Dancing's loss is the art world's gain with artist Carol Fucci

     Carol Fucci studied art at LSU but spent her working career in another artistic medium, the dance. She taught dancing in her own studio, Dance with Carol, for thirty-five years. When the youngest of her five children left the nest for college, she found herself with time on her hands.

Carol Fucci with a work in progress in her back yard

     “We had a lot of wall space in here that didn’t have any art on it,” she says of her Northshore home. She and her husband Eddie visited some friends who had decorated their home with several big, beautiful paintings. Carol and Eddie decided to do the same.

     “Then I looked at the price of big pieces of art,” she laughs. “I thought maybe I should paint my own big pieces of art.” Reasoning that the results would be in her own home and not subject to public scrutiny, she began recalling her college classes. When Carol returned to painting five years ago, she found the lessons coming back as clearly as if the classes had been only weeks ago instead of decades. Family and friends gave her kudos for her work. Her topics were people in her life, favorite places and things and subjects suggested by loved ones. Soon people were requesting art for their homes.

     “The very first time that a piece of art left my home and went to someone else, it was very traumatic for me,” she remembers, “because your art becomes like one of your children…It was very tough to do.” She overcame the feeling and now regularly paints beautiful portraits and scenes on commission, to the delight of satisfied clients everywhere. 

     About a year ago, Eddie suggested she try to sell some of her paintings. Her earliest sales were paintings of the world of ballet, a world she knows well. She sold them at her dance studio and gained the confidence to approach galleries with her work. Her art hangs in several galleries, including Artists’ Galleries de Juneau, where she is the Artist of the Month for October 2016. The gallery, in Historic Olde Towne Slidell, displays several of her works.

     Carol might still be dancing full time and painting for a hobby had a hip injury not sidelined her in the last year. A total hip replacement surgery led her to sell her dance studio and focus on the visual arts side of her art. 

     Responsive to the public’s desires, she has paintings hanging in restaurants throughout the Northshore as well as the galleries. She participates in the Mandeville Arts and Crafts Farmers Market on Saturday mornings in Mandeville. In addition to the “big, beautiful pieces” she initially set out to paint, Carol also paints smaller pieces of iconic local images. Another popular item is her souvenir state road maps, typical maps with the addition of a pertinent image over a special location. 

     Dearest to her heart though are the commission paintings of children. Based on photos provided by the person ordering the image, she brings the child to pulsating life with the perfection of aspect and setting only a painting can provide.

     To contact Carol, visit her website or visit Artists’ Galleries de Juneau, 2143 First Street, Slidell, LA. She will be featured at the October Third Thursday celebration at the gallery on October 20 between 5 and 7 p.m.

© 2016 Mary Beth Magee

Art by CaSSandra - Creative chaos shares imaginative worlds

     Slidell artist Sandra Seefeld brings multiple skills to the table. Her award winning mixed media work lends texture to her vision. Vibrant colors fill her fine art pieces. Whimsical dolls take shape from her needle, accompanied by her creative writing detailing the stories of their origins.

Award-winning mixed media shares the wall with two of her fantasy creatures

      Yet the artist known as CaSSandra hasn't been creating art all of her life. Her art career only began at age forty. A tremor in her hands when she was younger interfered with her painting for many years. Her father advised her to paint larger subjects so the tremor's effects wouldn't be so noticeable. So the self-taught artist began to work on giant canvases, painting classic automobiles. The oversized paintings incorporated aspects such as reflective medium incorporated into the paint which gave the works added depth under black light.

     Seefeld has since overcome the tremors. Her subjects have become more precise, the canvases sometimes a little smaller. Many of them have appeared in Louisiana based movies such as Dracula 2000. She rents out her paintings and mannequin-based figures as well as many other props of the fantastic to the movie industry.

     Her art often incorporates “found” objects and her home studio reflects many of her passions. She has acquired items such as several hundred preserved alligator heads, cow skulls, and mannequins. As part of her preparedness, she collects interesting shapes like large plastic bottle caps unusual picture frames, and a large variety of fabrics. Any of these items may find their way into the next project.

Enchanted Minikins dolls take many forms

      Her Enchanted Minikins dolls represent creatures which evolved from “aliens who came to Earth at Mardi Gras… Once Mardi Gras was over, they didn’t fit in anymore and went into the swamp to avoid being seen.” Once there, they mated with various plant and animal life and the products of those matings became the dolls. Each one has a story of its own to tell, a story delivered with the soft-sculpture doll. With fantastic creatures such as a CrawAlligator and Tomato Bimbo, Seefeld lets her imagination run wild.

     Seefeld often begins her drawings by closing her eyes and sketching with a pencil. Once she opens her eyes, she ponders the sketch until she sees the character within the lines. She then adds color and details until her creation is completed. Some of the drawings will provide inspiration for dolls.

      “No matter how unusual or strange my art is, three-quarters of it is based on history or fact,” she says, when asked how she wants people to view her art. Whether she is talking voodoo dolls or paintings of classic cars, she promises a fresh look at the subject.

     Her website shares many of her images. She has a vivid imagination and employs it in all of her artistic avenues. View her work at Artists’ Galleries de Juneau at 2143 First Street in Olde Towne Slidell, LA, as well.

© 2016 Mary Beth Magee