Artist

Jerry Fresia

Plein-air painter, teacher & writer

“Lake Como is beautiful to be sure, but for a plein-air painter it is simply a point of departure. I never see the lake as a lake. I only see sensual pieces that as a visual artist excite me. As the French Impressionists themselves pointed out, the point of painting is not to make a picture of the subject but to paint the emotion it produces upon me. It is in this process of seeing, feeling, and expressing that I become more of who I am most.

It is an enormously moving and fulfilling activity to create something of my life and make it visible to people. And I exhibit only work that I know is alive, work that will give a collector a lifetime of looking and of feeling the aesthetic chills that first moved me. Life without the making and the collecting of art would be a mistake. Art is not a thing of value; it is the thing of value”.

PAST Work

Artist Portfolio

Click the arrows on the left or right side of the image to see the artist’s past work or click the white dots at the bottom of the image.

Jerry Fresia painting the Bellagio waterfront

Afternoon | 30×40 cm | 12×16 in

Autumn | 90×90 cm | 35×35 in

Bellagio In November | 58×89 xm | 23×35 in

Broken Color | 46×66 cm | 18×26 in

Captured By A Warm Morning Breeze | 63×63 cm | 25×25 in

Febbraio | 30×91 cm | 12×36 in

Flowers In The Sun | 56×74 cm | 22×29 in

Getting A Rush | 61×61 cm | 24×24 in

Golden Days | 90×180 cm | 35×71 in

Golden Days of November | 90×90 cm | 35×35 in

Harmony | 183×132 cm | 72×52 in

High Above I Hear You | 90×90 cm | 35×35 in

Lenno Through the Fog | 49×69 cm | 19×27 in

Jerry Fresia painting on the Dorsoduro Bridge in Venice

Lingering Colors on a Warm Afternoon | Venice| 40×80 cm | 16×31 in

Market Day In Lenno | 51×102 cm | 20×40 in

Moody Blue | 38×75 cm | 15×29 in

Morning Rush | 63×63 cm | 25×25 in

Morning Symphony | 92×132 cm| 36×52 in

Music Of Spring | 40×40 cm | 16×16 in

On a Dreamy Afternoon | 58×102 cm | 23×40 in

On A Hot Day In Lanzo | 51×71 cm | 20×28 in

Orange Grass |90×90 cm | 35×35 in

Passage | 63×91 cm | 25×36 in

Peek A Blue | 18x18cm | 7×7 in

Pescallo | 61×122 cm | 24×48 in

Rose-colored Sky | 28×36 cm | 11×14 in

Snarls Of Color | 43×86 cm | 17×34 in

Soft Colors on a Calm Morning | 92×132 cm| 36×52 in

Spring | 38×76 cm | 15×30 in

Sunday Regatta | 61×122 cm | 24×48 in

That Walk With You | 58×102 cm | 23×40 in

The Glory of Summer | 91×132 cm| 36×52 in

The King and the Queen | 104×173 cm | 41×68 in

The Warmth of Grey | 61×122 cm | 24×48 in

Un Bel Giorno | 35×102 cm | 14×40 in

Veils of Autumn | 89×89 cm | 35×35 in

Villa Brentano

Jerry Fresia painting Villa La Cassinella in Lenno

Villa La Cassinella | 89×63 cm | 35×25 in

Jerry Fresia painting at Villa La Placida in Bellagio

Villa La Placida on a Brisk Day | 60×80 cm | 24×31 in

Jerry Fresia painting at Pescallo harbor in Bellagio

Waiting In a Gentle Breeze | 90×90 cm | 35×35 in

Warm December Skies | 38×76 cm | 15×30 in

Warm Seduction | 63×91 cm | 25×36 in

When Colors Sing | 92×132 cm| 36×52 in

Whispers Of Seduction | 21×25 cm | 8×10 in

Winter Glow | 104×173 cm | 41×68 in

Woman Of Color | 76×127 cm | 30×50 in

Jerry Fresia painting en plein air on Lake Como, Italy

Yellow Seduction | 90×132 cm| 36×52 in

You and I and June | 132×183 cm | 52×72 in

Jerry Fresia working in his studio

BACKGROUND

Art Instructor & Writer – 2004 to present

Since moving to Lake Como, Italy, he has held regular painting workshops for artists from around the globe. He also contributes periodically to online publications on the topic of painting and Impressionism specifically.

Professional Painter – 1989 to present

He embarked on a professional career as an oil painter in 1990. In California, he joined the Artist Guild of San Francisco, an outdoor art exhibition group that exhibited year-round both in public and private locations. As its Executive Director (1995-1999), the organization gained non-profit 501(c)(3) status.

He then founded the art exhibition group Red Umbrellas. As Executive Director (2000-2004), he organized a visual & performing art series and also created an innovative lobby art program wherein artists were paid to exhibit & kept 100 percent of their earnings from art sales.

Teaching Assistant, William Schultz School of Art – 1983 to 1988

While still involved with his graduate studies in Political Science, he assisted his mentor and teacher William J. Schultz at his School of Art in Lenox, MA. The school, open for over 40 years, drew painters from all over New England, primarily New York, and as far as Florida.

PhD in Political Science – 1983

He received a PhD in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, after which he taught at numerous US colleges and universities including UC Santa Barbara and UC Santa Cruz until 1989. He is author of two books on American politics: There Comes A Time: Political Party Re-Alignments (1986) and Towards an American Revolution: Exposing the Constitution and Other Illusions (1988), a book that is still in print today.

Captain USAF, Air Intelligence Officer – 1971 to 1974

He was an Air Intelligence Officer during the Vietnam war, serving two years in Korea and two at SAC Hq in Omaha, Nebraska. He left the Air Force with the rank of Captain.

Born in Pittsfield, MA – 1948

Born to Italian parents, Fresia grew up in The Berkshires and attended Pittsfield High School. At 16, he started going to the William Schultz School of Art in Lenox, Massachusetts, to learn painting. He then pursued a degree in Electrical Engineering at the Virginia Military Institute (1969) and a Masters Degree in Political Science at Purdue University (1970).

View paintings currently on display