Thursday, December 31, 2015

Caniglia-Happy New Year


Hard to believe another year has passed so fast. 2015 was a year that was filled with many moments of happiness and sorrows in each one of our lives. The world experienced triumphs and tragedies in the midst of terrorism, wars, cancers, disease, racism, and poverty. Humanity weathered the storm again and our adversity was tested.

The strength of the human will and the human condition is our saving grace and gives us hope to persevere and pick up the pieces. With quite a lot of enthusiasm, hopes and resolutions, people around the world are set to welcome a fresh, New Year. I wish you all the best in the New Year.

As the novelist CS Lewis said, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”

As promised this is the first of many new art pieces that will be coming from my drawings and paintings that I created for the Easton Press O.Henry short story edition coming out in 2016.


Caniglia   

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Caniglia and Gerald Dickens

I had the honor to celebrate the Holidays with Gerald Dickens on Thursday evening at the Nebraska Douglas County Historical Society. Gerald is the Great-Great-Grandson of Charles Dickens. I presented him with one of the preliminary drawings I did for the Easton Press limited edition of “A Christmas Carol”.

For those of you who might not know Gerald Dickens the actor and literary performer I have attached a link below to his website. His energetic readings of Charles Dickens work are incredible and his insight into the genius and subtle nuances of Charle's characters are mesmerizing. The New York Times described his performance as “A once in a lifetime brush with literary history” and it truly was.

Gerald Charles Dickens became fascinated by his late ancestor’s life works. Inspired by Charles’ own energetic readings of the 1860s, Gerald has created one-man shows of these famous works that he performs around the world. Highly sought after, Gerald regularly performs in major theaters and arts centers throughout the United States, United Kingdom and Europe.

The evening felt like we were transported back in time with a wonderful dinner, heartwarming performance, and toast to Charles Dickens and Gerald who has kept the spirit of Christmas and his great-great-grandfather alive for more generations to enjoy.

http://www.geralddickens.com/

I have another Easton Press project that I just finished up and will be showing some of the 27 drawings and paintings that I created for it soon. Once again I want to say thank you to all of you who support my art.


Caniglia   


CANIGLIA ISU AWARD 2015



I wanted to give a shout out to the President of Iowa State University Steven Leath, the Dean of the College of Design Luis Rico-Gutierrez and Alumni President Jeffery Johnson for their hospitality, wonderful tour, and amazing staff that put on this years Honors and Awards ceremony.

I was honored and humbled to come back to Iowa State University and receive the Design Achievement Award by the College of Design. The award was established in 1988 to recognize outstanding creative and professional achievements of alumni in all of the college’s disciplines. The list of awardees was incredible and it was great to meet so many talented professionals and advocates who are making a difference in our world on so many levels.

Here are a few pictures that I took on my visit. I also had a chance to visit with ISU art students and look at their work in the classroom and painting studios. I was so impressed with the quality and professionalism that these young artist, and designers possess. It was great to see my Alma Mater on the cutting edge of innovation and design.



Caniglia


Tuesday, October 13, 2015

October-Caniglia Sketches

Fall is my favorite time of year and October is my month. All the fall colors slowly fade into a melancholy grey brown with the wonderful smell of decomposing leaves. I always read my Edgar Allan Poe collection of short stories and poems during this time. I also end up sketching as much as possible outside, from life, and from my imagination. Sketching the world around us truly helps us see it in a new light. The same can be said with reading new stories. Anything that can open your imagination is key to growth as an artist and person.

Sketching is the immediate expression of seeing, feeling, and thinking encompassed by the unknown and freedom of creativity. I have attached 3 sketches. The first is a hand study showing the muscle dissection and bone structure. This is an oil study done in one alla prima session. The next sketch is Poe with a Raven wrapped around his head and the last sketch is an old tree that I thought had a lot of character. Sketching is about progression and risk taking. Unless you immerse your self in your imagination it is hard to see what it is capable of creating.


Caniglia  


Thursday, September 17, 2015

Caniglia-"Monarch Paintings"

I would like to thank everyone who came out to the Union For Contemporary Arts show yesterday. It was a huge success and it was great to see so many people at the gallery enjoying art.
I have three more small study paintings that I wanted to show that are part of my upcoming show. These monarch oil studies are a mix of ideas from sketches I am working on for larger paintings. The monarch is a symbol for the entire global community. It can represent the stages of life related to our own personal lives as well as growing pains that our world experiences with oppression, change, hunger, vulnerability, transformation and the miraculous expansion at the beginning and end of life

The amazing life cycle that transforms the Eastern Monarch from a striking caterpillar into a magnificent and graceful butterfly has long captured our imaginations. But the Monarch is now facing an uncertain future, with populations in severe decline across North America. A new report that just came out today showed results from last year and the year before, that the population was down ninety percent, which is a lot for the Monarch Butterfly.

