Jerry Fresia
Plein-air painter, teacher & writer
“Lake Como is beautiful to be sure, but for a plein-air painter it is simply a point of departure. I never see the lake as a lake. I only see sensual pieces that as a visual artist excite me. As the French Impressionists themselves pointed out, the point of painting is not to make a picture of the subject but to paint the emotion it produces upon me. It is in this process of seeing, feeling, and expressing that I become more of who I am most.
It is an enormously moving and fulfilling activity to create something of my life and make it visible to people. And I exhibit only work that I know is alive, work that will give a collector a lifetime of looking and of feeling the aesthetic chills that first moved me. Life without the making and the collecting of art would be a mistake. Art is not a thing of value; it is the thing of value”.
PAST Work
Artist Portfolio
BACKGROUND
Art Instructor & Writer – 2004 to present
Since moving to Lake Como, Italy, he has held regular painting workshops for artists from around the globe. He also contributes periodically to online publications on the topic of painting and Impressionism specifically.
Professional Painter – 1989 to present
He embarked on a professional career as an oil painter in 1990. In California, he joined the Artist Guild of San Francisco, an outdoor art exhibition group that exhibited year-round both in public and private locations. As its Executive Director (1995-1999), the organization gained non-profit 501(c)(3) status.
He then founded the art exhibition group Red Umbrellas. As Executive Director (2000-2004), he organized a visual & performing art series and also created an innovative lobby art program wherein artists were paid to exhibit & kept 100 percent of their earnings from art sales.
Teaching Assistant, William Schultz School of Art – 1983 to 1988
While still involved with his graduate studies in Political Science, he assisted his mentor and teacher William J. Schultz at his School of Art in Lenox, MA. The school, open for over 40 years, drew painters from all over New England, primarily New York, and as far as Florida.
PhD in Political Science – 1983
He received a PhD in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, after which he taught at numerous US colleges and universities including UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz until 1989. He is author of two books on American politics: There Comes A Time: Political Party Re-Alignments (1986) and Towards an American Revolution: Exposing the Constitution and Other Illusions (1988), a book that is still in print today.
Captain USAF, Air Intelligence Officer – 1971 to 1974
He was an Air Intelligence Officer during the Vietnam war, serving two years in Korea and two at SAC Hq in Omaha, Nebraska. He left the Air Force with the rank of Captain.
Born in Pittsfield, MA – 1948
Born to Italian parents, Fresia grew up in The Berkshires and attended Pittsfield High School. At 16, he started going to the William Schultz School of Art in Lenox, Massachusetts, to learn painting. He then pursued a degree in Electrical Engineering at the Virginia Military Institute (1969) and a Masters Degree in Political Science at Purdue University (1970).
Address
Via Teresio Olivelli, 20
22021 Bellagio (CO)
Italy
+39 338 975 7135
Open Hours
Tuesday - Saturday: 11:00am – 6:00pm
Sunday - Monday: 1:00pm – 6:00pm