Buongiorno a tutti!!!
On Sunday, July 6, a total of 28 anatomists will convene in Italy for Anatomia Italiana 2014. This summer marks the third year of a program Connecting Art and Anatomy. We will visit the world’s oldest anatomy theaters at universities in Padua and Bologna. We will examine 250 year-old wax anatomical sculptures that are works of art in their own right at the University of Florence. Renaissance masterpieces in Rome, Florence, and Venice will be considered from a fresh perspective: Did the artists and sculptors of 15th and 16th centuries conduct human dissection to enhance their art?
More of us are incorporating cultural concepts into our classes, and this lived experience provides the underpinnings for such interdisciplinary endeavors. Indeed, this entire experience is intended to enrich the teaching and learning of our colleagues and their students.
The diversity of this year’s group demonstrates how these ideas are spreading. Participants are coming from as far away as Qatar and New Zealand! A variety of professionals are enrolling too: scientific illustrators, oil portrait artists, and midwives are seeing the value of Connecting Art and Anatomy.
Some folks enrolled in the HAPS-I course option, and are getting graduate credit. Just this week we finished the last of our Skype sessions discussing journal articles exploring the history of anatomy in Italy, and the role of anatomy in Renaissance art. In just a few days we will go beyond the books, and live the history. Click here for more information about the HAPS-I course option.
If you like, you can follow us while abroad. I plan to utilize social media on a daily basis. You can follow Anatomia Italiana on Instagram @Anatomia_Italiana; on Twitter @AnatomiaItalian (notice the subtle difference in spelling), or on Facebook at facebook.com/AnatomiaItaliana. I will be using the hashtags: #HAPSinItaly and #AnatomiaItaliana2014
If this whole social media thing is too much for you, no worries as I will also post to this blog on a weekly basis. No matter the medium, it will be fun and instructive to keep an eye on your HAPS colleagues as we stand in the room William Harvey dissected, and before the lecture podium of Galileo. And my apologies in advance for the photos of fresh pasta, fine wine, and the Chianti countryside!
Buona giornata, e ci sentiamo presto,
Kevin Petti, Ph.D.
San Diego Miramar College