Paula Imbergamo
Maker Monday - January 2023
About the Artist
Name: Paula Imbergamo
Medium: mixed media assemblage
Years creating: since the age of 3
SCAA member: since 2014
Based in: Matunuck, RI
Click an image to view slideshow
Assemblage artist Paula Imbergamo has been involved with SCAA in many ways since 2014. She has been a teacher, board member, student, and exhibiting artist, including participating in a Members Invitational Exhibit in 2016. Her enthusiasm about assemblage and her love of art is inspiring to all she meets. - SCAA
Where are you from, and what do you make?
I’m Paula Imbergamo, originally from Boston and Worcester and I live in the village of Matunuck. I am primarily a mixed media assemblage artist. Combining a variety of media and interesting found objects to create 3-dimensional vignettes with the goal of telling a story is an all-consuming passion for me.
How long have you been seriously pursuing art?
It began with crayon portraits I drew of my parents at age three, to art lessons in elementary school, middle and high school, and then on to college and grad school to further my study of visual art. I had a career in teaching and now in retirement, I teach, create, and pursue greater knowledge of my medium and the visual arts as a whole.
What inspires you to create?
So many things inspire me – objects, history, artists, and pop culture past and present, etc. My work is an evocation of themes or subjects that simultaneously inspire me at any one time.
Which artist outside of your chosen medium has had the most impact on your art? What do they do and in what way do they influence you?
It’s difficult to name a single artist outside of my chosen medium that has impacted me because there are numerous artists whose work continuously excites me. The painters O’Keeffe, Van Gogh, Klimt and Warhol are mainstays of my admiration. They influence me with color, pattern, composition and content
Is there a work of art that has changed your life or how you view the world in some way?
At the Smithsonian American Art Museum, I experienced the monumental work, “Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii” by Korean American video artist, Nam June Paik. It is amazing in scale and a mesmerizing feast for the eyes with its neon state outlines and constantly changing video imagery.
As a member of SCAA, what do you like most about us?
I have always appreciated the warm and welcoming atmosphere of SCAA. As a newcomer to South County and an artist looking for classes and kinship among other artists, I found an immediate place and an open invitation, as all members do, to exhibit their work. I am exceedingly grateful for that.