Italian born and bred, I moved to London in my early 20s where I lived and worked for 20 years before coming to Cardiff in 1997. I was always interested in the visual arts, and ever since I can remember I practised drawing and painting but never in a formal or structured setting – aside from a small number of art classes along the way I am mostly self-taught. Joining CPW afforded me the time and space needed to develop my work and thanks largely to the encouragement of my fellow artists at the CPW, by fits and starts, leaps and bounds and screeching halts, my personal creative style is gradually coming to the surface.
I don’t consider myself a traditional printmaker, rather my prints emerge from a sense of artistic expression and playful experimentation. Although I occasionally take printmaking classes, I prefer a more spontaneous, intuitive approach to my work. I lean towards using dry materials and shapes that can be easily integrated into the printmaking process. I often work with soft pastels, oil pastels, watercolour pastels, and mount board to achieve the desired effect.
Patterns are at the heart of my creative process; lately I have been exploring the medium of collage using my rejected works which I cut into small tesserae to create abstract mosaics, letting the materials guide me. My inspiration comes from the energy and flow of the process itself—when I’m fully immersed, in the zone, patterns emerge naturally, shaping the final piece. The element of colour is equally important, with the dynamic interplay of different hues bringing the work to life.
