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| “Apparizione a Venezia” |
The opening will be from 1 to 2 p.m. with an artist’s talk from 2 to 3 p.m. in the Williams-Insalaco Gallery 34 on the first floor of the FLCC Canandaigua campus, 3325 Marvin Sands Drive. An opening reception will be held Friday, Nov. 16, from 4 to 6:30 p.m., also in the Williams-Insalaco Gallery 34. The public is invited to attend the free events.
“My objectives are to connect with my imagination and to develop the means to express my inner visions,” Steward says of her art. “I try to understand and make tangible very subjective concepts. I honestly think of painting as being more like poetry than a novel – nebulous and beyond definition.”
Born and raised in Rochester, Stewart says that for as long as she can remember she has been drawing mythological characters from her imagination. Her grandfather introduced her to books about Renaissance art. “When I said I was drawn to that period of art history, he exclaimed I was born in the wrong century,” Stewart remembers. Around the same time she was also attracted to works by surrealists Salvador Dali, Leonor Fini, Leonora Carrington and Hieronymus Bosch.
Stewart’s first art lessons were at the Memorial Art Gallery Creative Workshop. Over the years, she continued her art education and attended SUNY Brockport and SUNY Empire State College earning bachelor’s degrees in art education and studio art, respectively. She went on to earn a master’s in education in art from Nazareth College.
As a teacher in the Rochester City School District, Stewart shared her love for art and encouraged creativity in thousands of elementary school children for almost 30 years. She also returned to the Creative Workshop at the Memorial Art Gallery, this time as a teacher and taught drawing and painting to adults and fantasy art to 7-to 10-year-olds and teens.
In 1993 Stewart took her first sabbatical leave to Florence, Italy, to study drawing, painting and art history as well as the Italian language and culture. During her stay in Florence, she attended the Student Art Centers International, Angel Academy of Art, Florence Academy of Art and Cecil Studios.
Italy and its magnificent art kept calling Stewart back. She revisited several times and in 2004 returned to Florence for a second sabbatical.
“After experiencing the art of the Renaissance firsthand in Florence, Venice and Rome, I returned to America and began to reflect and absorb what I perceived to be some of the Renaissance ideals,” says Stewart.
“Since then I have pursued my love of Renaissance drawing with Thomas Insalaco, FLCC professor emeritus. We have spent several years developing our drawing skills together.”
By having an art exhibit at FLCC, Stewart is coming full circle. She had taken a painting class with Insalaco in preparation for her first sabbatical. After returning from Italy, she enrolled in one of Insalaco’s drawing classes.
Stewart’s work has been exhibited in more than 25 one-person and group shows in the Rochester area, including several displays at the Little Theatre and as a member of the Arena Art Group, an organization that showcases the work of some of the most respected and accomplished contemporary artists in the region. Her art has also been sold at many charitable auctions including the annual WXXI auction.
“Imaginations: Space and Time, Drawings and Paintings by Debra Stewart” will be on display from Thursday, Nov. 15 to Thursday, Dec. 20.
Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. The gallery will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday Wednesday, Nov. 21, and reopen Monday, Nov. 26.
For more information, contact Barron Naegel at (585) 785-1369 or naegelbr@flcc.edu.
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