Director of Arts & Culture
ROBERTA LAPUCCI PH.D.

A renowned Italian scholar and conservation expert, Dr. Roberta Lapucci has catalogued and restored numerous works of art belonging to Florentine museums and churches, and is the author of Caravaggio and Optics. Dr. Roberta Lapucci has ben SACI’s Conservation Department Head. Since 1986, she has also been teaching Conservation, Artistic Techniques and Diagnostics in specialization courses for post-graduates held at the University of Florence.
With more than four decades of conservation experience, she has apprenticed with Florentine restorers, worked in private studios, and authored numerous articles for exhibition catalogues, art history magazines, and critical reviews. Dr. Lapucci has written extensively on such topics as the science of light and Caravaggio’s working methods, and is the author of a book entitled Caravaggio and Optics, published in 2005.
She also co-directed the Caravaggio exhibitions held at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence and the Palazzo Ruspoli in Rome, and established an archive of technical documentation and photographs of Caravaggio’s masterpieces at the Roberto Longhi Foundation in Florence. Some of her recent research proposes the use of a proto-photographic system for the execution of Caravaggio’s artworks using photosensitive and photo luminescent materials.
ACademic Coordinator
KARI VARNER

Kari earned her BFA in Electronic Media Arts Design from the University of Denver and her MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. She is the former Studio Coordinator for Photography & New Media at Anderson Ranch Arts Center and is currently a Professor of Photography at the Florence Institute of Design International. Having first traveled to Italy for a study abroad program, Kari is passionate about the opportunities that global engagement and cross-cultural exchange provide.
IT Coordinator - Social media Content Creator
JACOPO MAZZONI

Jacopo studied Computer Science at the University of Florence before going on to receive his BFA in Digital Arts from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and his MFA from Washington University in St. Louis. In his own artistic practice, he utilizes technology to stage interactive installations that re-enact and reveal mechanisms of surveillance and oppression. He is currently a research fellow at IMT Lucca and an Adjunct Professor of Interactive Media Design at SRISA.
UTRGV AND ognissanti project coordinator
Anita Evi Gonzales
