A Legacy of Making: 29 Contemporary Artists Inspired by Their Italian Heritage

The great wave of Italian immigration took place in the closing years of the 19th century and into the middle of the 20th. Most of the arrivals were Southern Italians who set foot on Ellis Island with few belongings but rich with the ingenuity, creativity, and the will to make a new life. Using their skills in carpentry, stonework, farming, mechanics, tailoring, needlework, and cooking, they created homes and communities that flourished and grew.

This tradition of creativity and handwork continues in the studios of their children and grandchildren. Painters and sculptors, photographers and textile artists, they draw from the richness of Italian and Italian American culture, some producing art that speaks to tradition, others working more abstractly but personally informed by the language and customs that were, and are, so much a part of their lives. Several of the artists are immigrants themselves or children of the diaspora. All of them synthesize Italian or immigrant culture with their experience as trained artists working in a contemporary art world.

The 29 artists participating in A Legacy of Making are:
Brian Alterio, B. Amore, John Avelluto, Len Bellinger, Angelica Bergamini, Gianluca Bianchino, Serena Bocchino, Luci Callipari-Marcuzzo, Jennifer Cecere, Chris Costan, Elisa D’Arrigo, Claudia DeMonte, Milisa Galazzi, Diana González Gandolfi, Antonietta Grassi, Karen Guancione, Margaret Lanzetta, D. Dominick Lombardi, Timothy McDowell, Thomas Micchelli, Patricia Miranda, Wayne Montecalvo, John Monti, Laura Moriarty, Don Porcaro, Lucio Pozzi, Patti Russotti, Lorenza Sannai, and Denise Sfraga.

“At a time when ethnicity and cultural legacy are topics of discussion in both the art world and society at large, A Legacy of Making contributes to the conversation with visual art and narratives that express the Italian immigrant experience as filtered through contemporary American lives,” says Joanne Mattera, curator of the exhibition. She also acknowledges the participating artists who live and work in Australia and Canada or who divide their time between Italy and the United States. “The map may differ, but the heritage is the same.”

Curated by Joanne Mattera.