Link to Previous
Featured Guests

Featured Guest

Lucilda Dassardo-Cooper
Artist-LINK

Solitary Journey, oil/canvas, 22" X 49"

Veiled Presence # 13, oil/canvas,
35" X 23"

It's All About Arts

*********************************************
Give us a brief bio of yourself.
*********************************************
L. C.: A childhood spent living in the sunshine among the natural beauty of Jamaica formed my artistic sensibilities. Idyllic days of snorkeling in the clear waters of the Caribbean and chasing butterflies in the garden greatly influence my perception and use of mostly summer colors. It was a cold slap when I moved to Boston in my senior year of high school. It seemed like a long, cold, dreary winter of commuting to Mass. College of Art and the various jobs that supported me. Eventually earning a BFA, I worked as a freelance designer and taught art at Mass. Bay Community College and Roxbury Community College.

When my husband took a job in D.C., I taught Art at Fillmore Arts Center there, a pioneer elementary school of arts. Given this creative atmosphere, I experimented with new approaches and materials, including creating a ceramic and glass mural for the Anthony Hyde elementary school in Georgetown called "Underwater World." This project was funded by a grant from the NEA and the DC Commission on the Arts. In the Takoma Park section of Washington I rented studio space from an artist cooperative, A Salon Ltd. As my "sweat equity" obligations over the years, I acquired arts organizational skills, eventually becoming co-president of an increasingly large community of over one hundred artists, three buildings housing artists studios and galleries in three different Washington Communities.

Intense colors and bold designs assaulted and entranced my senses, commingled with issues of culture and gender resulted in the Veiled Presence Series of paintings when I traveled overseas for three years with my husband assigned as the S. Asian bureau chief for the Washington Post. Paintings from this series were chosen to represent the U.S. in the 9th Triennale of India. Returning to Washington, I participated in Artomatic 2000, a successful outgrowth of A Salon’s experiment in artists cooperative ventures. Over five hundred visual artists plus performing artists, three stages and a theatre for a month in one Washington former mega-store. My installation "Decorated Vehicles and Art Cars" included my photographs of fancifully decorated vehicles in S. Asia, local art cars and even a mosaic tiled van on loan from the Museum of Visionary Art in Baltimore. Miniature decorated vehicles from the region were borrowed from ambassadors, diplomats and journalists who had collected them in the region.

In Boston, I designed "Birds of the Neponset River Estuary," murals for the Hallet Street entrance of the new Pope John Paul II Park. Working with the Boston Natural Areas Network I supervised the students from the Youth Conservation Corps in painting the murals, striving to give these mostly urban youth a sense of responsibility and accomplishment, that you can do anything given the tools and instruction.

*******************************************
What is your medium?
*********************************************
L. C.: My primary medium is oils, but I also paint in acrylics and watercolors, and occasionally in pastels. I have also created a ceramic mural and designed and built my studio in Jamaica.

*********************************************
How long have you been doing your art?
*********************************************
L. C.: I started drawing from an early age to amuse myself, and was fascinated when I saw my brother painting. I decided then that my life's work would be art.

*********************************************
Do you make a living at your art and what advice would you give someone else who would like to do the same?
*********************************************
L. C.: It is tough to make a consistent living as an artist unless you have a staff to market and promote your work. If you have a family to support, then it severely limits your choices. My advice to someone else is, if you have the fire then go for it. Doing what you love will be richly rewarding even if you have to supplement your income from other jobs. Try to get an art related job, but be careful that the other job does not take over your life and energies so completely that you have nothing much to give to your art. I have been tempted many times with offers of very lucrative positions, but know that saying yes will be saying maybe to my art. If your motivation is fame and fortune, then you may want to choose an easier way to achieve your goals. I spend many long hours working in isolation for weeks and months at a time. Then I have to come out and socialize, promote and market the work. Sometimes I have to juggle both at the same time. I do prefer doing this in cycles, as focusing on creating makes me non-verbal, and my voice seems to disappear somewhere deep inside from which I am bringing the art into being.

*********************************************
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
*********************************************
L. C.:  Staying true to your artistic vision. The marketplace does not reward vision, except in hindsight (after you are dead!). We see today that on announcement of an artist’s passing that the value of the work increases overnight. Museums as keepers of history, are driven by art historical imperatives, and the commercial galleries have to cater to the wishes of the market to stay in business. The marketplace is primarily trendy. Without the support of the museums or galleries, an artist is marginalized. This makes it very challenging for the artist to respond to the soul’s urge to creative expression if it is not trendy or art historical. Many artists choose to make a living instead, riding whatever wave is cresting at the moment.

*********************************************
What art-related organizations do you belong to?
*********************************************
L. C.: I am a founding member of the Jamaica Artists Alliance and also on the board of directors. I also belong to the Dorchester Artists Collaborative, the Global Palette of Feminism, the 4th Floor Artists Association at Plainfield studios in Rockland and the National Conference of Artists. I have been on the board of A. Salon Ltd. and the Friends of Fillmore Arts Center, and member of Washington Project for the Arts, The Cultural Alliance, and the Arts Education Association.