BIO
Erin Palazzolo Loparo (b. Tarrytown, NY 1979) is an abstract expressionist, mixed-media and mandala artist based out of Andem Art Studios in Brookline, MA. Erin leads art therapy groups at the New Art Center Newton, carries out a teaching artist grant for Brookline Early Education Program and creates private commissions. She has exhibited art in NY and the Boston area with work on permanent exhibit at Harvard Medical School.
Erin graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude with a B.A. in English and honors thesis in Studio Art from Williams College (2001), MS in Art Therapy from The College of New Rochelle (2005), and earned her ATR (Registered Art Therapist credential) in 2008.
Growing up, Erin trained under printmaker Myril Adler, graduated valedictorian of Briarcliff High School, NY (1997), studied at Syracuse University School of Art and Design in Florence, Italy (1999) prior to graduating from Williams College (2001). Erin previously worked as a non-profit program analyst for Charity Navigator, in psychiatric hospital and skilled nursing home settings, and as Chair of the Art Department for Mount Alvernia High School in Newton, MA.
She is a member of the American Art Therapy Association, Cambridge Art Association and Unbound Visual Arts.
STATEMENT
In creating original artworks for exhibition or commission, I enjoy a physical and visceral art process. I often employ mixed-media including acrylic, gouache, ink, graphite, pastel, monoprint collage, etching, on heavyweight Arches cold-press watercolor paper, gessobord or claybord (at various scales). Movement, rhythm, light and texture are crucial elements of my aesthetic. With roots in abstract expressionism and mandala practice, my spontaneous mark-making is dialectical - it aims to move viewers into a reflective interior space that is both conversational and cathartic. Commission-based collaborations add dimensions of research, compositional planning and synthesis which invigorate my process. Joan Mitchell, Jackson Pollock, Agnes Martin and William Turner serve as early artistic influences while Shunryu Suzuki and Fr. Jean Pierre de Caussade's writings have been influential.
As an artist mother creating portraits of her children, I relish capturing fleeting, intimate moments in time especially in the fragile space of rest. Often utilizing pastels, graphite or charcoal in the course of one or more sittings, I behold my subject and bask in what I see and feel. Mary Cassatt's pastel linework and gestures of embrace inspire as well as an early love of surrealism.