My name
is Concetta Tina Cortese,
I was
born in Pomigliano D’Arco, Naples, Italy, on may 26, l950.
My
father Mario Panico and his brother Luigi, owned and
operated a leather shop , my mother Assunta was a
homemaker, who enjoyed sewing dresses for my sister Franca
and me. Although I never went to art school, as a teenager
I spent most of my free time drawing and painting. After
graduating high school I enrolled and majored in Early
Childhood Education ,
In
September of 1969 my parents decided to move in the United
States of America. We moved to Queens, New York. At
first, my Aunt Teresa and Uncle Salvatore Rea guided us
with the necessary tools, understanding and love, that
helped us to build a new life here in America.
Upon
moving in New York my sister and I attended a school of
language, to learn how to write and speak English. Right
after ,we both got a job at the International Commercial
Bank Of China in Wall street. N.Y. I worked there six
years, In 1977 I got married to Dario Cortese and on June
13, 1978 our son Robert was born.
Being an
at home mother and wife it gave me time to pursue my
childhood hobby and dream of painting, drawing, and
becoming an artist. I have painted 55 paintings consisting
of landscapes, portrait, seascapes, I was glad to exhibit
some of my work in the year 2000 and 2001 at the Chelsea
Center , in Muttontown, N.Y.
Two solo
exhibitions at the Farmingdale Public Library in
Farmingdale N.Y. in 2005. And the last exhibition in June
2006
There I
received lots of beautiful comments – one visitor wrote”
your work is quite lovely , great texture and a nice
classic look.
And
Kristina and Kathleen wrote “you have beautiful, exquisite
work!!!!!!! , I love it, so enchanting”
Other
visitors ask me question about 3 paintings, with the title
“Ascea Marina” , it was difficult for me saying just that
Ascea is a beautiful place for a vacation, because Ascea
is more than that. …But I can tell you in simple words
what Ascea is for me.. In 1955 our grandparents built a
vacation home there , a walking distance from the beach
and we would go there every year for one month ,
Ascea
was a little town than, it was just .. the sea, the sand ,
few homes , the station and the mountains . But this
little town had a beauty that is not to easy express in
words, And the beauty was non only the “panorama” but was
also in the peoples that lived there . I was a little ,
but I was able to capture their beauty .
Early in
the morning I would see from my bedroom window lots of
mothers and wife on the beach , waiting for their love
ones coming home from the sea, were they were fishing all
night. In little boats they would bring lots of fish, it
was like a happy occasion. …that time they had no wash
machine, but they had a place in town were all the women
got together and wash their clothes ,the fountain had the
shape of a pool. I remember that we would go in town
shopping and pass near the fountain , there the ladies did
their work with lots of songs. For them that work was very
simple , even when they carry l’anfora full of water on
their heads was very easy,…simple people but with the
heart of gold . My grandmother Francesca Delli Paoli had
relatives in the town of Camerota and when she would go to
visit them by train, she fall in love with all those town,
one day she visited Ascea and she made her family very
happy. And for that I would like to dedicate my wonderful
memory to my grandma Francesca and my grandpa Carmine
Panico..
I would
like to thank all the people that took their time looking
at my work.
And
thank you to Mr. Frank Veneroso for giving me the
opportunity to show my work .
