Robert Gorter lectures at Scuola di Luca in Bologna, Italy (November 2005)
In November 2005, Robert Gorter lectures at Scuola di Luca in Bologna, which had about 85 students at that moment. The school for art therapy in Bologna (also known as “Stella Maris”) is a spring off from the art therapy school Scuola di Luca in Florence which was founded by Robert Gorter (as the medical specialist) and Mrs. Fiorenza De Angelis (as the leading artist for painting) in 1993.
Scuola di Luca was carried by a non-profit, tax-exempt foundation. Unfortunately, as a complication of many years of heavy smoking, Fiorenza experienced several bouts of deep vein thrombosis and once lung emboli which did not keep her from smoking (!). Then, in 2006, she experienced another massive embolus with a stroke (brain infarct), and left her paralyzed. Since then, she has not been able to work in any form, and the school entered in quite a disarray: ignoring the legal status of the school as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, two of her daughters, and the De Angelis family at large, got involved in a kind of “succession war” and Robert Gorter had to withdraw as faculty member.
Therefore, Robert Gorter joined one of the early and most promising students of Scuola di Luca in Florence, Mrs. Carla Borri, to set up a second school for art therapy in Bologna (Stella Maris, or “Scuola di Formazione in Arte Terapia del Colore”).
There were so many new students applying for enrolment at Scuola di Luca that it became appropriate to establish a second school in the tradition of Scuola di Luca in Northern Italy. A third branch of Scuola di Luca is being considered all the way in Southern Italy in Palermo in Sicily.
After almost 14 years of lecturing at the Scuola di Luca in Florence, Robert Gorter felt the strong need for changes and adjustments to the somewhat crusted structures in Florence. It was his opinion that the Scuola di Luca had lost its original focus and had become too much a ”family business” (a typical Italian phenomenon) and much less a vibrant, future-oriented center of teaching and excellence, carried towards the future by many.
Therefore, he joined the faculty of the school in Bologna, where he taught a few times before in the previous year. Also, for its residential seminars in anthroposophically oriented art therapy, the University of Anthroposophic Studies has decided to change the Florence location for the Bologna location.
The main subject of this weekend in Bologna was the ‘Four Temperaments and the relation to the Four Protein-Buil ding Inner Organs.’ In 8 lectures by Robert Gorter, the temperaments and their impact were thoroughly discussed and practic ed through agodrama. Also, during the practical exercises how to learn observing various aspects of the four temperaments, the auditorium was full of laughter all the time. In between, a few singing sessions during the weekend work shop were given by the music teacher of the Waldorf School of Bologna. The importance of singing for both therapists and patients alike has been described in the Mission Statement of Scuola di Luca.
On Saturday evening, November 19th, Robert Gorter contributed to the work of the Waldorf School in Bologna (and the Waldorf School Movement in Northern Italy) by giving a lecture on Three-Fold Social Order and Money in the new building of the Waldorf School in Bologna. The evening lecture was well-attended, and at 11.00 PM R bert Gorter had to end the lecture, in the midst of a lively discussion among teachers and parents. The most experienced and promising faculty members of the Scuola di Luca in Florence will follow Robert Gorter, and lecture at Scuola di Luca (Stella Maris) in Bologna. Of course, Robert Gorter will stay available for advice, support and lecturing at the Scuola di Luca in Florence, as Fiorenza D’Angelis and he were the original founders and carriers of the Scuola di Luca in Florence.
The address of the school in Bologna is:
Via Morandi 6/a
Bologna
Tel: +39 333 3438826
e-mail: bo_stellamaris@yahoo.it
www.associazionestellamaris.it