NORMA MINARDI 1929-2009
Norma Minardi walked through life with the heart of a fauve and the soul of a deKooning. Born in Brooklyn, NY, in 1929, she attended Washington Irving High School in Manhattan where art comprised almost all of her time. She left before she graduated due to illness. However, she continued to study independently while working and raising a family. Her paintings reflect her studies, and borrow from schools as different as Abstract Expressionism and Social Realism. Her mind was not locked into any particular class of art, and so each period of her painting brought her audience a surprise. In her latter years, she was a member of the Montauk Artists’ Association, (where she lived) and exhibited at a number of galleries in the New York area. Some of her paintings are in private collections. In an article published in Fine Art in 2004, Norma recalled her childhood in Bushwick, where, as a five year old sitting and drawing at the kitchen table, she was somewhat surprised by her ability to create a scene depicting “my mother, father and myself showing not just the three of us, but I also invented a sibling, making it the FOUR of us. I could create anything I wanted simply by imagining and this made my loneliness bearable. What a discovery.” Norma sought out any and every job she could find apprenticing in art, enrolling in classes in The New School, where she further absorbed the works of Motherwell, Hans Hoffman, Frankenthaler
Norma Minardi, Elves in the Garden, oil on canvas, 2006
and others at the vanguard of the Abstract Expressionist movement. “Art,” she said, “is not a profession that has a beginning and an end, but rather it’s an ongoing exercise in discovery. Everything we do is a form of art, even the way we view daily life. The way we see things grow and then die, the way we love and not love, all things joyous and painful.”
Tapestry of the Centuries
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© Vladimir Gorsky Original Mixed Media 18’ x 9’
by Vladimir Gorsky To promote the importance of art in education, Tapestry of the Centuries is available through the Vladimir Gorsky Foundation for viewing and Educational Programs. www.vladimirgorskyfoundation.org 44 • Fine Art Magazine • Fall 2009