Pratt in Venice ‘10 alumna Jennella Young (MS Library Science, MA Art History) was featured in multiple exhibitions this past month and has also helped launch a new community art space in a former Pfizer building in Brooklyn. There, she produced a show with three other artists entitled “When Lullabies Become Walls” and curated a show on the history of the building.
Director's Report, 2025
Summer 2025 was the 39th on-site Pratt in Venice.
18 students participated (21 had been enrolled, but three non-US students withdrew including two graduate students due to concerns about visas or about returning).
Students were from Fine Arts and Art History as well as Communication Design and Digital Arts. One of the Art History students was from Princeton University.
In addition to our regular classes in painting, drawing/printmaking, art history of Venice, and materials/techniques of Venetian art and our traditional visits to Padua and Veneto sites, we had two visits from a star alumna of the program, Monique Rollins. Monique is a highly successful painter and gallery owner, living with her lovely family near Florence. She joined our Accademia Visit and participated in our discussions, and she returned for the final crit as a guest critic (accompanied for a part of the morning by her three beautiful children!)
Sarah Lichtman, Chair of History of Art and Design, spent two days on site with Diana, seeing our facilities and meeting faculty; she joined the HAD Materials and Techniques visit to the mosaic lab, the all group visit to the Doge’s Palace, and a faculty supper.
Another unique moment was the presentation at UIA of their pigment collection by the artist/pigment makers whom Michael Brennan has found to supply good quality colors.
We again enjoyed a special early entry to the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua to study Giotto, thanks to preservation architect Stevan who designed the lighting and climate control.
Our visit to the Veneto was blessed with extraordinarily clear dry weather. We could see the Alps from the Pullman as we headed from Castelfranco (and Giorgione) to Palladio’s Villas Emo and Barbaro with frescoes by Zelotti and Veronese, and again from our perch above Bassano where we enjoyed our traditional pranzo al fresco.
Liz Duntemann joined us to teach the on-site art history class, when Joe Kopta opted out. She brought in her expertise in the history of art and architecture related to healing.
Paolo Spezzani lectured to all on non-destructive ways to investigate art and wood conservator Enrica Colombini taught M&T students in a session in her UIA lab.
Students in Painting and Printmaking were highly productive as documented (together with art history research) in the exhibition opened in Dekalb Gallery on September 29. Kudos to them and to Michael’s curation and Fay Ku’s teaching bookmaking as well as printmaking.
Here’s to another successful year of Pratt in Venice!
Student Experiences, 2025
Jay Bailyn MLIS, MA Art History
I have been in love with Italian art history for as long as I remember. As a child I would
visit museums and inevitably end up standing, awe-inspired, in front of a painting, altarpiece or
sculpture from the Italian Renaissance. Due to this life long love, being able to spend six weeks
in Venice, where Italian renaissance painting reached such great heights, was a once in a
lifetime experience. An experience that I would urge anyone and everyone to try to partake in.
Pratt in Venice is incredibly special, you are able to spend time in one of the most
wonderful cities in the world with some of the best faculty in the world seeing some of the most
breathtaking art in the world. I truly think, over the six weeks I spent during this program, I have
learned equal to, if not more about art history than in many semesters spent in traditional
classroom settings. The ability to be up close and in person with these magnificent works of art
is a truly indescribable experience and so important for young scholars. As is having access to
the many different libraries and academic resources within the city. Some of the most special
moments for me during the program were spent with the Materials and Techniques class where
we would often get to go behind the scenes at some of Venice’s most famous sites such as the
mosaic lab at San Marco. Here, the class was given a tour of the lab and an incredibly
informative lecture on how the conservation of mosaics at Saint Mark’s Cathedral is conducted
as well as the history of mosaic conservation. We were also able to visit two Tintoretto
altarpieces that were under conservation by Save Venice at the church of San Giorgio
Maggiore. Visiting these pieces that I had written about in a paper the previous semester and
having the opportunity to see them up close and spend time appreciating all of the details that
one would not have been able to see looking at them up on a wall was genuinely one of the best
moments of my academic life.
