2026 was the 40ieth year onsite of Pratt in Venice, as we began in 1984 and had to pause in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID.
Our group in 2026 comprised 16 Pratt students, including degree candidates in Illustration, Communication Design, Fine Arts and Art History. Some accepted students had to withdraw due to visa issues. On the plus side a generous endowed scholarship from Ion Hazzikostas, son of long-time art history-Venice faculty member, Dimitri Hazzikostas, helped two graduate students in the dual degree HAD/Information Science degree program participate.
On site we enjoyed our long-time collaboration with both the Università Internazionale dell’Arte, and the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica, where classes in painting, Italian, art history and printmaking took place. Visits to major sights such as the Ducal Palace and major churches such as the Frari were enjoyed by all, as well as our two out of town visits to Padua and to Veneto villas. A novelty was a specialized workshop in etching taught by Roberta at the Scuola Grafica in two sessions: to students in Fay Ku’s class and to interested grad students.
Students in Materials and Techniques learned in specialized classes: in the mosaic lab in San Marco, the Orsoni glass factory, the wood conservator at UIA, the surviving Scuola Dalmata, conserved by Save Venice. All students enjoyed access to: the Querini-Stampalia Library; to the Rosand Library by appointment; and by registering at the historic Marciana Library. Students in Materials were registered in the Cini Foundation Library at the Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore.
The final crit at UIA revealed beautiful work in oil, watercolor, ink, bookmaking, in varied techniques of painting, drawing and printmaking. The Presentations, seven by M&T students, were outstanding for their serious scholarship and range.
The work in all media and the scholarship were presented to the Pratt community as well as some returning PiV alumni, October 19th to the 30th , in the DeKalb Gallery exhibition.
Paintings by Chloe Richardson at this year's show
