Printmakers' Network of Southern New England

BIO

Donna Marie Frustere was born in 1957 in Westerly, Rhode Island. Donna studied at Denver University, Haystack Mountain School in Maine, and The University of Maine at Orono where she received her BS in Art Education. She began her teaching in Maine and then arrived in CT in 1982 where she taught at The Watkinson School in Hartford. Frustere received her MAED in 1989 from the, University of Hartford, Hartford Art School. She taught several studio and art history course, including Printmaking at Watkinson School and in 1997-2003 at Kingswood-Oxford School in West Hartford.

Donna currently teaches fulltime for the Hartford Public School’s Law and Government Academy where she offers Printmaking and Bookmaking classes to her HS students. Poetry Out Loud, Slam Poetry, and Hip Hop are also her interests, which she is a mentor for several students after school.

Artistic talent and discipline on many levels of academia are evident through a very successful career as a Printmaker and Art Educator of fine arts to all ages for 32 years. Frustere is a Master teaching Artist, Art Educator, as well as a Practicing Artist Printmaker/ Photographer. She holds a MAEd in Art Education and is presently teaching in The Hartford Public High Schools.

In 1997 Donna was selected as the first team of Master Teaching Artists for the state of Connecticut’s, Commission on The Arts. Frustere was invited to be on the newly formed “Printmaking Network of Southern New England” where she has been a member since its’ founding in 1997. Donna held the title of Gallery President for 15 years for The Canton Artist’s Gallery on The Green, Canton, CT, served as Vice President of The Connecticut Woman Artists, and an active participant in many invitational and juried exhibitions National and International. Her studio is at her home in Avon Connecticut. Her larger Monotype and intaglios are printed at The University of Hartford Print Studios.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Donna Frustere, a master printmaker and photographer since 1979, completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Maine. She became intrigued in Printmaking due to a course needed to for fill her Art Ed degree. The use of line in detail was equivalent to her love of pen and ink at the time. Allowing her to recreate, overlay tones, colors, and vary lines while exploring yet another idea on the same surface was the amazing process of Intaglio. Frustere loved the edition process, the feeling of accomplishment and the intensity of multiples! It was like her Calabrese momma, canning garden vegetables! Living in Maine, Donna enjoyed the stages of the print edition. It was calming, methodical, and yet forgiving to new and old ideas.

In 1982 Donna moved to Connecticut and attended The Hartford Art School. In the process of working towards her masters in Art Ed, Donna also pursued their printmaking and photography programs, taking 30+ hours.

Donna exhibits Nationally and Internationally, both individually and with other well-known artists. She is an Established artist whose work reflects close family ties and roots. Her work focusing on what makes her unique and flows through her veins. Donna digs into her past, her family’s lives, their collections, ideals, and furnishings. Her trips to Italy are numerous and prove an inspiration to her work. Frustere combines old and new by recently translating family possessions with today’s significance. Of Italian decent, Frustere’s subjects evolve from tradition, culture, and environmental influences. Her studio, located in her 200 year old Victorian home in the older part of Avon Connecticut, reflects who she is, where she is from, and the day by day images that are a part of her present life’s challenges.

Studio tours are always welcome!
Donna Frustere
Avon, CT 2011