On Friday, Oct. 18, local artist Robert Calafiore joined Kingswood Oxford during an all-school assembly as this year’s Goodman Banks Visiting Artist. Specializing in pinhole camera photography, Mr. Calafiore engaged and shared insight with various art classes in the Middle and Upper School from Thursday, Oct. 17, to Wednesday, Oct. 22.
Calafiore, who currently serves as Associate Dean at the Hartford Art School, was raised by Italian immigrants in New Britain. His upbringing in a traditional Roman Catholic household contributed significantly to his artistic expression, and his still-life photography has garnered national recognition.
During his lecture, Calafiore noted that he enjoys creating original, unedited pieces that look like they’ve been electronically modified. His most common subjects are elaborate stacks of glassware on colored sheets of paper, and he manipulates the source of light to obtain unique results. He noted that he plans his pieces “backward,” as the use of a pinhole camera creates negative images that will depict the complementary color to the original setup.
As Visual Arts Department Chair, Katie Burnett helps coordinate the Goodman Banks series and forges relationships with artists in the greater Hartford area. “It’s a phenomenal program, and we are so lucky to have it,” Ms. Burnett said. “I really am trying to build these local connections.” In past years, the program has invited the likes of Amy Genser and Kathi Packer.
“[The program] is a week-long workshop where we drop what we’ve been working on and we immerse ourselves completely in the vision that this visiting artist has to share with us,” Ms. Burnett said. Rather than gaining short-term exposure to an artist’s works, the benefit of working with artists in the area is that the KO Arts Department can integrate trips to exhibits and studios through the winter after-school art program, allowing students to interact more deeply with a particular medium.
While art classes certainly reaped the benefits of one-on-one workshops with Robert Calafiore, Ms. Burnett noted the significance of the visiting artist series to the school as a whole. “The purpose of the program is to expose kids to different kinds of work and to inspire,” she said. Above all, Mr. Calafiore stressed the importance of creativity and thinking outside the box.
Ms. Burnett reflected on the impact of the program. “It’s really an honor to meet all these artists,” she said. “It’s not just inspiring for the students, but it’s also really inspiring for [the teachers] that we get to work with these people and make connections. I keep a relationship with these people and that’s been really inspiring for me, which is great because anything that inspires me helps me inspire my students.”
