Courses Taught at Umbra
Pastel Drawing in Perugia (summer)
Watercolor and Pastel in Perugia (summer)
Credentials/Background
Martha Wakeman studied at Tyler School of Art in Rome and holds a B.S. in Art Education from Skidmore College and an M.A. and M.F.A. from Villa Schifanoia, Rosary College Graduate School of Fine Art (Dominican University) in Florence, Italy. She has exhibited her paintings and pastels in Florence, Milan, Connecticut and New York. Her work is in collections in the U.S., Europe, New Zealand and Canada. Currently she teaches an Art Foundations course during the academic year at Connecticut College and Pastel Landscape in the summer sessions at Connecticut College and the Umbra Institute in Perugia, Italy. She has also created Art and Study Retreats in Italy, one of which is a nine-day drawing, pastel and watercolor workshop in the countryside north of Rome. Her work may be viewed at www.marthawakeman.com
Teaching Philosophy
It is a privilege to be able to teach the visual arts. I consider art to be a universal language. I believe that everyone is capable of drawing and in learning to do so our world opens up in new and unexpected ways. I think that it is important for students to have a foundation in basic techniques and then to develop a personal form of expression.
What Students Need to Bring to the Umbra Experience
Bring an open mind and a sense of adventure. Bring a desire to learn; to be inspired and to have your life transformed as you immerse yourself in Italian life and are exposed to the richness of Italy’s history, Italy’s artistic heritage and the magnificent Italian architecture and landscape!
Favorite Quotation
I have many quotations I like but I have been reading this one often recently;
“I have lived in the pursuit of a vision both personal and social. Personal: to care for what is noble, for what is beautiful, for what is gentle; to allow moments of insight to give wisdom at more mundane times. Social: to see in imagination the society that is to be created, where individuals grow freely, and where hate and greed and envy die because there is nothing to nourish them. These things I believe, and the world for all its horrors has left me unshaken.” From the autobiography of Bertrand Russell