Maria Teresa Falabella

Hello I am Maria Teresa Falabella I am Italian and I live in Milano. I am a passionate argentenean Tango dancer, I practice Yoga and I spend most of my free time to cultivate my passion for Art and creativity. At present I am working full time in an international school and I am revisiting the work I have done over the years with the aim to find my genuine voice and create a portfolio that can best represent me and hopefully will give me the opportunity to find my niche and work full time through art.
My professional and formal backgroud is in Textile design in Florence (Italy), as an Art & Design teacher in Limerick (Ireland) and as an “Atelierista” in the infant schools of Reggio Emilia (Italy). Although I was trained in art and design and education, my path has been fed greatly by the different jobs I have done ad from a rich constellation of informal courses aimed at experiential learning and self development which I believe have been essential to my growth.
Travelling has been a constant in my life I have lived 10 years in 5 different landscapes: Sicily in my childhood, Nigeria in my teens, Ireland in my twenties, Iceland in my thirties and just before I turned 40 , moved from a deep whish to reconnect to my roots, I decided to return to Italy, where I live since 10 years.
My art work stems mostly from personal experiences and it has mainly been self commissioned. I kept a visual and written journal for the last 30 years. I work mostly on surfaces and the artefacts I produce dance between the figurative and the abstract I often use symbols and decorative natural elements. Women and the connection to their body, and the elements that celebrate the feminine are central to my investigation. I love to draw and paint flowers and patterns and I include them in most of my work. Some of my favorite artists are Frida Khalo, Giorgia O' Keefe, Marc Chagall and Odillon Rendon, I also love to look at old paint masters like Giotto, Bosh and all the artists that deal with angels, or other mystical beings. I have a deep love for graphic novels and comic books that aim at the simple and essential and have a lyrical poetic nature and are deeply rooted in drawing. I am a fan of Schultz, I love the work of Marjane Satrapi , Shaun Tan, Joanna Concejo, Elisa Tarantino, Sonia Allins and many others.