Rome’s history, great architecture and fine arts will be captured through a new art exhibit by students who experienced it firsthand last semester.

The Italian art captured by 36 Iowa State interior design and fine arts students, who spent three months studying in Rome, will be on display in Gallery 181 of the Art and Design building until today.

The exhibit will feature photographs, sketches, watercolors and two-dimensional mixed media.

Rachel Brosnan, senior in interior design, said the experience was memorable.

“Everyone that went felt very lucky to have the opportunity,” she said.

The students also created a book filled with memories of Rome and personal artwork in honor of their instructors, Claud and Shirlee Singer. The book is included in the exhibit.

Brosnan said Italian instructors provided an in-depth background of the history of art and design and architecture.

Brosnan said she enjoyed the walking tours every Friday, during which students spent about five hours acquainting themselves with the background of a subject.

Field trips took students to many areas in Italy, including Florence, the Tuscany countryside, Venice, Milan and Pompeii, said Shirlee Singer, professor of interior design.

Brosnan also remarked about the siesta, “a three-hour lunch break where everyone closed shops and ate well,” she said. “Piazzas, monuments and the Parthenon, [were] within a very short walking distance.”

Although the program used to be limited to interior design students, Brosnan said it was opened this year to fine arts students as well.

“The two types complimented and assisted each other and criticized each others’ work,” Singer said.

Brosnan said students attended orientation the spring semester before leaving for Rome, and weekly meetings and research prepared them for “culture shock.”

“It was very beneficial,” she added. “It’s the greatest course to experience something completely different.”