Aspire to Excellence
Master Class Residency: August 26 – September 9
Guest of Honor 2024 – Yedidya Hershberg
* Some of the offerings in the above video have been revised.The model of the Master Class is an intensive, incubator-like full-time studio program for the highly motivated and gifted student, under the tutelage of Israel Hershberg. It is not only guided by focused, probing instruction and critique grounded in the creative process – in learning for the eye and the hand – it aims to foster the tenacity and independence necessary to work through the diverse complexities artistic endeavors surely require. Work in the Master Class is pursued via the immediacy of experience, through continual practice, engagement with great masterworks and hard, uncompromising work. In the Master Class, it is the doing that produces understanding.
The JSS in Civita plunges the model of the Jerusalem Studio School Master Class into the sensual root and sap of the western world’s artistic heart. Italy’s art, landscape, architecture, artifacts and light converge into an integrated comprehensive experience of art and life that exists nowhere else. The sheer quality and quantity of it dwarfs all that comprises the Western world’s museums combined. This program nourishes a lifetime.
The JSS in Civita Master Class should not be confused with the ever more ubiquitous plein-air workshops. The Master Class is artistically and intellectually rugged – student output is inquiry based and intensive. Faculty input is challenging, delving into weighty considerations of pictorial language as well as frequent direct challenges to one’s existing ideas and approaches to painting and practice. Faculty give on-site individual critique and group critiques usually once a week, with an all-day final crit at the end of the 2 -week session. Students work on their own in great part and are encouraged to be ambitious in setting out on a days’ work. The impact of the Master Class is cumulative in terms of the learning curve. For this reason, we urge those who desire an optimal experience – one that will sustain them – to also enroll in the follow-up Guided Residency for a sense of continuity and engagement.
Please email us at jsscivita@icloud.com with any questions and inquiries.
Click here to apply to the Master Class
Master Class Residency Tuition & Fees
Master Class student painting in the shade of the Porta Borgiana, Civita castellana
The Master Class is not just a landscape painting program. Studio spaces for indoor work as well as for painting after daylight hours are available at our conveniently located studios spaces around town, the Carcerette Studios & Classroom, and studio classrooms in the historic center.
Scheduled real time and on-site instruction and critique, regular group critiques, the weekly artist talks, communal dinners and daily after-hours gatherings of artists in the piazza, restaurants and cafes, ensures a constant dynamic exchange of artistic ideas and practice.
Master Class Schedule:
Students in the Master Class are expected to demonstrate commitment and an independent work ethic during their time in the program whether out in the landscape or in one of the various studio spaces, painting subjects of their choosing. Master Class faculty will be making rounds five mornings a week with one weekly afternoon critique. After-dinner meetings with the Master Class faculty will include weekly scheduled lectures, informal slide talks and presentations.
Monday Evening: Communal dinners with all JSS in Civita participants
Weekends: Students are free to relax, paint or travel. Our Rosy of Tuscialand will be happy to provide you with information on planning and arranging excursions to other cities, such as Assisi, Perugia, Orvieto, Spoleto, and Venice.Click here for Fall 2024 Master Class Residency details
Work by Master Class Students & Residents