I cannot write this letter without mentioning how incredible it was just to exist within the
city of Venice. This city is truly a work of art in and of itself and being surrounded by its history,
art, and culture for six weeks was just the cherry on top of a life-changing trip. I still sometimes
feel the gentle rock of the waves beneath the Vaporetto when I’m falling asleep. I will forever be
grateful to the wonderful faculty and staff who encouraged me to participate in the Pratt in
Venice program. I would urge anyone who is even just curious about Venice, art history or the
visual arts to participate in this amazing program.
Daisy Quan BFA Painting
Pratt in Venice was one of the most crucial components of my undergraduate career. It was
essential to experience Venice, to see the art and architecture in person. To walk into San Marco,
to stand in the silence of Torcello’s Santa Maria Assunta, to study the Palladian geometry of San
Giorgio Maggiore, or to wander through the Doge’s Palace was to learn more than slides or
books ever could. It was also to be reminded that art lives in its place, and that history lives on
every surface, on every wall.
I want to thank Diana Gisolfi in particular for her leadership and her years of work that have
made this program possible. That she has sustained and shaped Pratt in Venice for so many years
makes me especially grateful to have had the chance to participate in it. Thank you also to
Elizabeth Duntemann, whose art history instruction gave me a fuller, more complex
understanding of each site we visited.
Finally, I want to acknowledge the faculty who shared their own practices with us: Michael
Brennan, painting; Fay Ku, printmaking; and Jill. Each of them contributed to my experience of
this program.
In terms of my own artistic development, this summer gave me an opportunity to hone my ability
to look and to make. I was able to attend the Venice Biennale—something I had been looking
forward to for years—and that was an extraordinary experience, providing me both inspiration
and a sense of contemporary practice on a global scale. Along with this, I was able to forge
connections with peers and faculty that I will continue to build upon in the future.
Above all, however, I carry away from Venice a keener eye, a more rigorous mode of thought,
and a clear sense of how art study and art practice are inextricably linked. For this, I am deeply
grateful.
Remembering the life of Gerald Luss, PiV '10
Today, Pratt in Venice remembers the life of Gerald Luss, accomplished Pratt in Venice alum and generous supportor of the program.
"Gerald passed away peacefully on April 1st, surrounded by the love, attention, and compassion that defined his life. He is the love of my life, and I know his brilliance and grace touched and shaped so many of yours.
Though Gerald didn’t want formal services to mark this moment, I hope all who knew him will take a moment to celebrate and honor the tremendous gift that his life was to the world. He will always be with us in the spaces he shaped, the art he created, and the lives he touched."
-Susan Luss
“Pratt in Venice misses Gerald Luss. Gerald and his wife Susan participated in Pratt in Venice in 2010. They returned to the Serenissima more than once in subsequent summers and have remained special friends and generous supporters of the program's scholarship fund. Our hearts are with Susan.”
-Diana Gisolfi, Diroector, Pratt in Venice
Gerald Luss’ piece for the Pratt in Venice 35th Anniversary show, 2019
Susan and Gerald Luss at the 35th Anniversary show
(Images courtesy of Jacob Grumulaitis for Pratt Institute and Angela Conant)
PiV Alumni: Adele Rossetti receives another Fulbright scholarship
Adele Rossetti Morosini, MFA Fine Arts (Painting); MS Theory, Criticism, and History of Art, Design, and Architecture ’97, is the recipient of a 2024-25 Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant, her second for research on the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. In Oct.- Nov., 2024, the first phase of the grant, she and Sergio Rossetti Morosini, MFA Fine Arts (Painting); MS Theory, Criticism, and History of Art, Design, and Architecture ’97 began documenting the species composition of a rare primary-growth fragment of the Araucaria forest ecosystem by collecting herbarium specimens, and recording it visually through photography, video, and botanical illustration. The study continues from April - May, 2025. Results of Adele's study go to the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden, an agency of the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment. The data will add to the information on which future conservation and reforestation policies for that ecosystem will be based.
PiV Alumni Mathew Deleget and Painting Professor Michael Brennan Featured in Portal 5 Exhibition
Presented at the new project space Portal 5 in Tribeca, NYC, Stargazer is a two-person exhibition by NYC area artists Michael Brennan and Matthew Deleget of recent works informed by their mutual love of astronomy and abstraction.
