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They didn’t sing about does or 16-year-olds turning 17, but Tusculum University and local high school students and professors recently used the filming locations of the classic film “The Sound of Music” and other locations. and improved their drawing and painting skills.
Bill Bledsoe, assistant professor of art and design, recently led a group of students and adults to Salzburg, Austria, where they painted in locations where many of the movie’s scenes were shot. They also visited Germany and painted at the Dachau concentration camp, the site of atrocities.
The students have since returned to the United States to complete the work they started in Europe. They plan to present the completed project at an upcoming show. Details will be announced in the future.
“This trip was an excellent active and experiential learning opportunity for our students and others to further develop their artistic skills,” Bledsoe said. “It was a great way to apply the theories and concepts shared in the classroom to a real-life environment. It also allowed my students and everyone else to absorb another country’s culture and see first-hand places of historical significance. , we also incorporated a lot of fun activities.”
Also accompanying them on the trip were Tusculum students Dalton Dahl and Hannah Morgan, and alumnus Ashley Howell. The other two participants were Kyndall Brewer and Ella Brewer, daughters of Greenville High School students Ken and Shannon Brewer. Ken Brewer is an associate professor of psychology at Tusculum University. Five elderly people also participated.
The trip took 11 days including the round trip.
Overall, the group will visit multiple cities and villages in Austria and Germany, including Salzburg, Munich, and Dachau. During their stay in Salzburg, everyone saw the church where Maria and Captain Georg von Trapp were married, as well as the houses depicting where the couple and their children lived. Bledsoe said he chose Austria for part of his trip because of its landscape.
“You can literally go anywhere in Salzburg and there is something very picturesque to paint,” he said. “Moreover, Salzburg is a small city, so it is very suitable to prepare everything and start painting. The city is very welcoming to artists.”
The students and Howell participated in outdoor art, where they sat outside and drew and painted what they saw. But they also painted variations of master works within the museum. At Dachau, the group was allowed to arrive at the venue early to paint before other visitors arrived. They had gone to take pictures before.
“It was a solemn atmosphere and everyone was very serious about what they were doing,” Bledsoe said. “They all drew the same thing, but they have different styles and aptitudes, so the results are completely different. But they are made to work together, like a collection.”
Group members visited several museums in one day, deepening their knowledge of classical, impressionist, post-impressionism, and German expressionism. This allowed students and others to see the evolution of art from detailed form to abstraction. The museum visit included hearing about the artifacts from Bledsoe and his local instructors.
During the trip, the group enjoyed food from different cities and even learned how to bake Austrian apple strudel.
Tusculum student perspective
Morgan, a second-year student majoring in studio art and visual communication with the goal of becoming a working artist, called this trip a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity to see art that she and other travelers wouldn’t be able to see. “It’s an opportunity.” To see it in America. Visiting the museum and seeing all the art pieces was the biggest highlight for her. Of particular interest to her is the Franz Her Mark Museum in Upper Bavaria.
“A lot of his work is very famous for expressionism, so it was great to see a lot of it in person,” said Morgan, who has a huge interest in that art form because of its color.
Morgan also enjoyed painting outdoors. She said it was incredible to depict the Alps and that she was fantastic translating The Sound of Music locations from the movie screen to a live, in-person setting.
“I believe this trip made me a better artist because I was able to see so many different perspectives that changed my perspective on what it really is to be an artist,” Morgan said. “Being able to see all of the German and Austrian art allowed us to see the different styles and techniques that those artists had used. That’s what Mr. Bledsoe taught us. I am able to incorporate those styles into my work.”
Darr is also a sophomore majoring in studio art. He had never traveled outside the United States before this trip. He visited Germany and painted several locations, and was particularly interested in creating variations of museum paintings. He was surprised by the number of museums people could visit in Germany and Austria.
“During my stay, I definitely learned different ways to draw and paint,” Dahl said. Dahl’s career goals are to become a storyboard artist and work in his animation studio Art. “I like to focus on drawing. I learned more ideas for drawing things, like trees, fences, and buildings.”
He also really liked the food there. Upon returning from his trip, he and his mother, Tracy Stanley Dahl, cooked Austrian apple strudel for the local TV show “Daytime Tri-Cities.”
Thoughts from students at Greenville High School
The Brewer sisters now spend an hour a week working with Bledsoe on drawings, paintings, and watercolors. For Kindall, her time with Bledsoe gave structure to her art. He detailed for her how her famous painters have developed her work, so that she can understand how art is constructed. I did.
Kindal is a senior at Greenville High School and plans to become an elementary school art teacher. Art has always been a part of her life. She took art, ceramics, and interior design classes at school, and she created bust sculptures, vases, pots, and more. She loves to travel, but this trip was focused on developing her art skills rather than just enjoying the touristy elements.
Like Morgan, she saw the trip as a special occasion. Her favorite place was Salzburg. Because she can see the Alps wherever she goes.
“I wanted to increase my experience in structured art and painting, and I wanted to build my portfolio,” Kindal said. “This trip helped me learn how to draw differently.”
Ella is a sophomore at Greenville High School who aspires to a career in the arts, but is unsure of what direction she should take. I took her art class during my freshman year.
“Art has been around my whole life,” Ella said. “It was like an escape. I like the paintings and watercolors that Mr. Bledsoe let us do.”
Bledsoe told her and Kindall that he was taking students on a trip and asked if they wanted to go. Of course they were interested. It was Ella’s first time traveling without her parents, and she thought it might be nice to try traveling with different people. She believed that her travels to Austria and Germany were a great way to expand her own horizons.
This was the first time Kyndall and Ella painted outdoors. Kaindall said this style allows her to be more creative. Additionally, she said, some things can be visualized in that setting that wouldn’t normally happen if you were drawing from a computer screen or a photo.
“Rather than just looking at it from a screen, I was able to actually see it and draw it and make it look like it was real,” she said. “Sometimes the unexpected happens. While painting a picture of the Alps, I saw 20 deer.”
Ella had similar feelings.
“It was an amazing experience to see something right in front of my eyes,” she said. “You can express more of what you see in that format as opposed to a photograph. We painted outdoors almost every day. Practice makes perfect, so I’m glad we did it often.”
For more information about the university, please visit www.tusculum.edu.
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