On 2 separate panels, you will develop paintings using Ernst Fuchs’ MischTechnik, alternating between ‘whites’ in a  water-based egg tempera and ‘color glazes’ in an oleo-varnish medium. Since these layers take time to dry, you will alternate your work between the 2 paintings. Laurence Caruana will assist you with one; Amanda Sage will oversee the other. In this way, you will benefit from the teachings of both artists.

       For Laurence's panel, students should come prepared with a Drawing 12” x 18” in size. This can be a simple sketch or photo-montage which will be further elaborated while painting. Using photocopies, we will transfer your drawing onto a wooden panel prepared in advance by the teachers. (The methods & materials for preparing panels will be explained.)

       For Amanda's panel, students will draw a Self-Portrait from life ~ under her careful guidance. This image will then be built up in layers, intuitively adding elements to develop a Visionary portrait of the artist...

       The students must bring their own Oil Paints & Brushes. The seminar will provide the easels, the prepared panels, the ingredients for making the painting mediums and for washing brushes. A list of recommended colors & brushes is included in the file: Required Materials.

       The teachers will reveal the Alchemy of making mediums through demonstrations & hands-on experience. PowerPoint presentations (with illustrated hand-outs) will also help you visualize the evolution of the painting. By its nature, the MischTechnik invites perceptual games & chance encounters. Together, we will explore a number of creative methods for developing imagery in the painting.
 
       Most of all, the teachers will impart Visionary Methods for painting. Beginning with color, we will actively explore the Visionary color spectrum, and the way in which unique colors & harmonies may be created ~ not only by laying colors side by side, but by laying one color atop another, through glazing. We will also explore the many different types of Transparency that are available, and how lines of energy & expression add a signature style to your work...

       Both Laurence Caruana & Amanda Sage have practiced the MischTechnik (‘mixed technique’) for many years. They worked directly with the Viennese Master Ernst Fuchs in his nearby studios in Monaco & Castel Caramel, as well as at the Apocalypse Chapel in Klagenfurt.

       The techniques of the Old Masters require discipline & dedication. We will paint each day, all day ~ while pausing for a decent lunch and using our evenings to explore all the facets of visionary creation in a more informal manner. Sundays will be reserved for excursions such as a visit to Monaco or exploring the fabulous Nature around Torri Superiore.

       Torri Superiore is unique: a small hilltop village that consists of one labyrinthine building built on five varying levels and containing some 162 different vaulted chambers. During its 700-year existence, the community witnessed prosperity & calamity. Finally it fell into ruin because of the economic upheavals & rapid agricultural changes of the 20th century.

       In 1989, the Associazione Culturale Torri Superiore was founded to restore the village and bring its community back to life through a broader world-vision based on sustainable agriculture & permacultural design. Although parts of Torri Superiore remains a Romantic ruin, the fifteen full-time residents (with the help of association members & teams of international students) have restored most of the chambers & apartments ~ including a communal kitchen, dining areas, living space & teaching facilities.

       Torri Superiore’s Cultural Association is happy to host our painting seminar, providing us with a studio space while offering students full accommodation (a bed plus breakfast, lunch & dinner). Since most participants are struggling artists or students on a tight budget, we have taken great pains to find accommodation that is both interesting & affordable.

       Torri Superiore is an Eco ~Village, not a resort. They aim for sustainable living, not luxury, and their prices are reasonable & variable. They have put various living quarters at our disposal, and have even offered the outdoors option of staying in tents. However, since all food is grown organically and shared communally, the price of accommodation will include breakfast, lunch & dinner (which will always include a vegetarian option. Vegans can also be accommodated).

       Accommodation is in Old European-style Apartments or the less expensive option of Tents. Most Apartments contain 2 bedrooms (sleeping 2 people per room) plus a bathroom. These thick-walled, vaulted chambers have plenty of character, and some have balconies overlooking the Ligurian hills. For the cheaper Tent option, Torri Superiore offers a grassy space on terraced slopes shaded by Mimosa trees, with a beautiful view onto the distant Alps. In Torri's building near by, individual bathrooms (including a shower, sink & toilet) are provided for campers. Participants choosing this option must bring their own tents & sleeping bags, but Torri Superiore will supply 3" thick mattresses to sleep on (!).

       Since this is a Summer Seminar, we will take full advantage of the beautiful Alpine setting. Students can go swimming in the fresh-water stream or hiking along trails in the mountains. Lunch may be enjoyed as a picnic on the grass, and evenings we can gather together on the large terrace overlooking the Alpine hills...

       Students will also have the opportunity to learn and experience Sustainable Living. This means that they, like the villagers, will integrate their lifestyle with the land ~ seeking to be its custodians rather than its exploiters. Permaculture is a form of long-term planning in which an integrated model of life is developed so flora, fauna & humanity may interact harmoniously & holistically. Agriculture is specifically tailored to the shape of the land and the cycle of the seasons.

       This model attempts to incorporate as many dynamic life-interactions as possible to create sustainable forms of living. Often a more labor-intensive polyculture (planting mixed crops) is preferred to the single-crop industrial method (which erodes top soil). All in all, the residents and their guests will seek out a form of communal living ~ a template for the future based on earth harmony rather than environmental destruction.

       The Associazione Culturale Torri Superiore lead their own Summer Seminars in Sustainability, Communal Living and Permacultural Design. Our seminar students will work on their paintings, not in the fields. Still, they will benefit from tours, presentations & discussions with the village experts while actually living the life of the community. The Associazione Culturale Torri Superiore is a founding member of the Italian Permaculture Academy and belongs to the Global Eco-village Network; it has no religious or political affiliations.

