The narrow streets of Barga which have been gradually filling up with visitors this month as the summer season starts in earnest have also had a new type of interested observer looking for the truth – a group of painters who have been setting up easels and painting morning, afternoon (and sometimes even at night) in the hidden alleyways, corners and piazzas of Barga Vecchia.
All of this artistic activity is down to one man – the American painter John Del Monte who has been running a painting master class here in Barga for a dozen artists mainly from the USA. Most of the artists working this month are already established artists in their own right but for them it is their first experience of life in Barga. John has been running student and master classes in Lucca for over 30 years but for him too this is the first time that he has extended his influence this far North. A productive experience for all concerned with the fruits of the labour being exhibited in the two gallerries of the Museo della Memoria this week. Click on the link below to hear a conversation with John Del Monte recorded inside the Museum. The conversation started about art but ranged across philosophy, politics, human weakness, the joys of drawing and problems in teaching art in modern schools.
ARTIST STATEMENT “A Simple Philosophical statement…..To Search the Root of Still Another “TRUTH”. Why pursue this arduous path, that demands the total person, leaving no cell to take a holiday of leisure, in expressing the “TRUTH”. To express the ultimate graphic “TRUTH’, commands a profound exploratory journey to the inner depths of any honest individual. Now its not all a total agonizing adventure; there are bursts of JOY in securing the nuances of discovery and in perfecting ones skill. I find it absolutely necessary and normal to exalt in a passionate self- induced celebration, often alone with my “Savior”, giving praise and thanks. I go on investigating the world around me, interpreting by the rules compiled by my experiences. The results have been satisfying…still curious about how the concept could be re-interpreted. I’m in search of a definitive work that will elevate humanity, that will stir limited minds to seek and digest the ‘FINE’ things in life…..and so I go on and on molding God’s “TRUTH” JOHN DEL MONTE – Prof. Del Monte founded Creative Art Studies in 1969 with the assistance of the late Mayor of Lucca, Dr. Giovanni Martinelli. Prof. Del Monte, now retired, has taught in New York City, New Jersey, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, private schools, and in Italy.
Participating artists in the Barga; Gray Dodson | Sara Linda Poly | Bernard Dellario | Charles Percherke | Meg Walsh | Edward Cooper | Nancy Wallace | Adrienne Burrows | Brett Weaver | Hugh Greasley | Yolanda Federiske
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