Giovanni Casadei

Biography

I was born and raised in Rome, Italy. Since the age of 4, I have been exposed to art, thanks to my Uncle Roberto, who religiously picked me up every Sunday morning to bring me to a museum to contemplate art. At the age of 14, I bought my first oil painting set with my savings and painted on my own for the next eight years.

From 1978 to 1980, I studied at Scuola Libera del Nudo (Free School for Drawing and Painting sponsored by the Academy of Fine Art of Rome) under the instruction of the Armenian artist, Alfonso Avanessian.

From 1980 to 1981, I was enrolled at the Academy of Fine Art in Rome, then from 1981 to 1983, studied further under Alfonso Avanessian, during which I experimented with drawing, oil pastels, dry pastels tempera, watercolor, acrylic, and oil paintings. It was a very productive, creative, and formative period for me as an artist.

On December 1, 1983, I arrived in Philadelphia. At the age of 27, I started the biggest adventure of my life — to be an artist. I worked as a house painter by day and as an artist by night. In 1988, I enrolled in a four year certificate program at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. I began to take classes with Seymour Remenick, who became my mentor and friend for the last ten years of his life. 

Seymour gave me the support to make my own mistakes and learn from them. His love for art, painting, and human beings was contagious. This love is an integral part of my vision as an artist. He reinforced my belief to follow my heart and what I love in life.

Since 1997, I have been teaching painting at various art centers in the Philadelphia area. I enjoy teaching and sharing my knowledge and experiences from my studio and as an en plein air painter with my students. I have found teaching to be inspiring, challenging, and creative.

My approach to painting is to communicate to the viewer my love for life and human beings, through the expression of my feelings, emotions, and passions that are inspired by the visual world around me. I like to capture with the medium of painting a moment that exists in me and that is inspired by light, colors, and the visual abstractions that nature offers us in every moment in our life. I have been showing and selling my work in Philadelphia and other major cities for the last twenty years.

General History

  Born in Rome, Italy

1983-Present Resident in Philadelphia

1997-Present U.S. citizen

Education

1975 Graduated high school — Rome, Italy. Specialized in chemistry

1978-80 Scuola Libera del Nudo (free School for Drawing) — Rome, Italy

1980-81 Academy of Fine Arts — Rome, Italy

1981-83 Scuola Libera del Nudo — Rome, Italy

1986-87 Fleisher Art Memorial (painting) — Philadelphia, PA

1988-92 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts — Philadelphia, PA. Certificate in Painting

Grants

2011 Fleisher Art Memorial — Hazell Faculty Fellowship — Philadephia, PA

2006 Fleisher Art Memorial — Hazell Faculty 

Fellowship — Philadephia, PA

1998 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation — Montreal, Canada

Prizes

2006 Art of the State: Pennsylvania 2006. Honorable Mention for Paintings

2006 109th Fellowship of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art: Berthe M. Goldberg Award

1992 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts:

  The Philadelphia Mayor's Award

  Morris Blackburn Landscape Prize, Special notice

  Philadelphia Watercolor Club Award

1991 Lucille Sorgenti Scholarship

  The Thouron Prize

  The Charles Tappan Prize

  The Morris Blackburn Landscape Prize

  The Henry Scheidt Memorial Travel Scholarship

1990 Mabel Wilson Woodrow Memorial Award

  The Edna Pennypacker Stausfer Memorial Prize

1988 The Frances D. Bergman Memorial: Special notice for outstanding achievement at PAFA

Experience

2011 Painting Instructor — The Certosa Studio Program

2005-Present Painting Instructor — Fleischer Art Memorial

1999-Present Painting Instructor — Wayne Art Center

1997-2000 Painting Instructor — Main Line Art Center

1997-2000  Landscape Painting Instructor — Manayunk Art Center

1994 Slide Show & Talk — Narberth Art Group

1985 Assistant mural painter with Dennis Aufiery — Philadelphia Zoo