Page 16 - Life In Naples Magazine December 2014 Edition
P. 16
NAPLES ART ASSOCIATION
A Tradition
of Creativity
W e are entering into a time of year that for most of us is steeped in
traditions. For generations, our families gathered together to celebrate
in different ways. Tradition is a powerful concept. It roots us, makes
us comfortable through reenactment and ritual and centers us on the important
relationships between us and our kin and the human family. In much the same
way art allows individual expression through the creation of novel and original
works, tradition allows collective expression through repetition and togetherness.
The Naples Art Association is a unique purveyor of expression, because throughout
60 years of history in support of personal expression The NAA inspires creative art
through tradition.
Readers who are lifelong residents of Naples have more than likely been impacted
by some of the programming provided through The Naples Art Association. A sixty
year old native of our idyllic community may have been taught art by one of our
founding members back in the late fifties. They might have been inspired by the would’ve been filled with pride and the child with
art lessons and made their way to Art in the Park, Naples’s oldest outdoor art fair. awe. Before long the child enrolled in ARTScool
After browsing many works laid out on easels and hanging from wooden fences, and received high-quality art education from expert
they may have become inspired to create themselves. It probably would’ve started art instructors, some the children of founding
with sketches during grammar lessons or after school but squeezed in before chores. members of The NAA. Because of a tradition of
Eventually, perhaps the art teacher, volunteering on behalf of The NAA, would’ve art, the child excelled and enjoyed her time at
ARTScool, eventually graduating from student to
noticed the students interest and invited them to take some private classes or
tutoring. The student, inspired by the generosity and creativity of her tutor would’ve intern and beginning the process of learning the
saved up and become a member of The Naples Art Association. That membership value of giving back. At the completion of high
would’ve been a point of pride as it represents being a part of something greater: a school, the student was disappointed to leave the
creative community, a tradition of artistic expression and an artistic altruism. ARTScool program, but excited at the prospect
Years later, our native Neapolitan might have had a child. Perhaps that child grew of moving forward into a career of graphic design.
up and enjoyed the opening of the von Liebig Art Center in 1998. Parent and child She took a photo and edited it using Design and
would’ve walked down 5th Ave South and approaching the von Liebig the parent Photoshop skills earned through ARTScool classes.
She submitted it to Naples Art Association’s Jade
AT ARTSCOOL ESME PRASAD, MICHELLE LEE AND TIM BARONE Riedel Scholarship and earned a scholarship to a
collegiate art education program when her piece
was selected by a professional artist/juror, a token
of encouragement and a help to her parents.
Now, our second generation Neapolitan has
graduated from Ringling or SCAD or another art
school and has returned to Naples for the beauty of
it all and to raise her family. She sells her artwork
at Art in the Park, the very same festival that
inspired her mother. She also enters into the two-
day festivals that happen throughout January –
March. Although she often makes it in, she doesn’t
always and when she doesn’t make it in to a festival
it inspires her to buckle down, take some classes,
improve her skills and blast open her creativity. She
enjoys attending the preview receptions for each
new set of exhibitions and often revels in the feeling
of belonging and togetherness she enjoys when her
A Tradition
of Creativity
W e are entering into a time of year that for most of us is steeped in
traditions. For generations, our families gathered together to celebrate
in different ways. Tradition is a powerful concept. It roots us, makes
us comfortable through reenactment and ritual and centers us on the important
relationships between us and our kin and the human family. In much the same
way art allows individual expression through the creation of novel and original
works, tradition allows collective expression through repetition and togetherness.
The Naples Art Association is a unique purveyor of expression, because throughout
60 years of history in support of personal expression The NAA inspires creative art
through tradition.
Readers who are lifelong residents of Naples have more than likely been impacted
by some of the programming provided through The Naples Art Association. A sixty
year old native of our idyllic community may have been taught art by one of our
founding members back in the late fifties. They might have been inspired by the would’ve been filled with pride and the child with
art lessons and made their way to Art in the Park, Naples’s oldest outdoor art fair. awe. Before long the child enrolled in ARTScool
After browsing many works laid out on easels and hanging from wooden fences, and received high-quality art education from expert
they may have become inspired to create themselves. It probably would’ve started art instructors, some the children of founding
with sketches during grammar lessons or after school but squeezed in before chores. members of The NAA. Because of a tradition of
Eventually, perhaps the art teacher, volunteering on behalf of The NAA, would’ve art, the child excelled and enjoyed her time at
ARTScool, eventually graduating from student to
noticed the students interest and invited them to take some private classes or
tutoring. The student, inspired by the generosity and creativity of her tutor would’ve intern and beginning the process of learning the
saved up and become a member of The Naples Art Association. That membership value of giving back. At the completion of high
would’ve been a point of pride as it represents being a part of something greater: a school, the student was disappointed to leave the
creative community, a tradition of artistic expression and an artistic altruism. ARTScool program, but excited at the prospect
Years later, our native Neapolitan might have had a child. Perhaps that child grew of moving forward into a career of graphic design.
up and enjoyed the opening of the von Liebig Art Center in 1998. Parent and child She took a photo and edited it using Design and
would’ve walked down 5th Ave South and approaching the von Liebig the parent Photoshop skills earned through ARTScool classes.
She submitted it to Naples Art Association’s Jade
AT ARTSCOOL ESME PRASAD, MICHELLE LEE AND TIM BARONE Riedel Scholarship and earned a scholarship to a
collegiate art education program when her piece
was selected by a professional artist/juror, a token
of encouragement and a help to her parents.
Now, our second generation Neapolitan has
graduated from Ringling or SCAD or another art
school and has returned to Naples for the beauty of
it all and to raise her family. She sells her artwork
at Art in the Park, the very same festival that
inspired her mother. She also enters into the two-
day festivals that happen throughout January –
March. Although she often makes it in, she doesn’t
always and when she doesn’t make it in to a festival
it inspires her to buckle down, take some classes,
improve her skills and blast open her creativity. She
enjoys attending the preview receptions for each
new set of exhibitions and often revels in the feeling
of belonging and togetherness she enjoys when her
