Disegno d’esame
Enamel on wall, dimensions variable
“Pascucci” Elementary School, Santarcangelo di Romagna, 2021
Photo: Domenico d’Alessandro
Cover Photo: Francesco Marini
Disegno d'esame (Exam Drawing) is a wall painting created on the Pascucci Elementary School building in Santarcangelo di Romagna, Italy. It depicts a series of spontaneous and large-scale plants that wrap up the whole facade of the school.
The painting is named after a drawing for an exam (Disegno d'esame) authored by the 9-year-old boy Piero Morandi, a student in a class taught by Maestro (teacher) Federico Moroni. Piero's drawing was included in the book Arte per Gioco (once titled Arte per nulla, 1964) edited by Moroni, which I discovered in Santarcangelo di Romagna.
The drawing is described in the book as the "representation of wild plants living on the edge of the rural vegetation [...] to which Pietro relied on for protection on the day of his exam".
Moreover, the book includes some of the drawings made by the children during the experience of the experimental pedagogy performed at the "Scuola del Bornaccino", a small village near Santarcangelo, and the method of Maestro Moroni of linking education and creativity, encouraging the free expressions of kids, the practice of drawing, and the observation of nature.
