Italian born artist Domenico Gigante is exhibiting his art in the Chittenango Middle School library until mid April, 2016.  He was an Italian and French teacher and, now retired, he dabbles in still life and landscape painting.

I met him last year – I attended an exhibition of his work at the Onondaga Public Library in Baldwinsville, NY.  We had scheduled his show for last year but he had to cancel due to his extensive travel schedule.  I am so happy/grateful he was able to reschedule for this year, as I just found out he is moving out of state!

Yesterday he spoke to some students at an after school art reception.

He talked about how he was born in Italy and came to this country without knowing English.  As a child, he played soccer and did lots of other things, but he did not start making art until he retired from his teaching job at Henninger High School in Syracuse, New York.

The children all listened intently to his stories of how each painting came about and at the end, we asked questions pertaining to what he’d said.  Students who knew the answers won free posters!

I was surprised and delighted by how well those 5th – 8th graders were listening!  It was pretty incredible!

I have four artists in this gallery space every year.  I think I have two booked for next year already, but I can’t remember right this second.  If you are interested in exhibiting work, please contact me at ktashkovski@chittenangoschools.org.

The artists do this for free including giving a Tuesday afternoon talk (I make cupcakes!) but there is always the possibility of selling the work.  The library is used for other events, like the occasional board of education meetings and PTA meetings, so lots of people see the artwork.

Here is a link to Domenico Gigante’s art blog.