Olivia Marie Braida-Chiusano

Last updated

Olivia Marie Braida-Chiusano (born 1948) is an American botanical artist, author, and educator.

Contents

Business career

Raised in New York City, Braida-Chiusano attend Walton High School. She graduated from Empire College of the State University of New York where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Art. In 1980, Braida-Chiusano and her husband, John Chiusano, opened Master Messenger Inc., a messenger service in White Plains, New York. [1] In 1987, the company was named a "Westchester Winner," one of the fastest growing small to mid-size companies in Westchester County, New York, recognized by the Westchester Small Business Council of the County Chamber of Commerce and the Federal Small Business Administration. [2]

The company garnered six Business-of-the-Year awards, and in 1987 Olivia, as president of the company, was named Woman Entrepreneur of the Year. In 1993, the Chiusanos sold the company. [2] [3]

Art career

Braida-Chiusano took a course of study from New York Botanical Garden, where she received a Certificate in Botanical Art and Illustration in 1995. She also traveled to Europe for intensive study of original botanical art by masters, working with Master Painter and Instructor Anne Marie Evans over a period of two years. [3] [4] In 1997 she studied the original botanical drawings and paintings of Ferdinand & Franz Bauer at the Natural History Museum, London, and the original fruit paintings of William Hooker at the Lindley Library in London. In 2000, she visited Europe again to examine first-hand the Botanical Style of the French Court at the Bibliothèque Centrale du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, including original botanical works on Vellum-the Vélins du Roi (Kings' Velum Paintings) by artists such as Daniel Rabel, Nicolai Robert, Claude Aubriet, Gerard Van Spaendonck, Pierre-Joseph Redouté, Pancrace Bessa. During this time, Braida Chiusano increased her participation in solo, museum, gallery, and garden exhibitions and her work exhibited in major collections and museums. [3] [5] [6]

In 1997, under the pen name of O.M. Braida, Braida-Chiusano copyrighted the O. M. Braida Matrix Theory, based on the concepts of geometric perspective developed in Renaissance Art. [3] In 1998, she designed, and trademarked the PERPLEXI, an artist grid-drawing tool used to explain dimensional concepts. [7]

Braida-Chiusano opened her first teaching studio in New York City, "Studio 64," where she taught classes on Botanical Art. She also taught classes at the New York Botanical Gardens, and in other locations that have included Vermont and France. [1] In 1999, Braida-Chiusano began teaching botanical art classes for Ringling College of Art and Design. [3] [8] She was hired to create a Botanical Art & Illustration Certificate Program for this college in 2002 and taught her program there until 2011. As study guides, she created fourteen textbooks and fifteen supporting course-packs. [1] [3]

In 2004, Braida-Chiusano began teaching at the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, when she established the Academy of Botanical Art, and began offering her program to both local and distance learners. [3] [5] In 2008, she also began offering classes in Lexington, Kentucky, at the University of Kentucky Arboretum. [9]

By 2010, the Academy of Botanical Art became the official botanical art school of the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, and the Gardens became the certifying body to graduate students. [3] Braida-Chiusano's books are the basis for her program, which attracts students from various parts of the world. [3] [10] The work of Olivia Marie Braida-Chiusano now hangs in the permanent collection of three United States Museums: The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, the South Florida Museum, and The Museum of Botany and the Arts at the Marie Selby Botanical Garden. [11] In addition, she created ink illustrations for the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. The artist also was commissioned to do plant portraits for the Theodore W. Kheel Conference Center in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, as part of a study on biodiversity and medicinal plants, encouraged by Cornell University. [5] Braida-Chiusano is a member of the Copley Society of Art and continues to create and exhibit art. [12] [13] [14]

Publication of art

11th International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration. Hunt Institute/Carnegie Mellon. Oct 2004 Catalog By James J. White. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Frankenthaler</span> American painter (1928–2011)

Helen Frankenthaler was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work for over six decades, she spanned several generations of abstract painters while continuing to produce vital and ever-changing new work. Frankenthaler began exhibiting her large-scale abstract expressionist paintings in contemporary museums and galleries in the early 1950s. She was included in the 1964 Post-Painterly Abstraction exhibition curated by Clement Greenberg that introduced a newer generation of abstract painting that came to be known as color field. Born in Manhattan, she was influenced by Greenberg, Hans Hofmann, and Jackson Pollock's paintings. Her work has been the subject of several retrospective exhibitions, including a 1989 retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and been exhibited worldwide since the 1950s. In 2001, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ringling College of Art and Design</span> Art school in Sarasota, Florida

