Meet Emanuela De Musis

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emanuela De Musis.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
My first and most profound artistic experience came at the age of 15 when I began attending Walnut Hill School for the Arts. I entered an intensive drawing and painting program where I gained confidence, a thick skin and direction. I studied with teachers who showed, through their example, that an artist’s life had nothing to do with winning competitions, showing in multiple galleries or gaining the approval of others and, instead, had everything to do with creating. It’s an ideal that, still now, keeps me focused. My teachers had studied with George Nick, a godfather of the Boston painting scene, and I was given a representational foundation which, actually, is at the heart of the academic process I now teach. We worked exclusively from life in portraiture, still life and landscape. It was divine.

College art school was disappointing. Carnegie Mellon was moving in the direction of conceptual art. I wanted to draw and paint representationally and be instructed on how to do that; instead, I encountered students urinating on the floor and teachers applauding the absurdity. This was art school? Even then I knew that before I could work conceptually I needed to study life. In order to break the rules, I needed to know them. My instructors didn’t seem to have the knowledge to give me. Or, possibly, they had the knowledge but no longer thought it was valuable.

After graduation I poured over books and online forums and found info on “traditional” painting techniques and materials. In the studio, I tried my best with this limited knowledge. But it wasn’t enough. I needed to be trained. At that time, in the mid-90s, there were a handful of schools teaching the academic techniques carried over from the French ateliers of the 19th century. One was in Florence. It was ten years before I could save enough money to get there.

At first it was unbelievable. Finally, I was surrounded by others like myself, students who were serious about training their eyes. It was all art all the time. In just one trimester my knowledge had increased beyond what I thought possible. I had found my place, I believed, until I realized that the atelier was not only teaching 19th century techniques but also practicing one of the 19th century’s worst beliefs: chauvinism. The sexism I encountered at the atelier was disturbingly pervasive. It was a terrible irony that such ignorance existed amidst all that knowledge. After a year, I left Florence, my education incomplete.

After two years abroad, I returned home and found the Academy of Realist Art, Boston (ARA). It had just opened in the Leather District. I went on a tour, signed up for a figure class and loved what I was hearing from the Director Cindy MacMillan, who had also studied the academic methods. There were only two other students at the time. Small and intense, it was exactly what I was looking for.

I am now a figure instructor at ARA, teaching others the traditional skills taught to me. I work closely with my fellow instructors to examine what works within the program and also what can be improved upon. ARA now enrolls over seventy students and hosts the Boston Figure Painting Competition, a one-of-a-kind event that features some of the best national and international figure painters.

Please tell us about your art.
After completing my academic training, my goal was to work on my technique and achieve the highest degree of verisimilitude to my subject as I possibly could. And for a time, I was satisfied. I knew that ultimately it was going to be important for me to say something with my paintings, that it wasn’t enough to merely show technical ability, as so many of my peers in the world of “classical realism” seemed to be doing, but I wasn’t yet sure of what my story was.

In 2014, all that changed. I underwent fertility treatment. It was a very difficult year. Painting served as my only means of feeling normal and yet, still, even in the studio, my thoughts were consumed by blood draws, estradiol and HCG levels, ultrasounds, follicle counts and hormone injections.

I had two models coming in to sit for me at that time, and those portraits, otherwise devoid of content, simply two pretty paintings of two pretty women, suddenly turned autobiographical. I reworked them to reflect the issues, hidden emotions, tensions, contradictions and anger I was dealing with. After a year of failed attempts and multiple miscarriages, I decided to give my body a break. I was resigned to failure. I began work on a series of paintings that chronicled the helplessness and lack of control that comes with treating infertility.

Then in August of 2016 I unexpectedly became pregnant, this time spontaneously, as they say. As soon as I made it out of the first trimester, I turned my attention to documenting my pregnant body. I had the unbelievable joy of carrying my daughter and I painted throughout the incredible experience. She was born in May of 2017. I’m currently working on a series of paintings that deals with the struggle of fertility treatment, the wonders of pregnancy and the new life I’ve begun as a 46-year-old first-time mother. These are themes that will keep me busy for a long, long time!

Choosing a creative or artistic path comes with many financial challenges. Any advice for those struggling to focus on their artwork due to financial concerns?
I waitressed, babysat, dog sat, house sat. I had no cable, no car, no dinners out. But not having any of that gave me all that I wanted – time to create. It was not a sacrifice to do without. The real sacrifice would have been not to draw and paint. Whatever my situation, I always kept at it. When I was living in a tight studio apartment, I painted without solvents to keep away from the hazardous chemicals; when I couldn’t afford to pay a model, I did self-portraits; when the paint tube was like a battered accordion, I used pencils. Somehow, it all worked out. Really, I got lucky. Suddenly there was an atelier in Boston and I was a qualified instructor. The Academy of Realist Art Boston gave me a job, a studio and a platform to show my paintings.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My work is on view at Williams Fine Art Dealers in Wenham, MA, at the ARA studios on South Street and on my blog.

Contact Info:

• Address: Academy of Realist Art, Boston
  112 South Street, Floor 3
  Boston, MA 02111
• Website: https://emanuelademusis.blogspot.com
• Email: emanuelademusis@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emanuelademusis/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/edemusis
• Other: http://www.araboston.com

Image Credit:
Emanuela De Musis

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