Dear NIAUSI Community,

I have just returned home after two months of intensive exploration in Italy. During the first month I was based in Civita di Bagnoregio, and the second month I was based in a little town in Tuscany that the locals call Firenze. My goal was to find the types of masonry that don't ordinarily make the history books. I was seeking examples of what might be termed "Masonic Exuberance". I was not disappointed.

Now my task is to sort my findings into an effective story.

If the traditional and scholarly template is to organize information historically and stylistically, then I will suffer no one my meager facility with scholarship. As the one thing I share with those unspoken masons is a desire to build, I will organize my tour based on the actions of making: stacking, spanning, turning, rebuilding, filling, etc. My goal with this is to share a simple fascination with the energy of assembly – stone fighting stone to become a wall.

James Harrison
2005 NIAUSI Fellow

The stone town of Civita at night (©2005 by James Harrison)

As many of you know, for more than 20 years, NIAUSI has been offering Fellowships to mid-career professionals to study in Italy. In the last several years, we have been fortunate to be able to expand our offerings to include both one month and two month Fellowships.

For 2006, NIAUSI will be offering one two month Fellowship and up to two one month Fellowships. These competitive Fellowships offer candidates the opportunity to study a subject of their choosing while staying at NIAUSI's Civita Institute facility in Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy.

Civita is an extraordinary location, close to Orvieto, 100 km from Rome, centrally placed for the exploration of many facets of the built environment.

Fellowship requirements, application deadlines, and additional information can be found on the NIAUSI website or you may call Herschel Parnes at (206) 728-0602.

To download a copy of the application now, click here.

We have just launched a complete re-design of our website and encourage you to check it out now. Besides updating the content, we also improved the navigation, added new images, and made it easier to view our current newsletter. You can also download a copy of our application for the 2006 Fellowships.

The Board would like to thank our student intern, Ben Dalton for all of his excellent help in making our internet presence more professional and attractive. Ben has just completed his Masters of Architecture degree program at the University of Washington and has been selected to assist in the Samudra Sri Orphanage Project in Sri Lanka as part of a joint effort between Architects Without Borders and Asiana Education Development.

To visit our fresh website, click here.

NIAUSI celebrated its 2004/2005 Fellows January 27th with a evening of pasta, wine and lectures from fellows MJ Anderson, Cory Crocker and Mary Ann Peters.

The event took place in the spacious main gallery of NBBJ Design in Pioneer Square, Seattle. A boisterous crowd joined the Board to hear the Fellows present their accomplishments on their journey, lessons learned, and other great moments abroad.

The three recipients maximized their time in Civita and its surrounding, taking in and sharing valuable information and fully participating in the rich local culture of central Italy.

The full cycle of the 2003/2004 Fellowship application, interviews, travel and study in Italy, and the sharing of knowledge gained with the Northwest has taken over a year. MJ Anderson and Crocker went on their fellowship in the fall of 2003 and Mary Ann Peters completed her fellowship in the Spring of 2004.

Mark Klos, NIAUSI board member and event planner for the evening praised the fellows' presentations. "We are proud of their efforts and commend them for representing us well and for furthering NIAUSI's mission," he said.

Special gratitude goes to restaurants: Salute, Via Tribunale and Trattoria Mitchelli for their wonderful food donations and to NBBJ Senior Lighting Designer Megan Strawn for a dramatic multicolored lighting installation.