Ringling College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded by Ludd M. Spivey as an art school in 1931 as a remote branch of Southern College before their separation in 1933.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie Selby Botanical Gardens</span> Botanical garden in Sarasota, Florida

The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is a 15-acre (6.1 ha) botanical garden located at 900 South Palm Avenue in Sarasota, Florida. The Gardens are located on the grounds of the former home of Marie and William Selby. The Gardens acquired the Historic Spanish Point campus on May 1, 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Weston Benson</span> American painter (1862–1951)

Frank Weston Benson, frequently referred to as Frank W. Benson, was an American artist from Salem, Massachusetts, known for his Realistic portraits, American Impressionist paintings, watercolors and etchings. He began his career painting portraits of distinguished families and murals for the Library of Congress. Some of his best known paintings depict his daughters outdoors at Benson's summer home, Wooster Farm, on the island of North Haven, Maine. He also produced numerous oil, wash and watercolor paintings and etchings of wildfowl and landscapes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Peterson</span> American painter

Jane Peterson (1876–1965) was an American Impressionist and Expressionist painter. Her works use broad swaths of vibrant colors to combine an interest in light and in the depiction of spontaneous moments. She painted still lives, beach scenes along the Massachusetts coast, and scenes from her extensive travels. Her works are housed in museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of the City of New York, the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C., and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was a fellow of the National Academy of Design and taught at the Art Students League from 1913 to 1919. During her lifetime, Peterson was featured in more than 80 one-woman exhibitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marie Bracquemond</span> French painter

Marie Bracquemond was a French Impressionist artist. She was one of four notable women in the Impressionist movement, along with Mary Cassatt (1844–1926), Berthe Morisot (1841–1895), and Eva Gonzalès (1847–1883). Bracquemond studied drawing as a child and began showing her work at the Paris Salon when she was still an adolescent. She never underwent formal art training, but she received limited instruction from Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780–1867) and advice from Paul Gauguin (1848–1903) which contributed to her stylistic approach.

Lowell Blair Nesbitt was an American painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor. He served as the official artist for the NASA Apollo 9, and Apollo 13 space missions; in 1976 the United States Navy commissioned him to paint a mural in the administration building on Treasure Island spanning 26 feet x 251 feet, then the largest mural in the United States; and in 1980 the United States Postal Service honored Lowell Nesbitt by issuing four postage stamps depicting his paintings.

Anne Marie Trechslin was a Swiss painter, wood engraver, draftsperson and illustrator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humberto Calzada</span> Cuban-American painter

Humberto Calzada is a Cuban-American artist living in Miami, Florida, since 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Scott Young</span> American artist

Stephen Scott Young is an American artist best known for his watercolor paintings and etchings that depict everyday life on the east coast of the United States and the Out Islands of The Bahamas. Often painting genre scenes of quotidian life, Young's work is noted for his strikingly realist use of watercolor and eloquent simplicity of subject matter done in the American realist tradition. Young's copperplate etchings evidence a strident attention to detail and intricacy that suggest the influence of Rembrandt and Whistler. Though the images he creates are often nostalgic, his work deals with contemporary issues. Art historian Henry Adams wrote of Young in the late 1980s: "He is like one of those prospectors who has gone back to the tailings of an abandoned mine and where others saw only useless rocks found quantities of untapped, undiscovered gold." He has been exhibited nationally and internationally, and has work in major American museums, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Greenville County Museum of Art, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.

Regina Olson Hughes (1895–1993) was an American scientific illustrator in Botanical Art. Born February 1, 1895, in Herman, Nebraska, she became fascinated with the world of plants and flowers. Her parents were Gilbert and Johanna (Sullivan) Olson. At age 10, she contracted scarlet fever and her hearing slowly diminished until she became fully deaf at age 14. In order for her to communicate with her peers, she relied on lip reading and written notes for business work. Hughes retained her speech skills and continued to speak fluently throughout her adulthood. She became proficient in American Sign Language when she enrolled in Gallaudet University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Robert Valentien</span> American artist

Albert Robert Valentien (1862–1925) was an American painter, botanical artist, and ceramic artist. He is best known for his work as the chief ceramics decorator at Rookwood Pottery, and for his watercolor paintings of botanical subjects. In 1908, he accepted a commission from philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps to illustrate the botanical diversity of California. Over the next ten years, he produced approximately 1200 watercolor "plant portraits" of native California wildflowers, grasses, ferns, and trees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Coombs Hills</span> American artist and illustrator

Laura Coombs Hills (1859–1952) was an American artist and illustrator who specialized in watercolor and pastel still life paintings, especially of flowers, and miniature portrait paintings on ivory. She became the first miniature painter elected to the Society of American Artists, and was a founder of the American Society of Miniature Painters. She also worked as a designer and illustrated children's books for authors such as Kate Douglas Wiggin and Anna M. Pratt.

