February 23 – April 10, 2006
MELISSA DIPIETRO | An Exhibition & A Work in Progress
Dipietro’s impressively large abstracts are created with vibrant enamels.
A work in progress: Saturday afternoons in the Gallery, Dipietro worked on Spirit of the Game – a 60×40” abstract & form work celebrating soccer.
The artist
: “I began painting by accident,” says Melissa Dipietro. Twenty years ago Dipietro was working as a model in Florence, Italy. As she ran down a path in a Tuscan vineyard she twisted and tore the ligaments in her ankle. Apartment-bound, Dipietro found herself unable to escape watching her artist roommate paint abstracts. To her surprise, she had found her passion and so enchanted was she with the colourful enamels that Dipietro still uses the vibrant enamels in her own abstracts.
In 1986 Dipietro returned to Canada. She enrolled in the Alberta College of Art. Four years later, back in B.C. she enrolled in Emily Carr leaving a short time later with the blessing of her counsellor who said, “Go home and paint. You have your style!” Painting, and raising her two children, is exactly what Melissa Dipietro has been doing since 1992 when she made herself at home in Roberts Creek.
This exhibition was made possible by GPAG members and the generous financial support of Dakota Window Corporation, Harbour Self Storage and Sunshine Container Rentals & Sales.