The decline of the Monarchs coincides with the eradication of the Milkweed, a plant that the Monarch caterpillars feed on exclusively. Milkweed is cleared from fields used for agriculture, and the few plants that do survive are often treated with damaging pesticides that kill the caterpillars. Every milkweed that is planted across the Midwest does make a difference. I encourage those of you who have time and space to consider planting milkweed.
Our world is constantly shifting and at times feels like we are standing on unsteady ground. Every one of us has a long journey ahead. On this journey we encounter endless turns, twists, and conditions that cause us to morph into ever-finer beings or at least we hope. During the process towards our journey's end we are inevitably changed in so many different ways, and along the way we realize that we are not the same as when we started on the path.
-Caniglia



Caniglia-New Monarch Painting

I have another painting that I wanted to post this week from my new series. This painting is called
“A luminous, fluttering melody tethered to a dystopian dream”.
In the painting I show a Monarch tethered to a brick that society has placed on it, in the hopes that the brick can make the monarch fade or stop it from flying. The Monarch sails against society and flutters through the conditions and the environment that our world has dealt it.
The idea of this series, as I had mentioned in another post, is to take control of your life even when obstacles are holding you down and oppression seems to overwhelm your dreams and aspirations.


As I look at the youth in the Gaza Strip caught in between the blurred lines of war, they seem no different then our own American youth caught between gangs, prejudice, and poverty. The youth didn’t create the situation that they were born into; they are just forced to deal with it.
Hence the butterfly tied to a brick that still manages to fly trying to escape an environment in hopes of freeing itself. When society shows you a world with no horizons, it is up to you to find a path with a glint of light. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and there is no greater joy than to have a world with endlessly changing horizons.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said…
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
-Caniglia

Monday, July 27, 2015

CANIGLIA-"Ennui Dream"

Here is another painting from the series I am working on for my upcoming shows. As I mentioned in my last post, these paintings are pretty much raw improvisational ideas that capture the melancholy of moments that characterize life in our world. Yes, some of these paintings are filled with loneliness, self-reflection, and ennui.

They are meant to capture the feeling and emotion that surround our world that feels on the brink or edge of chaos at times. There is beauty and hope in these paintings as well. I have hidden symbolism in each of the pieces. As I have said before my work has always been visceral and evocative filled with raw earthtone textures and meaning that demands to be looked into, rather than merely over. This new painting is called “Ennui Dream”.

I will post more images soon.


Caniglia   

Thursday, July 16, 2015

CANIGLIA-Latest Work

Currently on my easel is this oil painting, which is part of my new series called “Tanks for Nothing” which will be traveling as a show later in the year. This series is based on some of my notes, drawings, and sketches that I have created over the last few years depicting a world that mirrors our own at times.

These new paintings that I will be posting, are little frozen moments in time that are eternal, not of a particular time and place but of a world in which melancholy has taken hold and very few inhabitants exist. In this painting I created a young girl who is not afraid to stand alone in the face of what is to come. The title of this new piece is “The darkest point, where there is no path is where a future begins”.

The visual narratives that I am creating with these paintings aren’t clear and concise and are more ambiguous. This is done on purpose because there are many different outcomes and possibilities that we can choose in the world we live or the imaginary ones we create. I have always felt that great art gives you a direction but allows you to finish the story.

As Arthur O'Shaughnessy's poem “Ode” states… We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams, Wandering by lone sea-breakers, and sitting by desolate streams, World-losers and world-forsakers, On whom the pale moon gleams.

I will post more paintings soon.

Thanks

Caniglia   

Monday, June 15, 2015

CANIGLIA - NEW YORK CITY

I apologize for the lack of updates over the last month. I have been traveling a lot for teaching, advising, and art shows. I have been busy working on movies, book illustrations, and new personal paintings. This year was an amazing year for me in teaching. The greatest thing about teaching is seeing the confidence grow in young artists as their voice and vision become stronger in their work. I was in New York this weekend for an awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in which they recognized my work as a teacher and one of my students for a National Scholastic award in drawing. The ceremony was such an amazing event. Chelsea Clinton was the keynote speaker for the awards ceremony. Whoopi Goldberg gave the guest lecture and other special guest speakers included Matthew Morrison (Glee), Michelle Tan, Jenxpenn, and Donald Lipski. It was great to so many young emerging artists recognized.

During my visit to New York City I had an opportunity to visit the Frick Museum. They currently have one of the most beautiful paintings ever created on display. The painting is called “Flaming June” and was created by the artist Lord Frederic Leighton's in 1895 during the late Victorian art period. It was a controversial painting in its time and still is today. Some people love the painting and some loathe it.

I am one of those who love the exquisite sensitivity, elegant color, and brushstrokes. Leighton creates the composition in a rose-like form, with the sleeping woman configured in rounded radiant orange glow that envelops her strength, beauty, and vulnerability. He puts paint to canvas as elegantly as a poet put words to paper. The painting transcends art and becomes reality. In the gallery that the painting was displayed in at the Frick Museum, you could hear a pin drop. Everyone young and old was in awe of the painting. The Museum does not allow the public to take pictures so I decided to make a sketch in my sketchbook to get a better understanding of the form and composition that Leighton had created. So I sketched for 10 minutes.

