Natura Morte: Looking at the Overlooked

Where does meaning lie? In content? Intent? Context? or all? What do we see when we look closely? What do we miss? In this course we will explore these questions and the history of still-life painting with the goal for each student to create their own personal allegorical still-life. Norman Bryson’s Looking at the Overlooked: Four Essays on Still Life Painting will serve as introductory readings, which will lead to studio work: learning how to look and draw from observation; completing a series of small studies exploring light, texture, volume and surface, and then developing personal symbolic content to be included in a finished still-life painting. This course will involve discussion, analysis, inquiry, and self-expression. Short seminars on historical introduction and studio methods will be followed by studio work in class and out. Art experience preferred but not required.



Allen Fitzpatrick graduated from Middlebury College as a studio art major in 1978 and earned an MFA in painting from the New York Academy in 1996. He taught high school art for forty years teaching Drawing, Painting, Photography, AP Art History, Interdisciplinary Courses: Rivers, Capstone and Humanities and also served as Chairman of the Art Department. At Middlebury he captained the hockey and lacrosse teams and has coached both sports as well./