Terry Caturano uses watercolor, acrylic, pen and ink, graphite, and printmaking in her works but as she stated, “All my life, I have carried on a ‘love affair with the written word,’ and so calligraphy is her passion.

Mrs. Caturano recalls, “My father, who painted in watercolor, always encouraged his children to develop their artistic and creative talents. Another early inspiration was my grandmother’s collection of beautifully illustrated children’s books. The gorgeous decorated letters that adorned the pages of some of her books delighted and fascinated me.” During her teens, she worked on Canal Street in downtown New York City, where she bought her first calligraphy supplies and began to teach herself calligraphy.

She moved to Bowling Green, KY in 1978 and said, “I was given the opportunity to teach calligraphy through Community Education classes in Bowling Green in the early 1980’s. Teaching revealed how much more I needed to learn. I began taking art classes at Western Kentucky University in 1985. In the course of earning a degree in fine arts, I learned printmaking and painting and greatly improved my drawing and watercolor skills. Calligraphy, however, was entirely self-taught. Even as a teenager, I wrote poems and then made cards for family and friends in calligraphy. To live is to learn, and I intend to keep learning and growing as an artist and a human being until I die!”

Among the calligraphy jobs she does most often are the design and/or addressing of wedding invitations, certificates and awards, name and place cards, Scripture verses, poems, gifts to commemorate marriages, births of babies, with the baby’s name and its meaning, resolutions and proclamations to honor retirees, etc. Many of those calligraphic pieces incorporate watercolor borders, illustrations or decorated letters. Church or business mission statements or family mottos can’t be missed when they are decoratively painted on the walls. “I have dubbed my calligraphic artwork on walls calli-graffiti.”

Her favorite watercolor subjects include flowers and portraits of young children. In her monotypes, she often uses impressions of natural objects, especially leaves, incorporating calligraphy and collage in some pieces. She comments, “My Christian faith has a powerful influence on my life and work.” Calligraphic pieces often feature passages or themes from the Bible. Her acrylic paintings include wall and ceiling murals in homes, churches and businesses. She enjoys teaching classes in watercolor, calligraphy, mono-printing and acrylic painting through Bowling Green Community Education, at Memphis Marsha’s Gallery and elsewhere. She feels honored and blessed to have received awards for some of the work she has done through the years. Her artwork can be seen in local exhibits and competitions, at Franklin KY’s Gallery on the Square, at Memphis Marsha’s Gallery, and also in several local businesses. Terry’s murals can be seen at BioKinetics, a Physical Therapy Clinic in Paducah, KY, Downing Drugs, Nations Pharmacy, the Habitat Restore, and First Assembly of God Church nursery, all in Bowling Green, Kentucky. In the mural that wraps around the walls of the waiting room of Pediatric Associates in Bowling Green where children play in a landscape inspired by Three Springs Park, hot air balloons float above, and Scripture verses are laced into the scene. Little patients and their parents were in the room for many of the hours while she was painting, and little ones requested, “Could you paint an orange and blue balloon for me?”

The mural she painted in the library of the Holy Trinity Lutheran School in Bowling Green in 2007 contains all Terry’s favorite things: playful creatures that amuse and engage children, a Scripture theme, calligraphy, and a tribute to books. “Civilization is built upon the written Word.” The theme from Genesis is “Adam Naming the Animals.” Being in a library, naturally Adam names the animals in alphabetical order from alligator and ant to zebra. The animals and their names wrap around all four walls above the stacks of books. “It took some research to find an animal for X, but there is one. Meet Mr. xenopus, a South African aquatic frog,” she smiles. Scripture verses weave through the mural. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” appears beside an owl. Terry states enthusiastically, “One mission of my life is to inspire children to read, to love the Lord, and to discover and use the creative talents He has given them!”

She has won awards in the U.S. Bank Show, The Women in the Arts, Purchase award that hangs in the Wellness Center, several Annual Kentucky juried competitions at the Capitol and the Duncan Hines competition and in Franklin at the Gallery on the Square. In March, and continuing through April 5, she had works exhibited at the U.S. Bank Show (and) the VSA Show at the Kentucky Museum on Western Kentucky University Campus. She presently has works hanging at Memphis Marsha’s Gallery and in the Franklin Gallery on the Square, murals in Pediatric Associates, Downing Drugs, and also Nation’s Pharmacy as well as many private collectors.

Terry Caturano believes that, “Art springs from the life experiences and spirit of the artist. The process of living has taught me that life is often painful and unfair, but also that the human spirit can draw strength from God and triumph over enormous challenges! At the center of my spirit reside faith and hope, gratitude for all the blessings I have received, love for the people in my life, and the desire to use my creativity to beautify the world around me. God’s glory shines through His creation, delighting and inspiring me every day!” She hopes viewers will recognize that even when her work is about tragedy or injustice or the depths of ugliness and evil perpetrated by fallen humanity, it is still always about hope, faith and the joy of creativity!

So if you would like to contact Terry, her number is 270-842-6858 or you can email her at: tcatart@insightbb.com

Odin’s Acre (Our Grandparents’ Legacy)

By Terry Caturano

February 5, 2002

There skinny barefoot girls ran

Imaginary worlds began

Where pairs of busy little hands

Once built enchanted fairylands.

We saw them dancing in the dew

With diamonds on their wings.

We heard them whisper all night through

Sharing secret things.

Beneath the hemlocks standing tall

We sang, with music from the falls

We gathered treasures and we knelt

On silver moss where fairies dwelt.

Now a pair of grandmas walk

Where once their bare feet ran.

Time has pressed the wrinkles in

To faces once so smooth and tan.

Fairy tales and fantasies

Mingle with the memories

And now we realize that we—

We were the fairies ‘neath the trees.

Ronnie Jaggers has been a master crafter and fine artist for years. Her work can be seen on http://Chiseled-Features.com. She reminds other artists “Trust the beauty of your art, for if you see the beauty, others will too.” To be considered for the featured artist call Ronnie at 791-3505 or email ronnie@chiseled-features.com