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.

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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.

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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.



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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.

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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

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.

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