May 18-June 9, 2012
This three-week program offers 3 studio credits in fiber (or 3D studio elective), 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 journey to exotic Turkey offers students the opportunity to experience an inexhaustibly rich culture steeped in time from ancient to modern, from Asia to Europe. Students will be immersed in the history of Turkey, which stretches back to the dawn of civilization. Centuries of trade, the silk route, conquest and religious wars have shaped this extraordinary place and its people. This land has been home to some of the earliest known communities: Hittites, Phrygians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Seljuks, and Ottomans. The adventure through Turkey will take students to sites left behind by the Romans such as extensive excavations at Ephesus, Miletus, and Priene. Students will see and in some cases, have the opportunity to touch, opulent works in ceramic tile and textiles, beautifully traditional woven rugs and hand-embroidered folk costumes.
Taking full advantage of the intense experiential nature of the travel studio format, students will have continuous opportunities to inspire curiosity about Turkey's social spaces in villages and cities, its culture, history, and customs. From the diversity of local vernacular to the artifacts depicting historic and contemporary architecture, students will reflect on and respond to a wide range of daily interactions and occurrences through a personal form of notation and image-making in order to cultivate their understanding and appreciation. In this country of many influences, students will study the effects of Islamic traditions in ceramic tile and textiles as well as the Greek, Roman, and Christian influences in art and architecture that underlay contemporary Islamic culture and tradition-- all in a multicultural setting that was one of the first to combine Islam, Judaism, and Christianity in vibrant communities.
The program starts in Istanbul where students will stay within the boundaries of Constantinople within walking distance of three great architectural monuments: The Blue Mosque, the Aya Sophia, and Topkapi Palace. From Istanbul, students and faculty will wind their way along the Western shores of the Dardanelles and stop in the center of silk rug-making in Hereke. They will also visit Bursa, famous for the production of silks, and a 14th Ottoman Capital to see many samples of early Ottoman architecture and evidence of a Jewish settlement. From there, students will travel to stunning archaeological sites along the Aegean coast. Interspersed among ruins and modern cities along the coast, are traditional weaving villages where students will go to see natural dyeing and traditional weaving techniques. Our adventures will end in Istanbul where we will visit some contemporary art spaces and have time to explore this vibrant metropolis in depth.
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.
Program Fees
Airfare is not included in the program fees below, which includes all accommodations, all ground transportation within Turkey, and some meals.
- $ 5,500 includes tuition for 3 undergraduate studio credits in fiber (or 3D elective)
- $7,000 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 $50 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.
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 archeological 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.
Maps & Directions