Urbanism & Architecture

Learn Landscape Painting in Transylvania: 31 August - 8 September 2012

INTBAU Scandinavia invites you to join a one week short course in landscape painting, from 31 August - 8 September 2012, with walking tours of the cultural landscape and Saxon villages of Transylvania, Romania.

The course tutors will be two of Scandinavia's foremost figurative and classical painters, Lene Ørnhoft and Christopher Rådlund. Both are based in Oslo and are members of the Frie Kunster (Artes Liberales) centre for traditional arts and architecture in Oslo, an INTBAU Scandinavia partner organisation. Teaching will be in English.

Contact Audun Engh ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; +47 92622626) to register.

                                 

Participation is limited to twelve persons, to ensure one-to-one direction and comment from the tutors. The main focus will be on oil painting, but participants can also choose to do watercolour painting. Tuition will be adjusted to the individual participant’s previous experience and level of skill. The course is aimed at architects, antiquarians, graphic designers and all those interested in improving their skills in painting.

The tour will be organised and led by INTBAU College of Chapters member Audun Engh, and INTBAU Committee of Honour member, architect Arne Sødal. Since 2003 they have organised annual charrettes and short courses in Transylvania, focusing on cultural heritage preservation and sustainable local development, with funding from the European Union, the Norwegian government, and others.

The uniquely preserved medieval cultural landscapes and Saxon villages of the region will be our "classroom". Several of the villages and medieval towns we will visit are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including Sighisoara and Viscri. Many buildings and fortified churches have been restored within the last ten years, with the assistance of international NGOs.

Accommodation will mostly be in family-run village guesthouses. We will also meet Romanian architects, heritage experts and craftsmen who will introduce us to the cultural traditions of the region.

                                                  

INFORMATION ABOUT THE TUITION, FROM CHRISTOPHER RÅDLUND

We invite you to experience the pastoral idyll of the old Saxon parts of Transylvania, Romania (Siebenbürgen), where you will learn how to paint landscapes in the romantic-classical tradition.

In Transylvania, you will have the chance to experience and study a cultural, agrarian landscape very similar to medieval times – the pre-modern landscape that existed in central Europe until the 18th century.

What could be better than learning how to paint these landscapes in the traditions of artists from Albrecht Dürer to Caspar David Friedrich?  The Transylvanian fields and woods, villages and farms offer the perfect scenery for those who want to paint in the romantic-classical manner. This is a pastoral environment which Dürer would have recognised and which Friedrich would have found suitable for his compositions.

You will learn the basic methods of classical landscape painting, as used by the Dutch masters of the 17th century and German romanticists of the early 19th century.  We will focus on oil painting, but it will also be possible to paint in acrylic or watercolour.

Canvases, brushes and oil paints will be provided by the organisers (but not watercolour paints and paper). We recommend you bring your own field easel and foldable stool. Both can be bought at art supply stores.

THE TWO PAINTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR TUITION

Lene Ørnhoft

Lene Ørnhoft, born in 1966 in Oslo, was educated at art schools in Oslo. As a student of Norwegian painter Jan Valentin Sæther, she has exhibited her classicist paintings at more than twenty exhibitions in Oslo and other Norwegian cities. Lene is one of the organisers of exhibitions, courses and other public events at the Frie Kunster (Artes Liberales) centre for traditional arts in Oslo.

CV (in Norwegian)
Portfolio of paintings

Christopher Rådlund

Christopher Rådlund, born in 1970 in Gothenburg , Sweden, is one of Scandinavia’s leading landscape painters. For the past twenty years he has been based in Oslo, Norway, and since 1999 has been an active member of the movement for figurative painting in Norway.  Christopher Rådlund is also a member of INTBAU.

CV (in Norwegian)
Portfolio of pantings

PROGRAMME OVERVIEW

Friday 31 August:  Participants arrive in Budapest, on flights booked individually. For participants ariving early, we offer an afternoon walking tour of central Budapest. Departure at 23.00 by night train from Budapest to Sighisoara, 9 hours 40 min.

Saturday 1 September: Arrival  at 10.00 am in Sighisoara, Romania, close to the villages where we will be staying. Bucharest. Transportation by coach to the old Saxon village of Viscri, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Alternative arrival point in Romania is Sibiu, the closest Romanian city with an international airport (one hour by car or train from Sighisoara / Viscri). Participants can arrive in Sibiu 1 September. Lufthansa and other airlines have connections to Sibiu.

After lunch in Viscri, there will be an introduction to the short course, and a walking tour of the Viscri village and the fortified church (a UNESCO World Heritage Site).

Sunday 2 and Monday 3 September: Painting course in the landscapes of Viscri. Two nights accommodation in farm  guest houses.

Tuesday 4 September: Painting course and visit to the medieval city of Sighisoara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Hotel accommoation in the Citadel.

