Signora Guaita

Translation by Corinne Mitrakas ©1992 Bill H. Ritchie

Preface

Translation of the monologue of Signora Maria Luigia Guaita, director of the Il Bisonte International School of Graphic Art. She spoke to Bill Ritchie in her shop in Florence when he visited. It was 1983, and he was on a worldwide tour to collect by videotape his impressions of artists using printmaking, video and computers for art.

Her story

• Signora Guaita is speaking to Ritchie, and Lisa Apatoff, an American artist who lives in Florence, is translating. Bill is videotaping Sig. Guaita:

Signora Guaita: It's my pleasure to tell you that I have also editioned one lithograph by Picasso. Henry Moore, Calder, Sutherland--they all came here. These are my glories.

• She gestures toward framed prints hanging on the wall.

Here are some bon a tirer prints: there's Calder, Sutherland, Picasso, and Henry Moore.

All of the great Italian artists came, too. Carra, Soffici, Severini . . ..

Of course, now I'm old and tired but that doesn't mean that Il Bisonte is finished. And so, I thought about turning the printshop into a school, a nonprofit cultural center which should continue to exist even after my death.

Based on the idea of working for peace, which is an idea that I have believed in all my life, can only be realized by the collective efforts of men working together, from the relationships that arise from this.

If you create the right environment, you will always find culture, the passion for art. The artists are the ones who can do this. The artists who continue working in their own countries may find a place where they can come together, sharing their ideas.

The arrival here of young people from all over the world--America, Germany, Japan, Holland, the Third World Countries--creates friendships within the concept of peace.

You know I am an old partisan, I fought in the war, in the Resistance movement and I have been decorated, but I hate war. At present, war frightens me and I believe only culture can keep war at bay.

Only art and poetry can save the world now.

Lisa Apatoff: Brava! That was great!

Signora Guaita: Well, that's what I've always thought.

• Translator's note: I did not include the comments that follow Signora Guaita's declaration, when she led Ritchie on a tour of the future school's work space. She talks mainly about the general setup of the space: where the bathroom will be or the printing equipment. Just before the final cut, she states that she would like to have no more than thirty students at a time. That's it. - Corinne Mitrakas, Seattle/Milan

Afterwords

Translation of this soundtrack was by Corinne Mitrakas (from Milan and now living in Seattle).

About Bill H. Ritchie, Jr. talks to many college, high school and community college groups about print, video and computer art. He relates prints to books, focusing recently on the relation to interactive hypermedia. He taught at the University of Washington until 1985, taking early retirement to be an ITinerate professor of multimedia arts. (The IT stands for Information Technology). He incorporated in 1991 as Ritchie's, Inc. an electronic publishing business providing consulting, design, training and production in arts, crafts and design.