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Oct. 22 - Nov. 4, 2015
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32-Day Adventure
Travel to Italy as an elective to see art and history come alive Students are travelling to Italy to get up close and personal with timeless pieces of artwork, as well as the vibrant culture. The Italian Art and Culture elective is a 32-day adventure in Italy and is directed by Illustration professor Clemente Botelho and Animation professor Tony Tarantini. “It’s about studying the art and culture in the actual environment where predominantly that art and culture was created,” said Botelho. Students visit Florence, Rome, Venice, as well as day trips to Assisi, Sienna, Bologna and the Tuscan countryside. During the trip, the students stay in apartments, located in Florence’s city centre, walking distance to the Duomo Cathedral, as well as many other historical sites. “Everyday whether in class or not, they’re at the hub of the environment. Where these things collide. Where life collides with history,” said Botelho. Botelho studied in Florence, himself, when he was an art student. During his year there he studied art history and painting. “That experience for me really helped to set some career goals, some artistic goals, and directions that I want to confront in my work, as an illustrator and an artist,” said Botel-
photograph by clemente botelho
OLIVIA LITTLE
Animation professor and one of the directors of Italian Art and Culture elective, Tony Tarantini teaching a group of students. ho. “It was always a thought of mine that once I started teaching, I really wanted to recreate that same type of environment for Sheridan students.” The elective is available to students in all degree programs in the faculty of arts, as well as students at any year level. Stephen Gaitan, 23, second-year Photography student did the elective this past summer, when he was in his first year of studies. Gaitan says despite having concerns before the trip, he’s glad he took the opportunity. “We were going to be studying mostly classical art, renaissance art, so I was concerned
how that would apply to a new medium of art, like photography,” said Gaitan. “What the instructors, Clemente and Tony, talked about was more the conceptual part of each piece and that applies to any sort of art. I think because of them more than anything else, and the way they taught, it applies to not just illustration or animation, but any other medium of art as well.” Gaitan says that because they were taught to think about art conceptually and symbolically, it got him to explore photojournalism and documentary photography. “It got me thinking about
Europe and their political situation and stuff like that, and so for the rest of the trip I started taking pictures with that in mind. I began to look to embed a commentary of the social/political situation that was there,” said Gaitan. “Fundamentally it just changed the way I approach it. Before I’m even hitting the shutter button on my camera, I’m thinking about my photograph differently.” The elective gives students the opportunity to experience artwork for themselves, rather than just viewing it through photographs, and analyzing it in a classroom. “You can look at a photo and
analyze it conceptually but you feel different when you’re actually there,” said Christina Parente, 25, third-year Interior Design student, who did the course this past summer. “You’re living it. You’re no longer looking at a picture of the painting, but the painting itself. In a city like Florence, it’s difficult to describe in words, but you don’t just necessarily see things or hear things, you start to feel things.” Parente says that the course was eye opening for her not only artistically, but personally. “For me it wasn’t even about getting that credit, it was about experiencing all there was to experience about this trip,” said Parente. “Being displaced on your own, fending for yourself, and seeing what comes out of it, and what you learn about yourself, about your art, and just about life in general.” Botelho hopes that the course will help students reset and broaden their artistic ambitions, just as he did many years ago. “If students really immerse themselves in this experience, it can be life changing. It allows them a broader scope,” said Botelho. “It helps to set really broad, and lofty, and global goals for students.” Botelho can be contacted at clemente.botelho@sheridancollege.ca, if students would like more information on the elective or how to apply.
Residents get together to talk climate change GREG LOWENTHAL It was an intimate gathering of Oakville residents interested in the effects of climate change on their city, and the small group was told there is a lot they can do. “I think there is plenty that the average person can do and in all aspects of life, getting to work, being at work, being at home, planting vegetables, taking transit, conserving water, there’s tons that people can do,” said Oakville’s environmental
coordinator Trisha Henderson. She believes people can change their neighbourhoods. People can most affect their way of life by “moving away from our use of fuels, I would say would probably be the most dramatic increase. I think cars and our use of cars and gasoline is causing major carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. So removing that or limiting that would help us meet our greenhouse gas emission goals.” The 90-minute event, which
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was held Oct. 7 and hosted by the Oakville Climate Group featured two presentations. While climate change was the primary focus, there were also brief discussions of how voting for a new federal government would bring more attention to both national climate change issues and municipal climate discussions. On hand at the event to talk about climate change on the national level was Stephen Scharper, from the School of the Environment at the University of Toronto.
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“Well I think that climate change is something all of us can help mitigate in our personal lives but also in our political lives,” he said. “The groups that we’ve become involved in, the candidates we vote for, all have some impact on policies around climate change. And so it’s kind of the whole spectrum of approaches; personal, social, political, economic and cultural that we’re involved with.” He also believes the politicians who are running in the
election should take notice of the fact that people are trying to make a difference in their world. Heather Govendor, an environmental professional from Halton Green Screens, says the biggest challenge is motivating people to come to an event like the one held that night. “I think a lot of people in Oakville seem comfortable, so it’s not easy to get people to notice. I know as an environmental professional it’s a challenge to get people out to our events.”
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