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Contact Information

ks@kschifano.com

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Selected Exhibitions & Honors

2010 & new events

Grand Island Chamber of Commerce Newsletter back page feature – March

Brooklyn Art Library Project Exhibit May

Market Street Art Center BNAA Spring April 10-May 8

Niagara River ‘BoomDays’ exhibition April 17

International Plein Air Painters Artist of the Month – April

Lewiston Festival of the Arts August 14 & 15

Solo Exhibition, Quaker Bonnet ‘The Sky Over Buffalo-Wait a Minute’ September

 

 2009

Albright Knox Area Artist Invitation Collection

AM Buffalo WKBW television segment & interview

Castellani Art Museum Consultant & Teaching Artist

Erie County Fair Plein Air Competition, 3rd Prize

Forever Young Magazine May 2009 feature article & cover illustration
Solo Exhibit, ‘Around & About the Light’ Quaker Bonnet, Buffalo May & June

Spree Magazine #3 in ‘Hot 5’ for May events

Worldwide Plein Air Paintout representative

Who's Who in America

 

2008

Albright Knox Area Artist Invitation Collection

Castellani Art Museum Consultant & Teaching Artist

‘Master Pastelist’ designation & resident artist Perry, New York

Solo Exhibit ‘Rushing Summer, A Private Wintergarden’ Niagara Arts & Cultural Center, Garden Gallery

Television series artist [Music is Art]LIVE @ the Center

Worldwide Plein Air Paintout participating painter

Who's Who in The World, Who's Who in America

 

2007

Albright Knox Area Artist Invitation Collection

Buffalo Niagara Art Association Achievement Award

Castellani Art Museum Consultant & Teaching Artist

Solo Exhibit ‘Significant Growth; Before and After October Surprise’ Quaker Bonnet, Buffalo

Television series artist [Music is Art]LIVE @ the Center

Worldwide Plein Air Paintout participating painter

Who's Who in America

 

2006

Albright Knox Area Artist Invitation Collection

Arts Council of Buffalo & Erie County SOS Award

BuffaloRising.com featured artist August

Castellani Art Museum ~Pastel Plein Air Workshop Presenter

Castellani Art Museum Consultant & Teaching Artist

Global Arts Village, New Delhi, India Artist Fellowship

Television series artist [Music is Art]LIVE @ the Center

Who's Who in The World, Who's Who in America

Worldwide Plein Air Paintout participating painter

 

Recent National & Regional Juried Artist Exhibits

 

Art Dialogue Gallery, Buffalo, NY

Albright Knox Art Gallery Buffalo NY

Impact Artist Gallery, Buffalo, NY

Locus Media Gallery, NYC

Kenan Arts Center, Lockport, NY

Market Street Art Center Lockport, NY

State University of New York at Fredonia

 

Collections

 

Buffalo Family Justice Center

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, New York

Department of Justice, Maryland

Ford Motor Company

Lone Star State College, Houston, Texas

New York State Parks at Niagara Falls

Ohio State University

University of California, Berkeley

University of Indiana, Indianapolis

University of Russia, Moscow

 

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Artist's Statement

People want more time in their day to get things done. If I had more hours in my day, I would just keep painting.

Every painting is a self-portrait of how I see; a mirror of my observations. Painting real places & objects, I prefer to paint outdoors, observing and experiencing nature and recording things that attract me. Light, weather and time of day inspire my work & can change colors and appearances quickly.

While I often paint familiar places, I see new opportunities and different sights every time I set up my easel and choose a subject for my canvases. When I return to a location each encounter becomes a record of a different day, a different point of interest.  I use oil paint and pastels interchangeably and with each other. Luscious colors and contrasts are irresistible to use, artistic elements & lines draw your eye through my painting. If my images increase your appreciation of nature, or show you details that you would usually miss, then the pictures are successful. 

Of all the aspects involved in being an artist such as preparing canvases, ordering materials, framing, drawings and research, recordkeeping and shows, what I most like to do is start a new picture.

 Commissions & Requests Accepted

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1000 words

An Appreciation of my Inspirations

I have two significant childhood art memories. First, my pink & orange paper art project lacked contrast in the elementary school display compared to my friend's brilliant yellow & black design. Second, if you carefully outline the shapes in a coloring book first, the picture is neater. Nothing artsy happened to me - no painters, museums, significant role models or art events. Educated in the Sputnik age, most creative pursuits in elementary school were substituted with mastering multiplication & division with binary & Roman numerals. I grew up knowing that college followed high school, but I didn't know I had a choice.

 A stern & disciplined high school art teacher taught me that I would master anything with enough effort; an 18x24 book of precise brush strokes to the right & the left document my slow progress. She had us copy art works exactly;  by June I could. A few attempts at my own ideas, along with slight parental praise, supported my new goal to be artistic. My education at Ladycliff College, & subsequent transfer to SUNY Fredonia exposed me to every possible subject & artistic media I could imagine. My Ceramics & Printmaking concentrations took advantage of studios & events in the beautiful modern New Brutalism art complex. Unfortunately, it was the time for Minimalist trends in art so I didn't have to learn to draw, yet I earned a great education, & could lead a discussion on the merits of the red splat in the corner of a big white canvas.

