Faculty Name: JoAnnA Pierotti
Birthplace: Hartford, Connecticut
Current Residence: Peoria, Arizona, recent transplant from California
Necessary Job:
I am blessed to be able to call "creating" my necessary job, for income and for my soul.
How long have you been doing art? If my memory serves me right, it was when I was around eighteen years old and took oil painting classes. I painted many canvases for several years. As time progressed, I became a doll maker, a decorative painter, then discovered collage, mixed media arts, assemblage, fiber art...and life goes on.
At what age did you begin creating and why? Well, funny you would ask. I just read today in my baby book, journaled by my precious departed mama. She wrote "Tries to color - 21 mos." So there ya have it :) Why? Because, that is what every child does. The best part is when you keep going, taking it into your adult hood, it becomes most rewarding. I realize now, at a ripe age of, well, almost, 54, next week, that if I can pass on anything learned, achieved, and so inspire others, wow, life is worth living.
What is your favorite part of teaching? To me, it is all of it, but especially at the end of the day, to see everyone's creations come into form. This brings me so much joy. I find it so much fun to see what everyone brings along with them to create with. It seems we all envy everyone else's stuff. I love that and then to see the spirit of giving. Lot's of trades start to happen. Friendships form and some of my students have now become my very best friends.
What do you find most challenging about teaching? Making sure I have enough to teach in the given time allotted. Someone once told me, a name you would recognize who is one of the guru teachers of mixed media, suggested I always over prepare, not lacking in what to give back to your students. So far, so good.
What do you like to do in your spare time? Honestly, talk on the phone to the sweet precious souls who live afar. I think of one in particular. We talk a lot!! We never run out of things to say. Actually, I met her at ART IS You a couple years ago. She took my classes. We talk almost everyday, sometimes more than once. Yup, that is what I do in my spare time and would not want it any other way. Well, that's not true. I wish she was on the west coast, not the east so we could actually hang together and create art and golf. Okay, that's a joke :) Our husband would do that, right J?
What is your favorite type of art medium? I love creating dolls. It is my passion. But I also adore working with cloth. I love antique lace, and I love using tattered threads. Assembling fibers together, using my sewing machine or hand stitching does it for me. Now then there is paint and canvas. I've been itching to pull some of that out and go crazy. Okay, then there is assemblage. You see, I love it all, I really do. Learning photo shop now and love creating digital art. So there ya have it, it is ALL my favorite.
Who is your favorite artist? Okay, now this might sound really strange, but I will answer that with "me". Why, because I get to be the artist. I get to think it through, as my muse allows. I wouldn't trade me with anyone else because I am me, who God created. I do admire many artists out there, I do. But when I need inspiration and feel that time when the muse takes a vacation, I go back and look at my own creations. I sometimes say to myself, wow, I did that! I inspire myself because my Creator inspires me. He gifted me so that I can create. Maybe I'm being a bit childlike, but that is where I want to stay. I have to hang out with me all day long in my studio. Is it okay to say, I like it, I like me, and I like that I have been gifted to do what I do.
What is one interesting (trivial) fact that everyone should know about you? For some reason, as I look at things, like the clouds, stucco, rocks on the ground, or stonework around a fire place, I always find faces. They just pop out. I don't look for them. I keep telling myself I need to carry a sketch book and capture them in pencil drawings.
Attach your favorite image and detail why it is your favorite.
This is my beautiful mother at around eighteen years old. My mom was an artist, a Graphic Artist by trade. I miss her so much, as it will be three years in February that she departed earth. Yes, I want my mom back more than anything, but check out that dress. All that gorgeous tulle and netting. Wish I had that hanging on my wall in my studio. And of course all those milinery flowers on that hat...all the things I hunt for. I know if she knew one day she would have a daughter who would have cherished these very things, she would had kept them and passed them on to me. At least I have this precious picture and all the memories of my beloved mama. Well, actually, I do not have this photo any longer. My dog, Bailey ate it. Yes she did!! Bad doggie. Thank God I scanned it into my computer before she did that.
JoAnnA’s Blog:
http://mosshill.blogs.com/
