Just a Branch Painting

Following a successful career as a restaurateur, Patricia L. Patterson studied art at Chatham College and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, receiving a BA in visual arts. In 2005 she earned her Master of Fine Arts degree at the Art Institute of Boston through Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In the course of her studies, the art of the Italian Renaissance, especially the opulent and dramatic works of Caravaggio and Bernini, greatly influenced Patricia, yet she enthusiastically experiments with contemporary materials and techniques. Patricia has also studied art history in Rome, Florence, Venice, and Mexico and painting in the medieval city of Lucca, Italy. Patricia 's current focus is nature: spectacularly outsized, stylized fruits, and florals dominate her vision. Dramatic contrasts, sensual details, and brilliant coloration of the subject are hallmarks of her work. As she works to merge her classic painting techniques with contemporary composition and materials, Patricia has developed unique methods of incorporating polyurethane with oils to increase the intensity of her paintings, a process that is now the foundation for her practice. Patricia has completed several commissions and has exhibited at Lafond Galleries and with the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh at the Carnegie Museum. Her works have also been shown in Pittsburgh at Boxheart Gallery, Horizons, and the Sewickley Gallery as well as at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Arts Festival and in Boston at the Epicenter for Arts and Humanities. Patricia has won numerous awards and is also a fellow of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts endowed by the Vira I.Heinz Foundation.