Curriculum vitae...

Imelda Bassanello was born on 17th May 1950 in Vicenza, Italy where she carried out her artistic training obtaining her diploma at Bartolomeo Montagna Institute. In Cittadella, Padua she followed the teaching of Francesco Conz's and worked in his Studio for six years learning wood's decoration and painting. She soon re-elaborated the technique in a personal and original way. She moved to Savona in 1976 where she began her artistic career. Appreciated by the large public for her unmistakable ancient painting on wood, she has proved herself to be a versatile and capable artist. She has recently started experimenting with sculpture showing her ability to renew her work maintaining yet that delicate effusion of enchanting colour. An artist on the road, who never forgets her roots but constantly seeks new ways to express her fairytale art.

Main exhibitions

1971 : Collettiva Montegrotto Terme, Padova
1978 : Palazzo della Provincia, Savona
1981 : Circolo Culturale Pontedecimo, Genova
1985 : Arte-Artigianato, Francoforte
1986 : Circolo Culturale Italiano, Liegi
1987 : Circolo Culturale Italiano, Strasburgo
1989 : Palazzo Provincia, Savona
1993 : Fortezza da Basso, Firenze
1994 : Palazzo del Comune, Savona
1995 : Sala Sbarbaro, Spotorno, Savona
1996 : Galleria Zeusi Monza
1997 : Palazzo dei Congressi, Marsiglia
1999 : Sala Telemaco Signorini, Portoferraio
2000 : Torre S. Giacomo, Alghero, Sassari
2000 : Galleria Novecento, Salerno
2001 : Rocca Paolina, Perugia
2002 : Circolo degli Artisti, Albissola Mare, Savona
2003 : Palazzo del Festival, Cannes
2004 : Sala mostre Pavan, Spoleto

2004 : Sala mostre Pavan, Spoleto
2006 :Villa Groppallo, Vado Ligure, Savona
2006 : Palazzo delle Azzarie, Santuario di Savona
2007 : Museo intern. del Vetro, Montegrotto T. (Pd)
2008 : Circolo Rigore Artistico, Albissola Mare (Sv)
2008 : Fortezza del Priamar, Savona
2009 : Oratorio S. Caterina, Finalborgo
2009 : Installazioni libreia Ubik, Savona
2009 : Art Line, International Art Project, Yalta, Crimea
2010 : Sala esposizione Libreria Mondadori, Venezia
2010 : Auditorium del Duomo, Firenze
2011 : Crisolart Gallery, Barcellona
2013 : Palazzo Valmarana, Vicenza
2014 : Varie collettive, Spoleto, Torino, Milano, Napoli
2015 : Collettive, Spoleto, Genova, Possagno (Treviso)
2016 : Chappelle S. Etienne, Roubion (Alpi Marittime) Francia
2016 : Palazzo Robellini, Acqui Terme (Alessandria)

Présentation

Between the 80s and 2000 she took part in several Artistic Craftwork International Exhibitions in Florence, Milan, Genoa, Perugia, Parma, Arezzo, Turin, Naples, Paris, Barcelona, Nice, Cannes, Marseille, Lugano, Geneva, Munich, Frankfurt, Liège.
In 1997, with the theme "Imaginary shops", the local administration of the ancient village of Vallecrosia, Imperia, (Italy) asked her to paint about thirty old doors of the village. As you get into the small town and start following the narrow streets, which lead to the main square, you will feel like going back at the time when the wayfarers, weary for the long journey, were looking for the wine store, music store or flower store or just a welcoming shop to have a chat...
She made the poster for the 1997 edition of "Voci di donne", a women's narrative literature national competition, organized by the Province of Savona giving it the title "FESTA".
In 2005 Fulvio Fo called her in Cagliari - Sardinia and asked her to give a graphic interpretation of the Children's Theatre. The result was a lovely "Gioco dell'oca" a game similar to "Snakes and Ladders" with cards made not only by her but also by famous sketchers like Federico Fellini, Dario Fo, Emamuele Luzzati and others.
She painted several premises (restaurants, bars, cafés) in the Canaries Islands moving there with her strategic colours case and magically covering several square metres of woods or any other suggested material. In the last months she's been painting the doors of Roubion, a small village in the French Maritime Alps. You can admire doors, street or interior painting made by her also in Lugano, Courmayeur, San Remo and Genoa.
Between 2008 and 2011 she took part in Prof. Michel Perloff's seminaries about Public Space at the Faculty of Architecture in Marseille, bringing the personal experience of her work on the road and on squares which is connected to the surrounding environment and landscape or architecture.
Although she constantly travels, bringing her colours where she is called to, Imelda loves the landscape where she lives and where is her laboratory. When you get to this "Santuario" (Sanctuary) you will find her colours, painted on walls, doors, sculptures, made not only by her, but with the cooperation of other people.
Between 2009 and 2011 she participated to a series of meetings with international artists in Crimea, at Yalta and Aluka, where everyone could exhibit their own style of paintings. The work was then compared and discussed, which is important for the artist's role who is constantly put to the test to broaden her/his horizons.
In 2010 she was invited by the mayor of Pontinvrea to create a Napoleon route, with sites of battles and different bivouacs, as a remembrance of the Austrian and French armies' passage.