Allison Massari
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