       The French Côte d’Azur & Italian Riviera are unique places on earth. From the height of the Alps, the landscape plunges to below sea-level at the Mediterranean. This steeply-sloped area faces south and is fed by Alpine streams. As a result, the foot-Alps remain one of the richest places on earth for natural varieties of vegetation: pine & palm trees, wild basil & mint bushes, endless fields of lavender... Our Mediaeval Eco-Village is located in the gorgeous foot-Alps on the border between the French Côte d’Azur & the Italian Riviera.

       More precisely, Torri Superiore lies 5 km north of Ventimiglia ~ a quaint coastal town nestled between Monaco in France & San Remo in Italy. For centuries, Europe’s rich & famous have built their villas along this shared coast, since all homes have a southern exposure onto the vast expanse of the Mediterranean.

       Driving west from Ventimiglia, it is a 15-minute drive to Menton & Castillon ~ where Ernst Fuchs has his home atelier. Continuing west along the Cote d’Azur you come to Monaco, where Fuchs also has a studio. One hour after that you arrive at the holiday town of Nice.

       On one weekend, we plan to visit Professor Ernst Fuchs, the Founder of the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism. This renowned group of painters revived classical techniques of painting and applied them to fantastic subjects. Fuchs in particular has become ‘the grandfather’ of Visionary art, pioneering many of its approaches while teaching its techniques to such former students as Mati Klarwein, De Es Schwertberger & Roberto Venosa (...as well as Laurence Caruana & Amanda Sage).

       Professor Fuchs has his studio in Monaco, as well as another studio in Castel Caramel, his legendary home outside Monaco. Although we plan to visit him in one of these places, students should take note that the professor is now 80 year's old and has begun to retire from public life. All will depend on how he feels at the time. (The 2009 group visited Fuchs twice in Monaco; the 2008 group did not, though several students met him aftterwards in Klagenfurt). The price of car rentals to visit Professor Fuchs is included in the seminar.

       On another weekend, students will have the option of visiting Damanhur. As Alex Grey has written in his book on Damanhur: “We were introduced to a virtually unprecedented collective of devoted artists, craftspeople and villagers who had founded a new way of life.”

       The Temples consist of long Subterranean Passages leading to 7 different chambers dug some 5 storeys deep into the hillside. Each temple is ornately carved & illuminated by glowing orbs or stained-glass ceilings. One labyrinthine passage leads to the Hall of the Earth and the Hall of Metals. Another passage, beginning at the Blue Temple and the Hall of Water, leads through the Hall of Spheres to the large and central Hall of Mirrors. All the columns & walls are covered with Visionary figures, forming a complex iconography dedicated to spiritual unity.

       Today, Damanhur is a Community of Artisans, Scientific Researchers, Agriculturists & Educators divided into 40 small communities of 20 members each. Collectively, they are trying to create a new model for community living based on sustainable agriculture, global co-operation & spiritual growth. While seminar participants may take an interest in Damanhur’s spiritual aims, our main interest will be its Visionary art and iconography.

       For those students who are interested, we will rent cars and drive for 3 hours through the stunning Alps before arriving at Damanhur. After an extensive tour of the temples and grounds, we will return that evening. The price of this extra excursion is €50 for the car rental plus €66 for Damanhur entrance fee, making a total of €116.

       The number of activies is endless, depending on what you, the student, can bring to the group. Nevertheless, a steady stream of events seems to happen spontaneously and almost effortlessly ~ ~ ~

       In previous seminars, one student gave Tai Chi lessons, another offered Visualizations, and a third taught the Santur (a hammered dulcimer from Persia). Music was our constant companion, with impromptu collaborations between students, guests & residents. One night a group of musicians from Naples gave a concert of Tarantellas while the seminar students came up with a Live Painting. Other nights, guitars were strummed while the students passed around Cadavres Exquis or collaborated on a Mandala dedicated to Torri Superiore.

       Film Nights featured dvds on Visionary subjects (Entheo:genesis, Renegade) or Permaculture (Peak Oil, The End of Suburbia). One evening, the village wise-woman read everyone's Tarot cards; another evening, the residents treated us to a large barbeque. Guest lecturer Alex Lehmann, on his way to the Boom Festival, gave us a preview of his lecture on Trance Music & Altered States of Consciousness.

       Italian Beer & Wine were readily available through the 'trust fridge' (drop €2 in the box, take a bottle...) and one of Torri's villagers offered a special Cocktail evening. Sitting on the large balcony overlooking the beautiful hills, conversation lasted late into the night. Sunsets were spent at the secluded swimming hole, and painting in the studio went on all through the night.

       The Students demonstrated how Visionary Art is indeed an international phenomenon. They have hailed from such diverse places as Argentina, Norway, Turkey, New Zealand, Germany, Italy & all quarters of the U.S. Each brought the distinctive taste of their own culture with them, and offered a global perspective on the present transformation of world-consciousness.

       At the end, a Farewell Party was held, including an Exhibition of the students' works. The friendships forged during the seminar lasted long afterward. One group of students visited Ernst Fuchs at the Apocalypse Chapel in Klagenfurt, Austria. There, thanks to Laurence's arranging, 3 of them remained & worked with the master in the chapel for a month (Laurence joining them there afterward...). Another group toured Europe before going to the Boom Festival in August. One student founded The Temple of Visions, a gallery in Los Angeles which has held successful exhibitions featuring works from former seminar students.

       The possibilities are endless...