Brennan will present a set of new, small- to mid-sized monochromatic oil paintings on canvas and Deleget will premiere a suite of framed Sunspot Drawings annotated with astronomical information. The exhibition will be supplemented by a selection of publications about astronomy and abstraction from the artists’ respective libraries.
The exhibition is located at Portal 5 in Tribeca, New York:
Portal 5
373 Broadway, 5th Floor, #E11 (Tribeca)
New York, NY 10013
Hours: Saturday-Sunday, 12 - 5pm & by appointment
January 11 - February 9, 2024
2024... Another Successful Pratt in Venice Exhibition!
Another wonderful Pratt in Venice exhibition opened with a reception on Monday evening, drawing large crowds and many illustrious members of the PiV and larger Pratt Community! Standouts included the monumental timeline drawing, whcih covered a large wall of the gallery, as well as a large number of prints, paintings, Materials and Techniques Research, photography, and of course sketchbooks. Thank you to all those who attended and participated in the Silent Auction, which will continue through the exhibition closing date of November 1st!
Student Experiences, 2024
Arthur Furniss, M.Arch, ‘26
Venice is a city that overwhelms you in every way - to try to see all of it within the span of six weeks is an audacious undertaking, yet as a student of the Pratt in Venice program I certainly was able to give a pretty good go at it.
From the moment I stepped off the train and onto the steps of the Santa Lucia train station, my only goal was to make the most of my short time in La Serenissima. By the end of the first week, I was already beginning to find my orientation within the city - I knew, for example, that the Strada Nuova would take me directly from my apartment in Cannaregio to San Marco, and that the fastest way to get to UIA, the beautiful school on the Giudecca island where much of the program takes place, I would need to take the Numero Due vaporetto (public transport boat) in the direction of Piazzale Roma to avoid the swarms of tourists heading in the opposite direction. These journeys through the streets, canals, and open waters of the Venetian lagoon were a fundamental part of my experience those six weeks, as I attempted to fill the notebook I had made as part of my printmaking class with as many sketches of the palaces and people of the city as I could.
The experience of those six weeks was not restricted to the Metropolitan city of Venice - frequently, we would leave the isolation of the lagoon to explore historic sites on the mainland, from the rich mosaics of Ravenna to the hills and vineyards of the Veneto, where many of the sumptuous villas of the Venetian patrician class still stand. On our trip to Bassano del Grappa, we visited one such home, designed by the ubiquitous Palladio, where we found a pair of beautiful dogs stretched out on the portico, enjoying the sun as it spread its warmth over the vineyard-covered landscape. Once inside, we found that the very same dogs had been painted by Veronese in his beautiful frescoes five hundred years before. For the first time, I began to realize just how much history could be encapsulated in such a small space, that even from a distance of centuries the works of people now long dead, both famous and forgotten, continue to speak to us.
The experience offered by Pratt in Venice is second to none - nowhere else could I have stood inches away from a Tintoretto ceiling under restoration in the Palazzo Ducale, or explored the closed off balconies of San Marco basilica where the tireless restorers of millenia-old mosaics continue to operate. Nowhere else could I have paired the first-hand study of art history with a first-class art making experience, such as the printmaking course taught in the beautiful facilities of the Scuola Grafica. To try to fit so many memories into one page is perhaps just as audacious as to fit the entire city of Venice into six weeks - nevertheless there is no doubt that no matter how limited my experience of Venice was in relation to its vast trove of monuments and experiences, it has carved out a sizeable place in my heart and mind for years to come.
Sofia Rodriguez, Painting ‘26
Pratt in Venice was a deeply transformative and inspirational experience, and I would recommend it to anyone who would benefit from the immersive learning experience of visiting the art that we are so used to learning about from afar. I am extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to spend my summer on the program and experience profound personal, artistic, and social change. I have gained invaluable wisdom, perspective, and inspiration from my faculty and peers in our mutually supportive community. The experience overwhelmed me with an urge to record every part of the place in any way I could. I would spend my days sketching, writing, and painting with an urgency to capture what I knew was a fleeting experience. Reflecting now after the program, I have found this in-the-moment work to be an important reference as I move my work forward with what I have learned from the program. A change of lifestyle, social sphere, and habit for six weeks led to personal and artistic development that I wouldn’t find otherwise. As a painting student and course assistant, I was able to become deeply involved with the program and focus fully on my painting practice.
