I AM MOVED BY THE WAY CULTURE IS SPREAD AND BY THE POWERFUL MESSAGES IT CAN DIFFUSE

My name is Stefania Veldemiri. I’m a painter and a conservator of antiquities and works of art. This is a formal version of my professional title. If I wished to introduce myself more freely, I would say that I love art no matter the form; be it Altamira cave paintings in Spain or Rothko’s deep blue colours. I feel happy when I write, love, communicate and speak the unspeakable. I’m moved by the way culture is spread and by the powerful messages it can diffuse. I’m equally touched by a poem and by the unconscious confessions of my little students when playing with paint and colouring their blank canvases.

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As a CONSERVATOR, I specialise in the manufacturing of replicas or casts of fossils and works of art, which are then sold or exhibited in a museum, while I also work as an in situ conservator in various excavation projects.
My wish to communicate to children the thrill of archaeological discovery and the power hidden in archaeological finds lead me to setting up educational programs in line with the school curriculum (mainly as far as the subject of History is concerned). Students take part in mini archaeological excavations, glue the broken pieces together and restore the finds, and finally exhibit the restored objects in their classrooms. In a way, they follow the whole course of an archaeological find from the moment it is unearthed to the day it is placed in a museum for the public to admire. This process is fundamentally based on my belief that students learn better through play and experience; and that there is nothing more exciting for a teacher than seeing in the eyes of his/her students the bliss of discovering something while digging, something that looks very similar to the object coldly depicted on the pages of their history books. In a magical way, this historical piece of information becomes real, tangible and, more importantly, essential.

As a PAINTER, I enjoy making paintings inspired by words, as well as using words to…”paint”. I illustrate fairytales, literary texts and poems that trigger stellar explosions in my mind and heart. If you are the writer of a fairytale –a real fairytale, not a story preaching about decent or unacceptable behaviour– and you need an illustrator, I’m the one you’re looking for! My dream is to illustrate a novel.
I paint since I was a little girl. It was not hard for me to decide that I wished to share the joy and self-confidence I found in art with kids. My goal is to teach them all the aesthetic rules that govern painting, to help them internalise and apply those rules, so that they can easily move to a higher stage, where they can boldly and confidently break them! My students, though, teach me a lesson too, and it is a precious lesson to learn; a fresh approach towards colour and composition, as well as honesty, true essence and wisdom inherent in their words and works of art. This is the most valuable inspiration for me!