Arty Loses His Toy
Puchi Noriega: About the Art of Living
Puchi Noriega is a local artist who is originally from Peru and is mostly self taught. Her parents and six siblings worked in a ceramics studio, and she joined them when she was just three years old, so for her art has always been a way of life.
As her talent showed at an early age, it was just natural that as an adult she would win four first prizes at The Richmond Competition in Richmond, VA. She then returned to Peru to teach. Noriega moved to Miami in 1994. In 1997 she founded the first Art Institute of Miami, then the Puchi Art Studio and Falls Art Walk. She lived for a time in Palmetto Bay and currently resides in Cutler Bay.
She has exhibited her work in many galleries and had an exclusive showing of her work sponsored by Art South at the Perrine Community House in Palmetto Bay in 2019.
A few years ago her art became a way of life in a very literal sense, when battling breast cancer. She credits her survival and recovery to her determination to live, and to keep doing the creative work that is so much a part of her. Her paintings and sculpture from that period are striking for the raw emotion they convey. And now she is entering a new phase of art expression that she is excited about.
“I am currently working on a mural at a house in the Miller area,” says Noriega. “It’s about a famous neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, called Caminito. Caminito is a street museum and a traditional alley, located in La Boca, it inspired the music for the famous tango ‘Caminito,’ composed by Juan de Dios Filiberto. A few of the current Tango celebrities will be portrayed in the mural.”
The murals are filled with vivid colors and capture the liveliness of people and places with verve and cultural appeal.
She says that painting murals has been this year’s theme for her, She has worked on several murals for a private client and now Caminito for someone else.
“It is very exciting for me to work on large scale projects. It allows for creativity to flourish,” she says.
COVID-19 had an impact on her work, with lock downs and travel restrictions making things more difficult. But once again she rose above the limitations.
“The pandemic inspired me to start giving online classes and in a way to re-invent myself. All challenges are a great source of inspiration,” she continued.
She is currently teaching at her private studio and at The Ceramic League of Miami, located at 8873 SW 129th. Street, Miami, Florida 33176.
You can find her on the web as puchi noriega, or at https://www.artmajeur.com/puchinoriega
The Midnight Oil
Marcelle Zanetti is a consummate artist who prefers to paint with oils and acrylic. She has had a long and productive career and is not stopping any time soon.
Zanetti graduated from Southern Connecticut State University with degrees in Painting and Art Education. Upon graduating, she immediately went to work interning with Ted Crawley. Always helping others, she took her knowledge of Art and developed and conducted Art Therapy sessions for older adults and people with disabilities.
I loved my job but the only problem was I had no time to paint.
Marcelle Zanetti by email.
She continued helping at various nursing homes however until her family moved. After that, she dedicated her life to painting. Her first exhibition at Martin County was very well received by the press.
My paintings take the viewer on a journey of light and abstraction. Intricate details are documented while the painting surface is rendered expressionistically.
Zanetti by email
Zanetti is now at work on developing new paintings at her private studio while teaching Painting at Fairchild Botanical Gardens. Her work is on display locally in the Hilton Hotel Miami Airport on Blue Lagoon, at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter in Brickell, at Bank of America in Miami and at The Ocean Club on Key Biscayne.
The Embler Art Gallery is showing this work.
During the lockdown period of the pandemic, she had begun work on a large scale painting and worked on that for most of the height of the catastrophe. Then, she was able to have a virtual showing with the ArtSouth program.
She has a strong value system that keeps her going when the artist’s life’s “roller coaster” takes her for a ride. She is engaged with the world and does not fear current problems but looks them in the eye.
As an artist, I feel my job is to observe, record and bring attention to these events. My paintings express the transitions I see both environmentally and technically.
Zanetti by email
Arty’s Loft No. 2
Rule Creations 