This past week has been so much fun & busy! Tuesday I went with one of my teacher's art history classes to Prato. We went to study street art. The first thing we saw was work by the artist Blu. He was comissioned by Prato to paint a wall in the city and he chose to focus on the evolution of man. The beginning and end is the same thing - a molecule. He painted it about two years ago and no one has ever spray painted over it which is cool--it shows how much the city respects Blu as an artist. Here are pictures on the wall; they're actually in reverse order.
After the wall we saw another work by Blu. Him and Eric "the dog" collaborated together and painted an abandoned building. This work was done in the middle of the night ... illegally.
Then we went to an elementary school in Prato. The school commissioned street artists Eric "the dog" and David to paint a mural on one of their new buildings. We met the couple who are responsible for approaching the school about the mural and we also got to meet the two artists. They're painting a donkey, representing what's inside the bulding ... That of course was initially controversial so now they claim it's a horse. :)
(Eric & David at work)Wednesday I went to Siena with my Contemporary art class to see the Gordon Matta-Clark exhibit. He's famous for cutting holes in houses and splitting houses. I LOVE Siena and can't wait to go back ASAP! We only got to walk around for about 20 minutes but it was gorgeous.
Thursday I FINALLY got to go to the Uffizi Gallery. I went with my Leonardo class which was convenient because my teacher knows so much about all the works in the gallery. It was like our own mini private tour. My favorite piece was Botticelli's Primavera. It was larger than life and so breathtaking. We had discussed Primavera in my Hidden Meanings class that week so I had a new found appreciation for it.
Luisa and I wanted to start to venture out of the center a bit more so we hopped a bus to Setignano. It was so pretty! (& refreshing to get away from crowds & cig smoke .. yuckyy!)
We walked around forever. At one point we were so lost and found ourselves hiking/slipping up and sliding/falling down hills in heels. By the time we found our way back to the main road we looked like we had been caught in a twister ... dirt was practically falling off my jeans and I found a few leaves in my hair. Real classy. 
(Luisa conquering the hills in her 4 inch heels)
(I was obviously pouting .. no surprise there)Anyways, we eventually made it back to the main part of town and had the most AMAZING dinner. The restaurant overlooked a view of the city!! :)
HAVE A FABULOUS WEEK!
Ciao! Multi Baci!<33
