Artist DEBBIE CANNATELLA

d e b b i e c a n n a t e l l a

After Katrina in 2005, award winning artist Debbie Cannatella left the swamplands, jazz music, elegant water fowl and the best food in south Louisiana to move to the progressive and ever-dynamic village of Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago and historical home to Frank Lloyd Wright. As a native Louisianan, Debbie captured architecture and the spirit of the people of New Orleans, surrounded by its vast waterways and multi-culturalism in the city streets and immediately dove into the rich artistic culture present in the midwest, serving on local art league boards and working with the Arts Council.

Another move in 2007, took her from the snowy Chicago winters and the beauty of the hardwoods in Fall for a small city in the piney woods of East Texas. Tyler has its own beauty, famous for the azaleas and dogwood trails that bring thousands to their area in the spring, and thousands more for the Rose Festival to see the roses Tyler is so famous for. In addition to moving her art business, she has become involved once again with Texas and Louisiana arts and social organizations. She is helping the City of Tyler open Gallery Main Street, a fine arts gallery located in downtown Tyler and she is organizing the Downtown Tyler Arts Coalition. She teaches beginners and advanced watercolor classes as well as mixed water media at Tyler Junior College through the Continuing Studies Division as well as classes in surrounding cities and workshops for arts organizations and communities.

Though the majority of Debbie's work is painted realistically, she often veers from photo-realism, preferring the bursts of color and unexpected nuances that are created within the ordinary and usual. Her work has been featured on the cover of magazines and her patrons retain an avid following. She has been involved in one-woman, group, society invitational exhibits and international exhibitions and her work can be found in both public and private collections throughout the Southern region and the Chicago-Oak Park area.

Debbie is a signature member of the Louisiana Watercolor Society, and a member of Southwestern Watercolor Society, Hoover Watercolor Society, Associated Women in the Arts, Splash, and the Southern Watercolor Society. Please contact her if you are interested in joining her mailing list for the 2009 season.

225BatonRouge.com feature article July 2006
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