Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Marcella Colavecchio. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Marcella, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

I realized I was a creative at a very young age. As an only child, my parents always encouraged me to keep busy by doing something with my hands. I always had a coloring book and a marker in my hand. When I was in middle school, I made my first animation cell based on a short documentary I watched on Walt Disney Animation Studios. I was in love with the idea of creating characters and making them move. I mean, how cool is that? When I turned 16, I was chosen by my high school to participate in a program for art students who wanted to pursue art professionally. Once a week, I’d get to attend classes at Lyme Academy of Fine Art in Old Lyme, CT. This was an 8 hour figure drawing class taught by the late Deane G. Keller — free of charge. Over the next two years, Deane taught me everything I would need to know about drawing the human body. To this day, I still have a few of his scribbles in my sketchbook.

But sometimes unexpected things in life happen. I was paying my own tuition and couldn’t afford to pursue a proper art program. I spent about a decade in limbo, teaching myself how to paint, and pursuing other professional interests. I spent a long time not know who I was during that time. Five years ago, when I moved to Austin, TX things finally clicked for me. I started feeling more free to explore who I was. It started reflecting in the work I was creating. For the first time in my life, I finally felt like my voice and my painting skills were good enough to start showing in galleries. It’s been a whirlwind ever since!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

I’m an Italian-American contemporary visual artist best known for my representational paintings and drawings. Pulling inspiration from my own life experiences, as well as those of the people I depict, my work is defined by it’s bold narratives, often grounded in themes of sexuality and identity. My aesthetic favors unnatural and exaggerated light sources, leaning into artificiality to create synthetic worlds, using lighting as a means of expression. While my paintings are momentous in movement and saturated with color, they are still silent, and create a voluble visual narrative on the relationship between people and their bodies.

My work has been shown nationally with notable exhibitions most recently at Commerce Gallery in Lockhart, TX. I was a finalist for Jonathan Ferrara Gallery’s No Dead Artists exhibition in New Orleans, LA. My work has also been featured in notable publications such as, Sight Lines Magazine, Almost Real Things Magazine, The Austin Chronicle, The Austin American Statesman, and Split Lip Magazine.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal as an artist is to be a master. There have been many artists throughout history who have mastered dry mediums on paper, like Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci. Women are hardly mentioned in the history books. I want to be a female master — its the only goal that drives me to be better every single day.

What do you find most rewarding about being creative?

The most rewarding thing for me as an artist is to have people see themselves or relate to my work. Representation is so important. As an artist, I feel that it’s my responsibility to make sure I can represent all people in my work. Artists play an enormous role in how our culture is shaped through time. Without inclusion or representation, we lose the opportunity to create a culture that embraces different perspectives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://marcellacolavecchio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marcellaispainting/

Image Credits
Photos by Marcella Colavecchio & Commerce Gallery