 I seized a graduate opportunity at University of Buffalo to win a Fulbright study fellowship in Ahmedabad, India. A visual journal of my travel around India & Nepal developed observation skills & drawing ability. Education on the road in Asia ended a few weeks early because of the India-Pakistan war. The group airlifted out of Bombay in a complete blackout, surrounded by anti-aircraft fire & falling flak lighting up the darkness. I had learned a lot about cottage industry crafts but more about myself; exposure to Moslem, Buddhist & Hindi beliefs & the red tape of British bureaucracy had given me global insights that still influence my thinking.

 Life went on. I found myself teaching art when a second grade student asked me to draw a cow. This seven year old made me face the need to learn to see, remember & draw better from life. I put a long tail, udders & a cow bell on my best dog drawing to satisfy him, but I also created my first 'five year plan', began to carry a sketchbook & recorded what I saw with pen, pencil & watercolor. The transition from three-dimensional pottery making to creating on paper was harder than I expected, but I continue to create five-year plans for my own benefit, & stick to the goals I set for myself.

 Eventually, I had an easel but no creative sparks appeared to light my way. Walter Prochownik at UB encouraged me to experiment & work outside the lines, for this, I am eternally grateful. I started to work late into the night in our miniature 6'x8' studio/guestroom in Niagara Falls, exploring & enlarging natural items such as leaves & flowers in great detail. One day I tacked a giant BFK Rives onto the wall & sparks from the art muse appeared.

 As Niagara Falls High School art teacher I had opportunities to visit colleges, talk to artists & critics & exhibit at galleries. I mastered mat cutting & color mixing. Between my art teacher career & desire to be an artist I was tired, but happy. Babs Damesimo introduced me to the magic qualities of colored pencils; we took a Gary Greene workshop together in Cleveland. Her color pencil work has the ethereal quality of a memory & I miss our artistic discussions over tea or wine. My artist friend & mentor Sharon B. Muldoon shared ideas & possibilities with me. Acting as a sounding board for my plans, she often listened to me solve my own problem & cheered me on to the finish. My desk calendar concept comes from her. Sharon also introduced me to plein air-by an email from Florida- the headquarters for the worldwide International Plein Air Paintout is just across my Niagara River in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

 Another personal milestone involved teaching college level Advanced Placement Studio Art. The students had so much to give & so much to learn, that I was challenged to keep up with them. My colleague, Rob Lynch, was an exciting addition to our critiques; I listened carefully & applied his advice to my work, & quoted his 'push the paint around' & 'activate the space' so often that the words became mine. I began the Rose Series to experience the rigorous challenge of a concentration for the AP students; this discipline of artistic structure helped me understand & plan what I would paint next. Leaving teaching, I was inspired to retire Kathy Schifano, the art teacher, to become Kath, the artist.

 Never forgetting the lesson that I will learn anything when I try hard enough, I apply this information to guide my life & artwork. My family has supported & encouraged me; now I make time to paint with oils & pastels outdoors, all year long. Sharon Fundalinski encouraged me to schedule painting with her group, my family knows that Thursdays are reserved for the art muse & the spark of outdoors. We often paint together around western New York & I joined Niagara Frontier Plein Air Painters with Joan Shaw as well. I have been juried into the Buffalo-Niagara Art Association. Belonging to these groups brings me to paint in new places; Grand Island is so beautiful & rich in subject matter that I would not have to leave the island for ideas; their friendship brings me over the bridge. I really love to paint, & so it goes.

 My paintings are a culmination of experiences & acquaintances & learning & I hope you enjoy & look forward to each day as I do.

  [Now, a traditional bio presented in the third person]
 Born Kathleen Marie Theiss in Brooklyn, middle child in a family of three, there were no family connections to any of the arts. Kath took advantage of college classes & courses to discover a variety of media. She acquired a NYS K-12 Art teaching certificate. Throughout her career as an art teacher she continued to develop her abilities through travel & study. She is involved with several plein air groups & prefers oil paints or soft pastels for her paintings. Her work can be found in private collections in fifteen states, various juried shows, local galleries as well as her studio on Grand Island. Mrs. Schifano thanks her family for their patience & love.

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Suppliers & Sources

I love gadgets and art toys, but being an artist involves buying paint, canvas, pastels and wonderful papers, as well as framing materials, cases for carting materials and portable equipment for plein air. Always a comparison shopper, I shop catalogs and sales, use discounts and coupons and penny pinch whenever I can. Since I am often asked where I purchase my materials, I have included this list of my suppliers. If you 'sign up' online, you may get occasional emails with current sales or discount offers.



  Jerry's Artarama

  Pearlpaint

  artarama.com

  pictureframes.com

  Light Impressions Direct

  Real Color Wheel

  Wet Canvas

 

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All images of paintings & photographs copyright 2006-2010 Kath Schifano, all rights reserved.