Wednesday 5, Thursday 6 and Friday 7 September: Painting course in the area surrounding Malincrav, another Saxon village where many buildings have been restored. Three nights guest house accommodation in Malincrav. Walking tour of Malincrav.

Friday 7 September: 23.00 departure by night train from Sighisoara to Budapest.

Saturday 8 September: Arrival early morning in Budapest. Return flights to be booked individually.

Alternative return flight from Sibiu on 7 or 8 September.


THE SAXON HERITAGE OF TRANSYLVANIA

Taken from the ADEPT Foundation website

THE VILLAGES AND TOWNS

The Saxons arrived in southeastern Transylvania in the 12th and 13th centuries. They were invited by the Kings of Hungary to defend the eastern borders of Christian Europe against the invaders from the west. They established about two hundred villages, and seven main fortified towns/cities – hence the German name for Transylvania, Siebenbürgen.

Saxon is not a written language and sounds similar to Dutch and the low German dialects of Luxembourg.

The houses were built in the style of their 12-13th century western European origins. The villages have remained unchanged in structure and largely unchanged in size for many centuries. The villages are typically built in line, along each side of a stream.

The spiritual and defensive centre of each village was the distinctive fortified church. At times of attack, Saxons would retreat with their livestock within the walls of the church, in which stores of food were kept, and which had a well, to allow for a siege.

THE LANDSCAPE

This is one of Europe’s last medieval landscapes, with probably the most extensive flower-rich grasslands remaining in lowland Europe, essentially unchanged for hundreds of years, in which low intensity agriculture coexists with an abundance of flora and fauna. The landscape still presents a medieval land-use pattern - forested ridges and gullies, pasture and hay meadows on gentler slopes and terraces, and arable land and smaller meadows on the flat valley bottoms near villages.

This kind of landscape has almost entirely disappeared in lowland Europe. This is what makes the area unique: it is perhaps the largest area in lowland Europe with extensive tracts of ancient landscape, intact villages and associated traditional agriculture. Low intensity agriculture coexists with an abundance of flora and fauna, including many nationally and internationally threatened species.

This may be the largest area in lowland Europe with extensive tracts of ancient landscape, intact villages and associated traditional agriculture. Both fauna and flora are outstanding. The area possesses not only Europe’s most extensive non-alpine hay-meadows, with an astonishing diversity of wildflowers, but also the continent’s last lowland bears and wolves.

A man-made, semi-natural landscape:
This low-input farming in a rich natural landscape provides an opportunity to study historical ecology by direct observation - and is increasingly relevant in current economic conditions.  In addition to the grassland and forest habitats and species, the villages themselves retain a rich genetic heritage of fruit trees, flowers, herbs, vegetables, and ancient medicinal plants.

TRAVEL TO ROMANIA

Participants should book their own flights to Budapest, Hungary or Sibiu, Romania.

Arrival at Budapest airport should be no later than 20.00, Friday 31 August. The train departs at 23.00 from downtown Budapest.

If you prefer to arrive at Sibiu airport, which has international connections to Germany and some other European countries, please contact us for information about transfer from Sibiu to Viscri village, approx. one hour by car or train. Flights to Sibiu are usually more expensive than the ones to Budapest.

REGISTRATION AND INFORMATION

Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) for any questions regarding registration and practical information. Mobile phone +47 92622626.

REGISTRATION FEE

Participants should book and pay for their own flights to Romania (see information above).

The  course fee is:  950 EUR, 750 GBP, or 1185 USD with single room accommodation
                                 900 EUR, 710 GBP, or 1110 USD if two participants share a room

The fee includes:
- Transportation by train Budapest - Sighisoara and return
- Six nights accommodation (two nights in shared sleeping cars on the train, six nights accommodation in hotel and guest houses)
- All meals
- All transportation between villages
- Six days teaching of landscape painting, and guided tours of villages.
- All course equipment (canvases, brushes and oil paints). We recommend you bring your own field easel, and foldable stool.

If you prefer to arrive via Sibiu Airport, with transfer to Sighisoara by train, the registration fee will be reduced with 150 EUR, 120 GBP, 185 USD.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE VILLAGES WE WILL VISIT AND THE LANDSCAPES OF TRANSYLVANIA

Report from the first INTBAU charrette in Transylvania in 2003, with some general information about the area:
http://www.intbau.org/archive/Transylvania.htm

The region:
http://www.mihaieminescutrust.org/content/nd_standard.asp?n=117

The cultural landscape and biodiversity:
http://www.fundatia-adept.org/?content=rural_culture og
http://www.fundatia-adept.org/?content=history

The villages where we will be staying:
Crit
Malincrav
Biertan
The medieval castle town of Sighisoara

Transylvania in general: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvania
The German-speaking Saxon settlements of Transylvania: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvanian_Saxons
Count Vlad, myth and reality: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vlad_III_the_Impaler