Created to reinvigorate one’s passion for art and design through short-term, destination-based study, SVA Destinations programs have for years merged restorative travel experiences with dedicated, inspiring artistic studies. This year, the School of Visual Arts offered several domestic and international voyages.

Two have been covered already—a Cannes Film Festival tour in the South of France and the Design West excursion, which took place on Ireland’s rugged west coast region of Connemara. But there were more: art-history-based trips to Paris and southern France; a road trip through Arizona exploring the state’s rich geologic and cultural history; a studio intensive in Oaxaca, Mexico; and a tour of the artistic and architectural masterpieces of ancient Egypt.

Scroll on to read and see more from faculty and students who participated.

Drawing Art History in Southern France

Led by SVA faculty Peter Hrisftoff (BFA 1981 Fine Arts) and Laurence Minard-Amalou, this Destinations program combines on-site drawing sessions with the study of art history. The areas of focus—Provence, the Ardeche and the Southern Rhone Valley—offered everything from the prehistoric caves of Chauvet to ancient Roman towns, monuments of the Middle Ages to Cézanne’s studio. Students investigated Romanesque and Gothic history, the work of Vincent van Gogh and visited contemporary art museums of the region.

“With such a slow-paced life, the South of France was really the break I needed,” BFA Illustration student Angel Ye says. “I found myself authentically drawing out of habit, not [just for] homework. By staying in the present, I was able to move out of the mentality of stress. . . . I hope to be able to create even more of a community at SVA, especially after this program.”

“I really didn’t anticipate this trip to be this incredible,” BFA Fine Arts student Jessie Soos says. “We were leisurely strolling down the street, taking it all in, and I simply felt like the luckiest person alive. . . . I learned so much and had such an incredible experience being able to draw in these historic places.”

SVA Destinations are short-term travel-based programs designed to recharge participants’ creative passions. We recapped five recent trips to spots around the globe.