Paula Martino

Paula Martino holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Arts Degree in Writing from Seton Hill University. She is a member of Oil Painters of America, The Pittsburgh Group, and is an active member on the board of the Pittsburgh Society of Artists, currently co-chair of their Exhibitions Committee. Her work can be found in many private collections and in the permanent collections of the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, Ligonier, PA, and Penguin Court-Brandywine Conservancy, Laughlintown, PA. She has received many local and regional awards for her paintings including an Award of Excellence from the Southwestern Pennsylvania Council for the Arts.

 Paula has gradually evolved from being a plein aire painter into a studio artist. An avid reader, she relies heavily on sketchbooks and journaling to work out ideas for her oil and acrylic paintings. Most recently she has focused on mixed media works that utilize fabric, stenciling, and collage. Her work conveys energy and movement through the use of color, pattern and visual texture. Paula is also a regular at various figure drawing/painting sessions in the Pittsburgh area and attends several every month. She enjoys painting colorful portraits on paper as well as charcoal portraits.

Her finished works are a dichotomy of faces and places, which reflect her life experiences of raising a family with limited opportunities to travel. Paula was for many years a devoted volunteer at Clelian Heights School for Exceptional Children, Greensburg, PA, which greatly influenced her life. “I want my work to be a metaphor for the realities I have seen and lived through; not necessarily happy or sad, just my personal truth to share with the world.”