I decided that Leighton was a genius. In creating the piece he made things suggestive and ambiguous on purpose. The woman and the dress aren’t observed in particular detail and not transformed into classical anonymity. Instead of classical realism, Leighton goes for the heartstrings of the viewer and uses classic emotion and feeling and the result is genuine love. This piece stands out because it has mood, emotion, and physical beauty. The human condition is a tricky thing to understand and grasp and only a few artist can do it. A good artist pushes paint, a great artist makes paintings that push boundaries and time and this is one of those paintings. I tip my brush to this great master and his painting that lit a room and the hearts of the viewers that had the opportunity to gaze on it first hand.

Thank you, for taking the time to read my post and I will have more updates coming soon with images of my latest paintings.



Caniglia   




Saturday, February 7, 2015

Caniglia Portrait Commissions

Over the last year I did two big portrait commissions. I have added some pictures so you can get an idea of how big the pieces actually are. The first painting I did for Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart School in Omaha. The oil painting is about 30”x40” in size and portrays Janet Erskine Stuart (1857-1914). The painting is now on permanent display at the school in the main hall as you come into the school. The painting took over 7 months to complete.

Janet was born and raised in England. She entered the Society of the Sacred Heart in 1882 and also became one of the leading teachers of her time. She believed, "it is not so much what we say or do that educates; what really educates is who we are". Stuart insisted that educators must "bring up children for the future, not for the present". She wrote an entire book dedicated to the education of young women.

The other portrait commission I created this past year was for Beveridge Magnet Middle School for the Arts. The school commissioned a portrait of 5 of their gifted students. I created the painting so the students are looking towards a bright horizon off to the left. The idea is that the bright light is their future and they gaze off the picture to a future that awaits them. The painting took over 6 months to complete.

The painting is now on permanent display in their auditorium. If you get the chance take the time to go see the paintings. Pictures do not do them justice. I have more paintings that I will show later this week.

Thanks
Caniglia    










Je Suis Charlie

Post from January 11,

This week the world witnessed more attacks on innocent people. My heart goes out to the people of France and the horror that unraveled in Paris. I know as a fellow artist who creates art that deals with both social and political issues that I stand in solidarity with the people of France and with these my fellow artists who support freedom of speech.

Today, a historic crowd of more than a million people including 40 world leaders jammed the streets of Paris to show their unity and support. In a world that can seem dark at times, there is always a light of hope and humanity that seems to rise above the chaos of extremists.

I created another silkscreen painting based off my “Tanks4Nothing” series. The little girl stands with her pen quill in the face of extremist guns and is not afraid. This piece is for those artists at Charlie Hebdo who knew that freedom of speech is worth the fight and the pen is always mightier than the sword.

Je Suis Charlie…

Caniglia

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Happy New Year and Gallery Shows

Happy New Year! I know it’s hard to believe that 2014 has come to an end already! And, with the arrival of January, now is the perfect time to reflect back on this past year… I first wanted to thank everyone who came out to my Bancroft Street Market Gallery art show in December. The show featured more then 40 pieces of my classical atelier style drawings and paintings. The show was called the “History of Little Italy” and featured the singing talents of Carmelita De La Guardia who sang opera and classic Sicilian songs. Louie Marcuzzo who gave the lecture and told personal stories of Omaha’s Little Italy and how the traditions in art, music, faith and food have carried over from Sicily into Omaha.

I always feel that it is important to take the time to reflect on 2014 so that you can create an inspired 2015. I believe it is one way to move forward on anything you are trying to do and accomplish. I find that it is not only important to write down new years resolutions but to also find a way to support your ideas to make them happen. Give yourself time for reflection, growth, contemplation, and family. Not easy when you are trying to balance jobs and other obstacles life throws at you. So I feel it is key to try to set realistic goals while dreaming a little, keeping a balance between challenging yourself and being flexible.

2015 is going to be a busy year for my work as I am pushing into new areas. I have 4 art shows coming up this year and will keep posting dates as I get them from the galleries and museums. I am also currently working with Tabitha King on two of her novels this year. I also turned in the final cover art for Anne Rice “Interview with the Vampire-Special Edition” which will be re-released this year as an anniversary edition with all new extra features. I am also currently working on two films as a concept artist. I will have more info on the films as we get through film production. I am also teaching more this year at Creighton Prep and this summer at the Kent Bellows Visual Art center. In March I am taking a group of students to Italy and Greece to study the history and the art. This trip should be very inspiring.

I appreciate everyone who collects and follows my art. I hope that it has moved you or inspired you to create in some way. Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I will keep adding more updates so check back for more news to come.

Happy New Year!


Caniglia