Bio and Artist Statement
DONNA CATOTTI b. 1950, Bennington, VT
I have been intrigued with the artistic value of the human form since I was a young child, regularly admiring William Adolphe Bouguereau’s classical painting, “Nymphs and Satyr”, at the Sterling Clark Museum in my father’s hometown in Massachusetts. This large intoxicating painting mesmerized me, and I, a paint-by-number kid, wished I could paint like that. I have never lost my fascination with this particular artist, nor with the portrait/figure genre. In 1963, my family moved to Gainesville, Florida, and I experimented with my left over paint-by-number oils in school.
As a young adult I went from fashion design in NYC to architecture school where I earned a Bachelor of Design with high honors from the University of Florida in 1973, to freelance commercial art in the high Sierra in California, to my first fine art show in Pacific Grove the year I turned thirty. The architecture course included lots of perspective, drawing, painting, abstract and compositional design. I took my first life drawing class as a college elective, and ever since I have been seeking skeletons to sketch, friends and strangers to pose for me, anatomy books, classes and workshops.
In the late 70’s and 80’s, I was skiing a lot in winter and cooking/guiding for 18-day wooden dory trips through the Grand Canyon in summer, where I started hundreds of half-sheet pastel landscapes on location. These were shown twice at the Grand Canyon National Park Visitor Center among other venues.
Winter of 1983 was spent studying with Theodore Lukits at his studio in Los Angeles. Classes at Scottsdale Artists’ School have included teachers Tom Buechner, Terrence Coyle, Ron Riddick, Michael Lynch and Max Ginsburg for painting and Lincoln Fox and Rosalind Cook with sculpture. I attend the Portrait Society of America annual conferences to learn from the best. I am Alaskan Ambassador for that non-profit organization, and have curated several shows of Alaska and Hawaii members. It was at my first conference in Philadelphia in 2012 that I learned of Nelson Shanks and visited Studio Incamminati, his 4-year non-profit school of contemporary realism. I knew immediately by the work on the walls that I needed to study there, so I went several summers for their two week advanced portrait figure workshops. I have studied at SI with Kerry Dunn, JaFang Lu, Lea Wight, Natalie Italiano, Darren Kingsley, Stephen Early, Stephen Perkins (sculpture), among others. Since then, I have been hosting their instructors for week long “In Your Town” Portrait Workshops in Haines, Alaska. Our 8th Studio Incamminati workshop in Alaska will be in 2025. I also organize a life drawing group in winter at the local museum.
Haines is one of the prettiest places on the planet and is where my artist and luthier husband, Rob Goldberg and I have chosen to handcraft our home, studios, and gardens from the forest, surrounded by mountains, ocean, and inspiration. We both love wilderness trips and travel. Our two boys were adopted from Bulgaria; we studied the language and traveled there many times.
Working in oils, pastels, watercolor, sculpture, and serigraphy (hand-printed silkscreens), as well as architectural sandblasted glass, many subjects interest me. I love to start landscapes out of doors and much of my professional work has expressed my love of wilderness. The human form, however, is so endlessly challenging that I feel compelled to keep trying. After 50 years of practice, I finally feel capable of painting something worthwhile in this genre. More recently I have become interested in still life for studying color, texture, and composition. And I finally have a figurative piece at the bronze foundry, with more to come.
Since 2013, when I was published in Artist’s Magazine’s “Over 60” competition, and in Pastel Journal’s “Pastel 100” show, I have been entering national competitions with much success. In 2024, I was juried into the Oil Painters of America Western Regional Show at the Phippen Museum in Prescott, AZ, as well as the American Women Artists “Expanding Horizons” show at Loveland (CO) Museum. Also in 2024, I juried into the CLWAC 127th Open Exhibition at the Salmagundi Club in NYC and members’ show at Lyme Art Association, the Booth Museum Art Guild Exhibition, Southeastern Pastel Society’s “All About Pastel”, and Scottsdale Artists School’s “Best and Brightest”. You can see a complete list of shows in the Resume section on this website.
I think the need to create is something inherent in an artist’s personality. Standing at the easel, I work to please only myself, not an easy task. In each of my figurative works, my hope as an artist is to portray some depth of human character and emotion that transcends the individual portrayed. When others viewing my work find meaning, pleasure, or inspiration to take away with them, then I have succeeded in my efforts.