Bucks artist chosen for master class in Italy

Materese Roche, an oil painter who works in Buckingham, has been selected to participate in a five-week Master Class this summer in Civita Castellana, Italy, about an hour north of Rome.

Internationally known artist and scholar Israel Hershberg will lead the program. He selected Roche’s work from a highly competitive global pool of applicants.

The model of the Master Class is an intensive, incubator-like full-time program for the highly motivated and gifted artist who wishes to further develop and refine techniques of painting and to explore new approaches.

Roche attended Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and runs a studio and gallery in Buckingham. She is a landscape painter whose work is “ethereal and poetic.” The focus in her work is the effect of atmosphere on landscape and the movement of air and clouds.

“This is an extraordinary opportunity that will allow me to expand the real purpose of my work,” Roche said. “Many people are intimidated by art, and this should not be. Humans began creating images in the prehistoric age; it’s an important part of the human experience.

“My goal is to make fine art approachable, and help people understand how art can reconnect us to ourselves, the people in our lives and the environment. In this age of disconnection, stress and anxiety, art offers the opportunity to slow down, reconnect and soothe our psyche.

For more information about the artist’s work and upcoming events, visit her website and subscribe to her blog. Work done in Italy this summer will be shown at a special exhibition at the artist’s studio and gallery this autumn.