May 25-June 18, 2013 (registration deadline February 1, 2013)*
The country of Peru encompasses an astonishing amount of diversity waiting to be explored by students on this MICA Summer Intensive trip. In a country smaller in size than Alaska, Peru contains the biodiversity of an entire continent and over 60% of the country is covered by rainforest. Located on the central western coast of South America it is home to snow-capped mountains and giant sand dunes, weaving villages in the Andes and the amazing hidden Incas sanctuary of Machu Picchu.
Yet Peru also offers sophisticated coastal cities such as its capital, Lima, where the trip's journey begins with visits to that sprawling city's museums and neighborhoods. The itinerary takes the students to the villages and historic sites in the Cusco region along the Urubamba River Valley. Once the foremost city of the Inca empire, Cusco is now the undisputed archaeological capital of the Americas, as well as the continent's oldest continuously inhabited city. After making their way to over 8000 feet above sea level, students will follow the mysteries of this extraordinary country by visiting the highlands of the Andes that shelter ancient sites and contemporary village life. In these highlands they will visit weavers and learn their methods that bring vicuna and Ilama wool goods from the loom to the market.
The gold, silver, and copper embedded in the mountains of Peru were the basis of early cultural rituals and enticed the Europeans in their quest for wealth. Students will learn about the conflict, ritual, and artistic artifacts surrounding these precious metals by visiting museums which house historically significant objects of the Incan cities of gold as well as visiting many of the key archaeological sites in Peru that speak to its early cultural importance. In addition to these historical features, Peru offers the students a cuisine of distinction that started with the introduction of the potato. In a country where only 3% of the land is arable, the high-nutrient potato is valued and the colors, varieties, and nutrients in the potatoes from the Peruvian hills are the robust predecessors of other types of potatoes grown around the world.
The program is open to all studio practices, and can support students with mixed interests, talents, and concerns, working in media as wide-ranging as digital photography, sketching, watercolor, drawing, textiles, and video.
This three-week program offers 3 studio credits in fiber (or 3D studio elective) or graphic design, with an optional 3 credits in art history. Classes may be taken for undergraduate and graduate credit or audit. The program is open to undergraduate or graduate students (rising sophomores to second-year graduate students), and to lifelong learners at least 18 years of age who have completed at least one year of college study. All students must have a current, valid passport for travel.
This program is open to all majors.
Program Fees
Airfare is not included in the program fees below, which includes all accommodations, all ground transportation within Peru, and some meals.
• $ 5,700 includes tuition for 3 undergraduate studio credits in fiber (or 3D elective) or graphic design
• $7,200 includes tuition for 3 undergraduate studio credits + 3 undergraduate credits in art history (as an independent study by special arrangement with the MICA Department of Art History)
Graduate credit is available to qualified students with the approval of the Program Coordinator at an additional cost of $75 per credit. A limited number of merit and need-based scholarships are available. To inquire about scholarships or to request a detailed itinerary and additional information on this and other MICA programs, contact the MICA Summer Travel Intensives at: summertravel@mica.edu or by phone: 410.225.2219.
*Please contact summertravel@mica.edu for registration information. This program has an early registration deadline of February 1, 2013. All registration deposits must be received by this deadline.
Faculty
Annet Couwenberg, co-coordinator and faculty, is an artist born in The Netherlands. She earned a MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, and a MFA in Textile Arts from Syracuse University. Couwenberg served as chair of the fiber department from 1989 to 2008. She has received individual artist awards from the Maryland State and Ohio State Arts Councils. Telos Art Publishing published a monograph of her work in 2003. Her work is in numerous collections, among them the Textiel Museum in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE; 28th Street Studio, New York, NY; Contemporary Museum, Baltimore, MD; City Gallery, Atlanta, GA; Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD; The Arkansas Art Center, Decorative Arts Museum, Little Rock, AK. Annet's work has been reviewed and featured by the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, City Paper, The Atlanta Constitution, Philadelphia Inquirer, Fiberarts, NO (Nouvel Objet), Surface Design,and Sculpture Magazine.
Dan Meyers, co-coordinator and faculty, has a BFA in photography from Southern Illinois University and a MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. He has freelanced for 24 years specializing in photographing artwork, interiors, and architecture. Most recently, he photographed the American Visionary Art Museum for American Style magazine. Dan also photographed the home of Paul Rand for a book published on Paul Rand's life work. In addition, he has had work appear in numerous publications including the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's Design Culture Now, Sculpture magazine, American Craft magazine, and Contemporary American Pottery. He was recently included in a group exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Katie O'Meara, visiting faculty, teaches in the environmental design, foundation and art history departments at MICA. She is an architect, geographer and landscape architect who shares her time between New York and Baltimore. In addition to her teaching in the degree programs and her practice, Katie has been a faculty member on several MICA summer abroad programs, including programs in Turkey, Spain and Morocco, Portugal, and Eastern Europe. Katie has studied historical and contemporary patterns in urbanization, sequent occupation and archaeological ruins along the eastern Mediterranean in Turkey, Israel, and Jordan. Katie recently received her Master's in Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania building on her graduate studies in geography where she developed a GIS analysis of shifting demographic patterns in American cities with a focus on the relationship between social patterns of the underprivileged and physical and political markers. She is currently working on projects for Baltimore, and Mumbai--her Mumbai work began as a student project at UPenn, earning her an ASLA honors award in planning.
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