigating histories of water usage, titled Fragments from the Hydrosocial Cycle of the Valle Umbra. A part of our Materia program, through case studies the project proposes “an embodied and effective exploration of water assemblages, asking how we might reinvent hydrosocial territories and shape them towards a more conscious and environmentally just future.” The work takes form as a series of texts and related textile pieces.
The projects include screenings of the films Anna Mahler: Notes on Stone and About Sol, directed by Gabriele Gianni and commissioned by the Carla Fendi Fondation.
