It's HOT in Italy

First of all I am very proud to write that I have been accepted as a member of the French Association of Art Science and Literature and will receive an award at a ceremony in Paris in October in recognition of the quality of my work and my contribution to the promotion of art in Europe. I give my great thanks to my friend Ann Dunbar who encouraged me to apply.

Early summer passed us by in a deluge of rain and now we have been thrown into hot sticky July. On the good side the weather has brought many visitors to Cocconato. Our gallery opening in April was a great success, we all made sales and continue to do so.

Here we are on the opening day - from left to right - Samantha Lessio ceramacist, Joy Moore painter, Ornella Manfron textile artist and Pasqualina Tripodi jeweller.

We have been open every weekend since, and as the summer progresses we are getting more visitors not just from Milan and Turin but from Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and last week from California. I have sold 5 paintings since we opened - one of which will be making its way back to California.

Monferrato Hills 2 - to California Monferrato Hills 3 - to Milan

I mentioned in my last newsletter that I had a commission from the restaurant Casa Serra, for one new painting - well that turned into a commission for 5 floral paintings with a very short deadline for the opening of their new salon for a wedding - I delivered the framed paintings on the morning of the event! - here is the painting for the reception area.

To The Joy of Flowers

The project to link art with the promotion  of Ruché wine which I mentioned in my last newsletter has expanded and the organisers - Artàporter have hung 5 of my floral paintings in the  restaurant La Miraja in Castagnole Monferrato. If you would like to go to the account “artaporter _official” on instagram you can see a little video of the installation - I am sorry but I am not technically clever enough to copy it into this newsletter.

Restaurants seem to be the theme of this summer -  I have another two paintings in a collective exhibition in one of Asti’s best known restaurants - Casa Dirce which moves to a beautiful location in the country house  outside of Asti for the summer months. I am hopeless at remembering to take photos at the opening of exhibitions so here are the two paintings "out of situ"

Inspired by Iris

Light Falling on the Forest

For the future, in September I shall be having a personal exhibition of my mountain paintings in a Castle at Magliano Alfieri in the Langhe area of Piemonte  - world famous for its excellent  wine.

I am trying to find time to work on some paintings of Sicily - I have a lot of material in the studio and really want to get on with it. I have promised the gallery owner there in Milazzo that  I would produce some landscapes of Sicily for a show  - life keeps getting in the way!

With my husband I took a trip to Nice in May - going over - or through the mountains by train - a lovely experience. In Nice we saw a fabulous sculpture installation in the Place Masséna  by Jaume Plensa, a Catalan artist. It is beautiful and profound - 6 figures seated in various positions high up on poles. During the day time they are white  but at night they light up from within in various colours - which change, rotating from one figure to the next in the order of the colours of the rainbow. Here is a photo but it is hard to do justice to  the  overall effect - you just have to go there and  see it. The experience of watching it is thought provoking, the main message I took from it was about communication between people.

I also followed a day of inaugurations of a number of land art installations in public places curated by the Roero Creativamente Association which I mentioned in my last newsletter. They are all directly related to the land on which they are installed. There is much reference to the fact that the area of northern Italy was under the sea some millennia past - many fossils, particularly of whale bones are frequently found there.

This is one of three mobiles all referring to the fossils found in the area. They make evocative noises when the wind moves them.

The one below is near a small chapel which can only be arrived at by a good walk through the countryside. It says “I can imagine the sea swaying, it makes you dream” on the other side you can see that it is the back of a wooden lounger in wave form, for people to rest on.

That’s my news and hopes for the moment. If you are near enough for a visit do come and see us at the gallery ARTEmide in Via Roma 44 Cocconato - we are open at weekends and by appointment.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I welcome any comments.