Allison Massari was born in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1965.  She traces her love for art back to her first grade teacher, Howard Wunker who built modified potter’s wheels for his young students. He recognized Massari’s talent for making art and assured her parents this gift would “keep bubbling up.” From then on she was involved in one or another type of art class.  Every summer she took art classes at The Art Center in St. Petersburg, and her grandfather bought her a kick wheel in third grade.  With her allowance, she bought a kiln in fourth grade.  

Massari’s life as an artist was established and developing through many years of participation in classes and art camps.  One summer at Andover Phillips Academy she learned how to do soddering and sculpture.  At Vanderbilt she was a liberal Arts major, and began to wonder if art was an unobtainable career.  

    A childhood memory inspired her decision to pursue art.  At age seven, her parents took she and her brother to Europe.  This trip was about art, and to prepare, they read books about Michael Angelo and Leonardo DaVinci.  Massari had a deep appreciation of sculpture, and she recalled walking into a church where a marble Moses stood in quiet glory.  “I looked in awe with my mouth open, and asked, ‘Mom, why does Moses have horns on his head?’” She explained that in Latin, the translation for the word horns can also mean halo.  The artist wished to show the human struggle to raise from a lowly nature to a spiritual one.  That was her first revelation about artists’ license and the will to create.  With this living memory, she decided to enroll at the Rhode Island School of Design.

    She was trained through the French atelier methods, with an emphasis on drawing, grinding  pigments,  and stretching canvases. She became able to paint what she saw, and understand form, color, line, and medium.  She reports being “slapped on the wrist for doing anything but traditional work.

“Later I gained the confidence to express my own way of seeing and to break through many barriers.  My favorite artists are German Expressionists, Fauvist, Children’s art, primitive masks Matisse, and Picasso.  The most important thing about my work is to be as vulnerable, honest, and open as I can, because the paintings teach and lead the way.   They teach me about myself.”                 ~Allison Massari~

One – Woman Shows

Zodiac of the Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, FL December 1997

Tavern on the Green, designated a White House Fellow, NYC, NY May 1995

UBU Repertory Theater, New York City, NY March – April 1995

Gallery 401, Providence, RI 1989

 

Group exhibitions

Tampa Museum, Tampa, FL “Undercurrent and Overview” June – Aug. 1999

Tampa Museum, Tampa, FL June – July 1998

Dragonfly Gallery, Martha’s Vineyard, MA June 1998

Gallery 421, Fort Lauderdale, FL April – May 1998

Cervenka – MaLaughlin Gallery, Gulfport, FL April 1998

25th Anniversay Art Festival, Beth-EL, St. Petersburg, FL February 1998

Salt Creek Art Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL  “Art Attack” October 1997

Sarasota Visual Arts Center, Sarasota, FL October 1997

MMC Gallery, New York City, NY “Marvelous” December 1995

SVA Gallery, New York City, NY May – June 1993

N.Y.C. Art Director’s Club, New York City, NY “Endangered”          September 1992

Gallery 1792, Winter Park, FL Jan. – Feb. 1991

Bennett Gallery, Orlando, FL “Art’s Future” April 1990

Woods Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI “The Indignant Eye” January 1989

National Arts Club, NYC, New York City, NY 89th Annual Watercolor Exhibit  May 1988

Florida National Honors Society Art Exhibit, Tallahassee, FL May 1983

 

Corporate Collections

Lockheed-Martin, Orlando, FL

Derby Lane, St. Petersburg, FL

US Airways, Inc., Palm Beach, FL

General Mills, Orlando, FL

AAA Motor Club, Orlando, FL

Barnett Bank, Orlando, FL

Foley and Lardner Law Firm, Orlando, FL

Levi Strauss & Co, San Francisco, CA

 

Private Collections

Dr. Sylvia Carra, Tampa, FL

Mr and Mrs Kenneth W. Corba, Tampa, FL

Pope John Paul II, Vatican City

Mr. And Mrs. William P. Vareika, Newport, RI

Mr. And Mrs. Blaire Cullpepper, Winter Park, FL

Ms Sally James, winter Park, FL

Mr. Mitchell Baron, New York City, NY

Mr. And Mrs. Craig Straub, New York City, NY

Arkady and Maya Goshinsky, New York City, NY