Gwen Heffner
Information Specialist
Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
Phone: 859/ 985-5448
Fax: 859/ 985-5449
gwen.heffner@ky.gov

BEREA, Ky. (October 12, 2004) -- On Saturday, October 16, well known Berea College Art Professor Neil Di Teresa will demonstrate his acrylic painting techniques from 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.

Neil Di Teresa is a New Yorker by birth, but has lived and worked at Berea College since 1962. As a full professor of art at the college, Neil has a Bachelors Degree from the Pratt Institute in New York, and a Masters Degree in Fine Arts from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. He has studied, done research and been visiting senior professor at Darwin College, University of Kent, Canterbury, England, and also guest professor at the University of Notre Dame.

Having spent his early years in an intense urban environment where the landscape was almost entirely man-made, Neil has spent his latter years in the foothills of the Appalachians, where he has come to believe that simplicity – especially in art – is a virtue. He explains, “I would like my personal mark to have a clarity and directness like the tracks of the jackrabbit in the spring snow – which say, Yes, I have been here.”

While primarily a painter, Neil also works in woodcuts, cast paper, puppetry, and drawing. He has been the director of the Summer Puppetry Caravan for Appalachia since 1970. The subjects in Neil’s paintings often have the clean design and feeling of his woodcuts. Working in acrylic, watercolor and oils, some of his favorite subjects include Holstein cows, crows and wise old faces and figures. He also creates a series of watercolor Christmas cards with another of his favorite subjects, angels.

Neil Di Teresa’s work is found in numerous museum and corporate collections including Phillip Morris, KY; Ashland Oil, TX; and the Charleston Museum of Art, WV among others. His work can regularly be found at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea, and at his current painting studio located within The Gallery on the College Square in Berea.

The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is located just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 (Berea). The Center’s exhibits, shopping, and travel information areas are all open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the café from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. The Center currently features works by more than 450 artisans from all across the Commonwealth. For more information call 859-985-5448 or visit the Center’s web site at kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov

The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Commerce Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.