This year, students will work intensely under Two Teachers ~ focusing their efforts into two panels that reflect a profound grasp of the layered painting techniques: Mischtechnik or Oils Over Acrylics. Upon registration, students will state their First & Second Choices of teachers (Olga, Kevin or Daniel), & we will organize the class according to the balanced needs of the teachers & students. All techniques will be demonstrated to all students, but the student will focus on two techniques closely supervised by their teachers.

Olga Klimova will share her meditative painting process, which allows the artist to free the mind, release judgment, and dive into new vistas. Beginning in white acrylics over a black background, she will demonstrate a variety of techniques for creating detailed organic patterns. After visualizing imagery within the emergent patterns, students will be given detailed instruction in painting the face, the figure and how to create dynamic compositions, utilizing Old Masters techniques in oils to create a refined, detailed work.

Following the pathways & approaches taken by the Old Masters, Daniel Mirante will offer instruction in the Mischtechnik, a “Mixed Technique” that alternates between layers of white egg tempera and coloured oleo-resinous glazes to create opalescent & transparent effects. More specifically, he will offer the ‘tempera grassa’ version of the Mischtechnik ~ an approach developed by the masters of the Florentine and Venetian Renaissance (Botticelli, Giovanni Bellini, Mantegna, Titian), where the egg tempera is weighed towards the oil, making it ‘fatty’ ~ a true tempera grassa. This venerable technique gives paintings a rich luminosity, depth and complexity. By learning to pay close attention to lights & darks, your work will achieve greater depth & volume. Through a variety of readings, presentations and visualizations, we will explore the spiritual and contemplative power of image-making.

Kevin Campeau will share his extensive experience in Inner Journeying to accompany you in the evolution and depiction of your interior world. Through a series of exercises, both in Nature & in the studio, you will learn to combine Automatic Drawing and Writing, to meet your inner guide – a figure who will lead you deeper into your own creative process. Through random swirls of acrylic paint, you will bring forth & refine elemental realms (some fiery or watery, others telluric or ethereal), as a natural setting for your composition. Demonstrating the application of oils over acrylics, you will learn how to refine the figure and elaborate your own visionary realm. According to Kevin, “The imagination is a creative tool with which we can explore our world & ourselves. It contains a vast potential for growth & transformation. The essential aim of my work is to help myself & others to realize The Inner space.”

The number of Activities 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 led a Yoga Class, another gave Tai Chi lessons, and a third formed a Chanting Circle. 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. We’ve had Guided Visualizations, Drumming Circles, Trance Parties, Pizza Nights & Midnight Walks through the Alpine Hills. Torri Superiore is blessed to have a stunningly beautiful Swimming Grotto close by, where students often cool off in the late afternoon and get in touch with Nature’s majesty & grandeur.

Italian Beer is readily available through the ‘trust fridge’ and wine may be purchased with the meal Sitting on the large balcony overlooking the beautiful hills, conversation lasted late into the night. Sunsets were spent at the Village Ruins atop the hill, 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, India, Brazil, the Sinai desert, Australia, Turkey, Malta, New Zealand, & all quarters of Europe and the U.S.A (from Scandanavia to the Mediterranean; from Long Island to Hawaii!…) 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 is always held, including an Exhibition of the students’ works. The friendships forged during the seminar lasted long afterward.

After the Seminar, more activities naturally develop. In the past, groups of students have visited the Damanhur Temples or Ernst Fuchs’ Apocalypse Chapel in Klagenfurt, Austria. Another group toured Europe before going to the Boom Festival in August. After a vision at Torri Superiore, Jimmy Bleyer went on to found The Temple of Visions, a gallery in Los Angeles which exhibited many works from former seminar students.

The possibilities are endless…