Meet Terry Lamacchia

We were lucky to catch up with Terry Lamacchia recently and have shared our conversation below.

Terry, so great to have you on the platform and excited to have you share your wisdom with our community today. Communication skills often play a powerful role in our ability to be effective and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your communication skills.

My communication skills developed at four points in my life . While a high school student, l was fortunate to have excellent English teachers who challenged us as students to write both fiction and nonfiction, to debate convincingly and to organize thoughts cogently. Those skills served me well while in art school. Frequent class critiques necessitated that each student be able to discuss their own work, as well as that of fellow students, in terms of ideas, content, materials used and techniques. While in graduate school and preparing to teach art, I learned how to present a variety of art lessons through verbal explanation as well as demonstration. And finally, while teaching art to pupils ranging from K-12, in addition to adult students, I honed my ability to communicate clearly, succinctly and with enthusiasm in order to enable and inspire student learning.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a visual artist, art teacher and graphic designer, currently exhibiting work at museums and galleries in Massachusetts. The current focus is primarily on making paintings that incorporate photographs and collage elements. While I don’t consider myself a photographer, I have used photographs in one way or another in my work since my art school days. A few years ago I developed a method of shooting and editing photographs to near abstraction on my phone and having them printed on cotton canvas. I paint and collage on the canvases uniting the photographic imagery with the abstract painted imagery. While my work is usually quite large, often 6′ long, I’m currently working on a body of very small works (8″x10″) inspired by photographs that I took in Europe nearly 50 years ago. The series is called Past Tense/Future Perfect and features snapshots taken while traveling combined with paint and collage elements. You can see some in the photo section.

In addition, while I have retired from teaching art full time, I still teach a variety of art workshops at my local library. These workshops allow me the pleasure of teaching art skills to adult beginners.

For the last several years I have also been designing concert flyers and T-shirts for jazz concerts presented by Planet Arts, a non-profit music production company based in New York. . Since my style is very graphic and bold, it lends itself to design work.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

First and foremost I think that being totally enthusiastic about your endeavors is a must. There is nothing that I don’t love about the process of making a painting, starting with blocking it out and laying in the initial colors, applying the paint with brush, fingers, squeegee or whatever. However, enthusiasm isn’t enough. You need to develop your skills. For me that was through art school, many inspiring teachers, museums, books and a lot of trial and error to develop confidence and ability. Being a teacher in a variety of settings beside the traditional school classroom taught me a lot about flexibility and the need to alter something to suit the environment and population. It’s also important to have a vision of what you’d like to do, but I think it’s important to have the flexibility to change or adapt as needed. Learning doesn’t necessarily occur in a straight line, nor does one’s career trajectory. While looking back on my life and all the things that I’ve done and all of the so-called missteps, I’m grateful for all of it. Everything is an opportunity to learn and to grow.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

Simply put, my parents trusted my choices in life. Until my senior year of high school, I had planned to be an English teacher after attending a state college in a nearby city. However, my life changed as I was swept into the world of 19th century Parisian art and artists during my art class. Being somewhat impulsive at key points in my life, I decided to become an artist. I had always harbored a quiet desire to draw and paint which came bursting out in art class, due in large part to an exceptional art teacher. I announced to my parents that I no longer wanted to be an English major. Many parents are not especially pleased when their child decides to enter a field where the likelihood of earning a living is uncertain. Mine were no exception, but they eventually embraced my choice as they sensed my determination. Their emotional and practical support enabled me to pursue my intense desire to be an artist. I’ll never forget the day nearly 50 years ago, that they dropped me off at the bus station in Worcester, MA, with two suitcases and a ticket to New York City in hand. I’ll always be grateful

Contact Info:

• Website: https://terrylamacchia.weebly.com

Image Credits

Thomas Bellino
Terry Lamacchia