Look and Listen

Biography

Cappuccio has exhibited widely at the national and international level in over 200 juried and invitational exhibitions. This is a brief list of his many exhibitions which include: the University of Oregon Museum of Art, Oregon; Pratt Institute, New York; Grand Rapids Art Museum, Arnold Klein Gallery, Michigan; West Publishing Company, Minnesota; Neville Museum, Wisconsin; Troy Art Gallery, The Art Group, Michigan Fine Arts Competition, Bonifas Art Center, Oasis Gallery, Artworks Gallery, Michigan Academy of Arts and Science, Michigan; Pensacola National Drawing Exhibition, Florida; Sixty fifth Annual Exhibition of the Texas Fine Arts Association, Texas; Fort Wayne Museum of Art,Indiana; American Painters in Paris, France. Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Seattle Museum of Art, Washington; Mayor's Invitational Exhibition, Salem, Oregon; Michigan Painter's Annual, National Society of Mural Painters, The Scarab Club, The Governor’s Invitational, Michigan; Northern Michigan University, The Devos Art Museum, Michigan; Kendall College of Art National Academy of Design, New York; Night Gallery of San Diego, California; Gallery of Modern Art, Taos, New Mexico. Thomas Cappuccio was born in Italy. He came to the US at the age of 12. He received his BFA from Pratt Institute, and his MA from Brooklyn College of CUNY. He has had an active exhibition record in painting and drawing, illustration and mural painting. He has taught in New York City, at Kendall College of Art and Design, the University of Oregon,and was Professor of Art and Design at Northern Michigan University until his retirement in 2007 where he has taught painting, drawing, design, illustration and visual theory courses. He came to Northern Michigan University in 1975 and served as Head of the Department of Art and Design until 1978. He returned to full time teaching where he helped develop the BFA in Illustration Program which he directed since 1979. His paintings, drawings and mural paintings are found in numerous regional collections as well as those on the national level. Cappuccio has been the recipient of many grants and awards; among these are the Oregon Arts Commission Award for Mural Painting, Summer Research Grant for Mural Painting of The University of Oregon, Mayor's Invitational Purchase Award; Salem, Oregon. Freeden Painting Project, Marquette, Michigan. Mural painting for the Glenn Seaborg Science Center, Northern Michigan University. Michigan Council for the Arts, Faculty Research Grant from Northern Michigan University, Second Prize for Painting the Oregon System of Higher Education. First Prize for Painting, Northern Exposures V, William Bonifas Art Center, Mural painting for Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan Purchase Award, Bay De Noc Community College, Escanaba, Michigan. Bay College West Paintings and Drawings Purchase, Iron Mountain, Michigan. Wrote and directed a documentary film "150 Years, A Sesquicentennial Celebration," for St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Marquette, Michigan; Co-wrote and directed "Political Cartooning in America. His work appears in Art in Public Places, Ohio University Press, The Handbook of Architectural Ornament, Van Nostrand Reinhold, Words and Images, Northern Michigan University Press, and North Country Images, Scarlet Ibis Press. He has studied with Samuel Gelber, Alex Katz, Gabriel Laderman, and Ad Reinhardt, among others.

Inspiration

I have a love for visual art, nature, and science. These areas seem diverse but are all interrelated. Art can communicate through its own "language," and syntax. It communicates through light, color, shapes and pattern. Each discipline has its own mode and language. By working in these different areas, each illuminates the other. Writing has its own distinctive grammar and syntax which in conjunction with other forms of communication and exploration, can lead to a fuller deeper way to learn and understand.