We recently connected with Donna Pomponio and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Donna, thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

No matter the subject, the general approach in my work as a painter is to take a subject matter and create or unveil an emotional narrative. By way of numerous individual panels, a series is created, consequently strengthening my intention and laying bare a cohesive and compelling body of work.

My current project (figurative renditions of past women in the arts who reached their artistic maturity) led me to the realization that subconsciously, a full circle narrative was happening between this current project and my two previous series, making this the third series in that progression.

The first series: 2018-19, I began painting 14” x 11” head shots of townspeople whom I knew. The intimate size allowed me to focus on the nuance of their character. I found a resonance in the faces that were touched by journeys on the less travelled road, if you will, either by choice or in many cases, circumstantial. My attention was caught through an honesty in their eye, a certain tilt of their head, a knowledge in their smile, an unspoken depth through a cavernous gaze. These faces struck a chord in me. They revealed a varied, more interesting portrait of humanity. It was through the intimacy of the gaze that I wondered what the whole figure and an additional reference to what their creative activities were and would reveal.

Thus began a second series using much larger varied sized panels 60” x 36” etc.
In this second series, full-on local personalities were encapsulated. One in particular, portraying a courageous relationship of unconditional love and trust between a same sex couple, titled, “Love is Love”, made its way into the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) Boston juried digital show. It was part of “The Obama Portraits Tour,” Sept 3-Oct 30, 2022 – complemented by “Portraits of Leadership,” a crowd sourced collection of portraits from the community featuring leaders of all kinds. I found that each portrayal in this second series exposed a more comprehensive window into the sitter’s lives, promoting a bit more intrigue.

Returning to my current or third series, I felt an urgency to honor women in the arts who in most instances worked through enormous struggles to create what they were compelled to do. Not unlike my own journey returning back to art school in my late 40’s. In my ah ha moment, I realized how parallel the progression in the work was to my own journey, coming off of that less travelled road, pursuing my creative path, and ultimately finding my place. This third series of portraits include Virginia Woolf, writer, Agnes Martin, painter, Agnes Varda, film maker, Louise Nevelson, assemblage artist, Twyla Tharp, dancer choreographer and others.

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 back background and context?

As a child I was constantly lost for hours drawing and creating my own special world. At the age of seven or eight I won a school drawing contest that gave me the opportunity to attend a summer program. Unfortunately, the forty mile round trip distance by bus along with the programs other students to the city of Worcester, was not something my parents were comfortable with and I was not allowed to accept the offer.

I continued to draw but eventually without any support my interest waned and my passion petered out. It wasn’t ignited again until at the age of forty a diagnosis of cancer with its chemo treatments prevented me from what was my artistic outlet at the time – adult ballet classes. I conveniently lived across the street from the Boston Ballet’s main studios. My neighbor, aware of my situation invited me to join her in her private painting classes.

I became obsessed. Unsure of my mortality, due to my diagnosis, I painted well into the early morning hours desperatley trying to leave my mark.

By the 90’s my summers were rooted in the art community of Provincetown, having been a resident off and on since the 70’s. I studied with artists and in art programs for the next ten years until I registered as a full time student at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, attaining a degree in painting and art history, graduating in 2007 with distinction and departmental honors.

One take away when I got to art school while implementing a life drawing practice of studying the figure and then drawing it from memory in the next room was that I realized in this practice how much my blind family members had taught me to see. My blind aunt would outline my face and features and I would close my eyes and imagine how she saw me. A whole visualization unfolding in my minds eye. This certainly came back to help me as I painted the figure in those early life drawing classes.

The figure and portraiture continue to intrigue and inform the unfolding of life behind the safe mask one sometimes hides behind. This challenge is my greatest joy in keeping my paint brush curious.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is learning that being true to your passion and commited to your own particular style with a committed daily work ethic, unconcerned with anyone elses business, has strengthened my vision and my work. The proof has been in the juried shows I have been invited to including the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and others along with a client base of collectors who have sought me out rather than the other way around. This tells me the work speaks for itself. Very rewarding

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

After graduating from art school in 2007 and relocating from one studio to another I uncovered a box of old photographs that were beginning to fade. The photographs were snapshots of moments in my daughter Marci’s life. She had been tragically hit and killed by a drunk driver in 1976 at the age of four. Rather than be effected negatively by these fading memories I became engaged in another level of the grieving process by recreating the images in paintings. The process allowed me to cry, laugh, and relive moments in time helping me heal at a deeper level.

A homeless shelter I was volunteering at was aware of these paintings and asked me to give a class to a group of Haitian women who were grieving their family losses from the Haitian earthquake of 2010. This opportunity strengthened my resilience by learning and teaching we cannot stop change only cherish what we did have. By helping them paint useing metaphor representing these losses they were able to find resiliency as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://donnapomponio.com
• Facebook: Donna Pomponio

Image Credits

Donna Pomponio