Mentors In My Past

 "Manichini" by Manfredo Acerbo  1977

I grew up in Italy,studying art there... and I would imagine that I am very influenced by the artwork and artists I knew and saw in my travels through Europe as a child and later as an art student and working artist. I attended the Rome Academy of Fine Art as a young 17year old,surrounded by artists from around the world who were there as post graduate workers,all educated in Fine Art. I was an immature teenager, whom the board at the Academy thought had some talent and promise. I always wonder what they would think today if they saw my work and usual subject matter. I also spent several years in a Roman art school [ENALC] studying advertising art.

My mentor, during this time, was one of my professors, a teacher and also a celebrity in his own right. Manfredo Acerbo was a well-known poster designer.Those days in Italy the major advertising medium was posters...plastered all around the cities and towns.

Movies,cookware, tomato sauce, aperitifs....all advertised on posters. Manfredo was one of the famous designers of posters...did a lot of them for the spaghetti western movies that were so popular that that time. But he was also a fine artist  and a good friend of the famous painter Giorgio Morandi, who is well know for his still-life work. I have always loved Morandi's simple design and so Italian palette. I feel close to them both.

The reason I am rambling on about this is that today, the words spoken to me by Acerbo, the words that I will always keep as my reason for doing what I do.....has been speaking to me much!  Acerbo advised me, one day after a grueling painting session with a 'nasty" model....."Kati [that was how he pronounced my name] do not listen to this bitter critic ....but always draw, paint from your heart.The model was upset with your work because you captured her soul and she didn't like what you saw. Never loose that ability you have to capture the real subject.You have your own style and never let it be influenced by another artist, by teachers,or critics.STAY TRUE TO YOUR SELF" 

Those words have become my mantra of sorts.....I only hope that I can live up to his expectations of my artistic abilities......it all seems like yesterday and yet so far far away.

Memorial Day

Today is a day of remembering and honouring.

My family on my mother's side come from Germany originally and settled in Pennsylvania. They were farmers, painters, entrepreneurs and proud to be Americans by choice.

My father's parents came from Poland ...settled in the Boston, Mass. area and were hard working folks...........my paternal grandmother never learned English well. But she didn't need to as she did not venture out of her Polish neighborhood much throughout her life.

My husband, Les , was born in Kenya, East Africa. We met in Rome, Italy, were married in Italy and our first son was born in Italy. When we came to America...back to my home country....Les became an American citizen and he is VERY proud of his adopted country..the US of A. Our second son was born in America after we had settled here and decided to stay here.

We all are indebted to the veterans who have fought for our freedom in America and abroad, in the past and even today. Some of them were from my family.....and today is a day to take time to remember them and what they have given for us and future generations.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Looking Down A Road

At the age of 17 I was living in Italy and going to The Rome Academy Of Fine Art. I walked down this street each day on my way to painting and drawing classes. I am sure the street has changed since I walked it...but now as I painted it from my loft in Maine, it seemed as if I was there, a student again in Rome. The little VW sitting in the sun with the other two cars, made an interesting counterpoint to the narrow ancient street. They all made a statement to me.... and so I painted.

This is "Roma, Italia".

I Miss Italy

I don't know why I feel such a nostalgia for Rome, Italy lately. I spent my teen years there , painting, growing up and wishing I was somewhere else. I still have friends there whom I have somewhat kept in touch with over the years. I so want to go back and revisit it all. This longing has prompted me to start a casein painting of a street in Rome that I remember as if it was yesterday.
The sun shines here, with March winds howling around the studio. Outside the snow is melting. The brook is free of its winter cloak of ice, free to gurgle and skip through the woods, past the barn and past the horses. It is spring here in Maine, but how I long for the warmth of Italian sunshine and an espresso, sipped at a cafe by the Spanish Steps.
So I paint... and maybe I can feel as if I am there...........

I will post the work when it is done..........until then I can dream. can't I?

The Silhouette

In the past centuries silhouettes were usually portraits made of the profile of the subject and cut out of black paper mounted on white paper. Simple, and flat looking. My fascination with silhouette began in Italy, where I was studying at the Academy of Fine Art in Rome. There I was turned onto the amazing papercut works of an artist named Ugo Mochi. [1889-1977] A master at achieving the illusion of movement and drama from a simple papercut, his works were done with the skill of a sculptor.

This challenge to envision an entire picture in black and white and then to achieve depth and perception and a sense of movement all cut from one piece of paper, intrigues me and I am drawn to this challenge.

The above papercut is an example of my silhouette work. Black and white, yin and yang, design and abstract pattern at its most simple.