The mystery and the novelty of the city were continuously striking. The program was long enough to take in a solid amount of the city, but I would find myself surprised every day, no matter how much of a routine I built up. One of the most striking places we spent time in was at our painting campus, the Università Internazionale dell'Arte on Giudecca, an island on the lower half of Venice. With the guidance of our professor Michael Brennan, our painting class formed a close community and created an environment where we could bounce ideas off of one another. The view from Giudecca was striking; we would sit by the water during breaks and watch boats go by, hear distant conversations, and see the hazy horizon with buildings in the far distance as we would listen to the ambient noise of cicadas chirping all summer.
Exploring the surrounding area through trips with the program along with personal day trips out of Venice formed some of the most lasting and influential memories of the trips as well. The mosaics of Ravenna, the frescoes of Padua, and the master paintings from my trip to Florence were some of the most profound creative influences of the experience. This program brings so much of what we learn in art history along with the contemporary art world—as we traveled during the Biennale—that we typically learn about in a class setting within our reach during a crucial part of our art education.
I am grateful for my opportunity to attend the program and learn from the brilliant faculty that teach with a structure that gives me full freedom to explore the city and develop my practice. I am endlessly glad that I could spend my summer in such a memorable place working within an encouraging environment to learn from talented peers, a city rich with history, and new experiences.
Director's Report, Summer 2024
This year, participants were 22 students, both Graduate and Undergraduate from a range of departments at Pratt: Architecture, Photography and Communication Design and well as Fine Arts and Art History. The group was further enriched by two students from other institutions: Princeton and NYU!
This was a packed and productive program! After arrivals, first supper, orientation walk and first meetings of classes, our first Sunday was spent at the Biennale viewing, listening and discussing with NYT critic Aruna d’Souza and Fine Arts Chairperson Jane South.
During the next week we welcomed Provost Donna Heiland. She and her husband Barry attended Joe Kopta’s lecture in Piazza San Marco and within the basilica; Donna visited San Giorgio Maggiore and the Cini Foundation Library and lunched with art historians. On the following day, the Provost joined our Materials visit and lesson with Maestro Franco Favaro in the Laboratorio dei Mosaici in San Marco. Of course, she also visited the UIA facilities and painting studios and the Scuola Grafica; she chatted with students at these events and dined with all the faculty. A lot in two days!
It's important to note that two alumnae (Venice ’22) visited and joined our annual trip to Padua (Taylor Bielecki and Amy Ungricht). Another special aspect of 2024 was that two participants are “second generation” Pratt in Venice participants: Aiden Pigott, son of Rachel Olderman (PiV1989); Sofia Rodriquez, daughter of Edel Rodriguez and Jenifer Roth (both PiV 1992)!
Joe Kopta led the trip to study architecture and mosaics in Ravenna on the second Saturday. In early July the group enjoyed our traditional visit to Padua instructed by Architetto Antonio Stevan on the condition and conservation of Giotto’s Arena Chapel before we visited the Church of the Santo with Donatello’s altar and early Titian frescoes in the Scuola nearby. After Paolo Spezzani’s lecture on technical examinations of paintings in early July, the group enjoyed the full day visit via hired pullman to Giorgione’s town of Castelfranco, two frescoed Palladian villas, and the traditional “pranzo al fresco” provided by Luisa in the hills above Bassano.
In Venice, Painters were especially ambitious, as will be seen on the exhibition that opens on Oct 21. Printmakers created books, drypoints drawn on copper plates, monotypes and collagraphs. Art History students learned at sites in Venice from the Doge’s Palace to the Scuole grandi to Scarpa producing papers and timelines, while Materials/techniques students learned on conservation sites, in laboratories and studios, enjoyed the Cini foundation Library, delivered presentations. These and the final crit showed the abundant productivity that will be displayed in our Pratt in Venice annual exhibition opening Oct 21 in the DeKalb Gallery, continuing until November 1.
Diana Gisolfi, Director, Pratt in Venice
Diana and Provost Donna Heiland on a visit to the San Marco Mosaic Restoration Workshs
Looking Back at the 2024 Program!
Another wonderful summer has come to a close. As we prepare for the Pratt in Venice Exhibition, opening at 5pm October 21st, here’s a look at some wonderful moments from the 2024 program!
