Valeria Gasparrini
Artist, illustrator
About
Valeria Gasparrini ( Rome, 1964), was formed thanks to a rich contribution of artistic and literary experiences: classical studies, research in ceramics, painting, fresco, engraving, drawing from life; attended the three-year course of illustration at the IED, and was trained in the graphic engraved at the Stamperia del Tevere , in Rome. Today she works as an artist, as an advertising illustrator and freelance editorial, as a teacher of drawing, visual and illustration at Quasar Design University, the Academy of Fine Arts of L'Aquila ABAQ, the American University in Rome AUR. He draws live in theatrical performances, and realizes performances with stage machines of various nature that builds and animates on stage. As an artist he has participated in personal and collective exhibitions, and passionately dedicates himself to the creation of artist’s books, combining his remarkable illustrative nature with the infinite expressive possibilities of engraving techniques.
He has exhibited in Rome, Milan, Bologna, Faenza, Venice, Paris, Luxembourg, Rothemburg. Some of his works are part of permanent exhibitions, such as the ceramic work "Rain" at the International Museum of ceramics in Faenza, the artist book "How many irreplaceable lives", exhibited at the national library of Luxembourg, and its printed version exhibited at the Casa della Memoria in Rome.
They wrote about here
Daniele Scalise, Loris Schermi, Francesca Tuscano, Michèle Wallenborn, Devin Kovach, Sarah Linford, Gianluca Tedaldi. Valeria Bertesina. For interested people, I am writing to offer the highest recommendation for Valeria Gasparrini who has held two engraving workshops for the Rome Center of Architecture and Culture at Woodbury University which I direct. He guided the students' works, taking them from the initial drawings to the creation of the definitive prints and their possible display in an exhibition. I find her one of the most creatively contagious and inspiring people with whom I have had the opportunity to collaborate. Let me take the liberty of offering a few details regarding his remarkable abilities. To begin with, she is a very competent artist in her field. She is also generous in sharing her experience and does so with great enthusiasm. In the initial phase of the projects he offers numerous approaches, both experimental and conventional, with the aim of giving birth to works of art that can then be created on slabs. In the workshops we used zinc and copper plates, and the results were surprising. It featured field sketching exercises, complex mapping projects, and digital plate file translations. It has provided Woodbury with some of the most powerful and transformative learning experiences students have had in Rome; also in relation to what they do at home. Our students love her and she has been there for them every step of the way, teaching them techniques to achieve their creative goals. It is a magical moment when the students complete the drawings, prepare the plates, ink them working in their studio. And then they print them. This would not have been possible for us without Valeria's expertise. Thank you for the opportunity to offer a great recommendation for Valeria and I would be happy to discuss her merits further should you wish to contact me at my email: paulette.singey@gmail.c
Best regards Paulette Singley Woodbury University professor, Director of the Rome Center for Architecture and Culture
the technique of watercolor
Watercolor is colored water. The base pigments are finely crushed and mixed with a binder: gum Arabic. It is sold in tubes (pasty) and tablets (solid). It is applied for veils, then one coat of color over the other, and water is used to lighten, fade, distribute the color. Given the abundant use of water, the watercolor is used on watercolor paper – in fact – that will not present problems of embarkation and once dry will be returned without any particular deformation. The greater the weight, the greater the stability of the sheet during processing. Watercolor papers can be smooth or tamped, good quality ones avoid that the color is fixed immediately on the sheet, allowing bleaching both wet and dry color. The brushes that are used for watercolor are of two types: round tip and different sizes; short handle and internal tank to accumulate ( and then release) as much water as possible. Flat tip and long hair (watercolor brushes) for watercolor large surfaces. Watercolor brushes should not be confused with oil brushes, or tempera brushes, which are made not to absorb but to move the color; they therefore have – regardless of the shape of the tip – a small tank. The hair of brushes can be synthetic (inexpensive) marten (more expensive), in some cases mink. To start to understand something synthetic hair is fine. Colors: in watercolor white color does not exist. White is given by the color of the paper, which is sometimes left uncoloured (maximum point of white), or poorly colored (clear). So in the technique of watercolor coloring if I want to leave a completely white area I have to leave the paper in the netural state; if I want a haze of light color I will pass a very dilute color; if I want a shade from dark to light I will add more color steps creating a gradient, or I will blend the dark color adding water and removing the excess with the brush. The best way to create color shades in watercolor is to get them by overlapping different colors, rather than directly spreading the final color; this gives the color more depth and brightness. Note that as we use it the water in which we wet the brush becomes colored, becoming color in turn 😉 Masks: to leave intact some areas of the drawing you can spread a liquid friscket; a kind of latex that is distributed with the brush, and then dries, isolating the area below. The frisket can be removable or permanent.