Malle Leis was an Estonian painter and graphic artist. Her works mostly represent abstract forms in nature, including flowers, fruits, and vegetables. She developed a silk screen technique that became her trademark.

Beverly Allen is an Australian artist specializing in botanical paintings. Her works are typically life size pieces of plants from her garden or native to Australia. Her artworks have been recognized internationally and collected in many private and public collections. She does workshops at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney between her art collaborations and exhibitions.

The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation (HIBD), dedicated as the Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt Botanical Library in 1961, is a research division of Carnegie Mellon University.

Lois Long was an American amateur mycologist, best known for her illustrations and textile designs featuring mushrooms and other forms of nature.

George David Yater was an Indiana-born painter associated with the Cape Cod School of Art, and most well known for his watercolors.

Jenny Brasier was a botanical artist and book illustrator.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Klimchak, Yaryna. "Your Neighbor: Olivia Marie Braida-Chiusano." YourObserver. May 16, 2013
  2. 1 2 Singer, Penny. "11 Smaller Companies Named 'Winners'" The New York Times. May 17, 1987
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Colson, Donna. "The Botanical Mastery of O M Braida." Siesta Sand. June 1, 2014
  4. ↑ Nudi, Carl Mario. "Artwork to Star in Palmetto Event." Bradenton Herald. March 8, 2007
  5. 1 2 3 "Olivia Marie Braida-Chiusano of OM Art Designs Botanical Art & Workshop, Artist, Author & Educator."] Examiner. September 5, 2009
  6. ↑ Mamone, Karen. "Braida's Flower Power." Pelican Press. November 28, 2007
  7. ↑ "Trademarks". www.uspto.gov.
  8. ↑ Shaw, Kurt. “"Science, beauty unite in botanical art exhibit." Pittsburgh Tribune. October 24, 2004
  9. ↑ Smith-Durisek, Susan. "They draw 'em like they see 'em, Students in botanical art class learn to examine plants from new perspectives." Lexington Herald-Leader. October 4, 2008.
  10. ↑ Daniel Smith website Accessed Dec. 22, 2014
  11. ↑ "Tropical Dispatch" (PDF). selby.org. 2016. Retrieved August 6, 2024.
  12. ↑ "South Florida Museum to Feature Botanical Art." Sarasota News Leader. July 12, 2013
  13. ↑ “Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation” January 2, 2014
  14. ↑ “new Members Show” Copley Society of Art. Accessed December 4, 2014
  15. ↑ "Interview with Olivia Marie Braida-Chiusano, artist featured in the Selby Museum of Botanical Arts "The 45th Anniversary Orchid Show: Women Breaking the Glasshouse Ceiling" - Created by Don - In category: Arts News and Events, Don411.com Media, Human Interest, Interviews, Reviews and Commentary, Sarasota - Bradenton, Science / Technology - Tagged with: - Don411.com Media :: Performing Arts News Unabridged -". Don411.com Media :: Performing Arts News Unabridged. October 15, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Inside the Bromeliad Tank - Marie Selby Botanical Gardens". Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. 2016-10-31. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  17. 1 2 "Olivia Marie Braida-Chiusano | [ Co|So ] Copley Society of Art". www.copleysociety.org. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  18. ↑ "'Duets' Exhibition Pairs Contemporary Botanical Art with History". ArtPlantae. 2014-01-17. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  19. ↑ "Duets | Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation". www.huntbotanical.org. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  20. ↑ "South Florida Museum to Host National Exhibition". Tampa Bay News Wire (Press release). 2013-09-11. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  21. ↑ "South Florida Museum" (PDF).
  22. ↑ "Juried exhibit a hit with Longboaters | Longboat Key News" . Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  23. ↑ Publisher: Schiffer. November 7, 2007. ISBN   0764329057
  24. ↑ “Natural Selection.” Sarasota Magazine
  25. ↑ "Past Exhibit 11th International"
  26. ↑ Fitzpatrick, Maureen. "The Art of Botanicals, Nature's Enduring Beauty" Volume XII, Number 3, December 23, 2002. Page 94 "Hal Palm" by Olivia Marie Braida-Chiusano
  27. ↑ Ruhani Satsang, Irvine, California. Liriodendron tulipifera L. 1753 and Myosotis scorpioides L. 1753 (Tulip Poplar & Forget-Me-Nots) - Artist Title: "Heaven & Earth" 2001. ISBN   0942735935
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.