Renaissance Techniques as Living Practice: Material Knowledge and Artistic Thinking Across Research and Education

Renaissance techniques are active systems of thought that still shape how we see, judge, and make. Drawing on years of material reconstruction and teaching, Gleb Shtyrmer explores how working directly with historical tools and materials generates knowledge through practice. This talk examines techniques as embodied forms of inquiry that inform how we interpret art, structure artistic education, and understand the relationship between thinking and making. Case studies spanning drawing and painting will open questions that emerge only via material engagement: What does the resistance of a silver point teach us about decision-making? How does preparing a surface shape what is possible? Why do technical choices produce specific ways of seeing? This is an invitation to consider technique as a form of knowledge operating through the hand, eye, and sustained attention to materials.

Gleb Shtyrmer is an artist and educator specializing in Renaissance techniques. He focuses on the philological reconstruction of 15th-century Italian artistic methods, collaborating with museums, media projects, research institutes, and universities in Europe and abroad. He teaches at Santa Reparata International School of Art and Syracuse University, developing courses that integrate historical research and studio practice through direct material exploration.

Please follow the talk also online on our Vimeo Channel through this link: https://vimeo.com/event/5745317

Scientific Organization: Lise Meitner Group "Loss, and Conservation in Art History"