About the Artist

Pat is a Jersey girl now living and working in Maryland. Drawn to the Chesapeake state in part by a fellowship from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), she earned an MFA in painting in 2007. Her first MFA was conferred by Boston University's School of Visual Art in 1978. From 1987 to 2006, she taught fine art and black & white photography at the high school level.

Her work in oil and pastel has been included in group exhibitions in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Her graduate exhibition of theatrically themed paintings, entitled Entr'acte, was held in July 2007 at MICA. In 2002, Raiment, a solo exhibition of paintings depicting garment objects as figurative statements, was mounted in Princeton, New Jersey and received favorable critical notice.

Pat has been a member of the Portrait Society of America and has been commissioned to paint clergymen, community leaders, colleagues, a host of children, and even canine and feline Americans.

The other major aspects of Di Bella's career lie in the performing arts. So, in addition to portraiture, her work speaks to aspects of the performer's experience.

You can reach Patricia Di Bella by sending e-mail to dibellarella@yahoo.com .

Artist's Statement

Portraiture

All of my work somehow references the human form and visage. There is endless discovery in the act of painting a portrait, in the establishment of a connection and rapport with the subject. I have never found a landscape as compelling as the human face.

Entr'acte

Entr'acte is a term used in musical theater that indicates the piece of music that instroduces the second act. This body of work depicts my personal response to the heightened experiences of the performer. The paintings reference western art history and classical mythology through the prism of Broadway and Hollywood.

Raiment

This series depicts my own theatrical costume objects; perhaps left behind after a performance. These objects speak of a vivid physical, mental , and emotional life on the stage, although the performer has exited and is remembered only by these things that once touched the body.

Proscenium

These texturally rich paintings are non-objective, but suggest the color, light, and activity of theatrical performance. The proscenium frame is evident in all of the works, establishing a boundary containment for the energy of the shapes and movement.

Grove Beneath

My only foray in the subject matter of landscape, this series depicts in rhythmic, energetic strokes the convoluted areas of brush and weeds on the floor of the woods. The paintings and drawings bypass the traditional wide-screen lovely landscape and instead look to the darker aspects of nature.