Italo Scanga

1932 - 2001

Birth-PlaceLago, Italy

Death-PlaceLa Jolla, CA

BiographyItalo Scanga (June 6, 1932 - July 7, 2001) Italian-born American artist.
1932: Born in Lago, Calabria to Giuseppe and Serafina Ziccarelli, youngest of four children: Carolina, Mafalda and Nicolino.

1939-1945: Prepares to leave with his mother for America to meet his father and brother. American troops invade Italy on the day of departure and they are unable to leave. Spends the war years in Lago with his mother and very little resources. Works as a cabinetmaker's apprentice and studies sculpture with a man who carves statues of saints.

1947: Emigrates to America with his mother to Pt. Marion, PA where his father works as a laborer for the railroad.

1950: Moves to Garden City, MI with his family and works at General Motors lifting transmissions on an assembly line.

1951-1953: Studies at the Society of Arts and Crafts in Detroit, MI.

1953: Due to his language barrier graduates from Garden City High School at the age of 21 while continuing to work evenings at General Motors.

1953-1955: Serves in the US Army, stationed in Austria in an armored tank division.

1956: Marries Mary Louise Ashley, a librarian at the Garden City Public Library. Moves to East Lansing, MI where he enrolls at Michigan State University.

1956: First son, Italo Antonio Amadeo (Tony) born.

1958: Father, Giuseppe dies in Garden City, MI.

1959: Daughter, Katherine Elizabeth (Cici) born. Look Magazine commissions him to do a photographic "human story" about his mother, a widow immigrant, returning with her to Calabria (where she remains until the end of her life). Publishes a book of these photographs in 1979.

1960: Graduates from Michigan State University with a BA. Meets Richard Merkin and David Pease, fellow students who remain friends throughout his life. Studies under Lindsey Decker who introduces him to welding and sculpture after his initial interest in photography. Also studies with Charles Pollock, brother of Jackson Pollock.

1961: Receives an MA degree from Michigan State University. First teaching job at University of Wisconsin (through 1964). Meets Harvey Littleton, a fellow instructor. Lives in faculty housing.

1962: Daughter Serafina Annaliese (Sarah) born.

1963: Son Giuseppe Edward (Joe) born.

1964: Moves to Providence, RI to teach at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Colleagues with artists Richard Merkin and Hardu Keck. Starts a correspondence with HC Westermann. Spends summers teaching at Brown University, colleague of Hugh Townley.

1966: Moves to State College, PA and teaches at Pennsylvania State University for one year. Meets artists Juris Ubans, Harry Anderson, Richard Frankel, and Richard Calabro, who remain friends throughout his career.

1967: David Pease helps him get a tenure track position at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA and the family moves to Glenside, PA. Artists he works closely with include Ernest Silva, Lee Jaffe, Donald Gill, and William Schwedler. Meets graduate student Dale Chihuly while lecturing at RISD and develops a lifelong friendship.

1969: Son, William Frankel (Bill) born. One person exhibition, Baylor Art Gallery, Baylor University, Waco, TX. Buys his first home in Glenside, PA at 2225 Menlo Avenue. Works in his basement studio, creates installations with farm implements, herbs, glass containers and saint iconography. Works very closely with students Larry Becker and Heidi Nivling (who later run a gallery in Philadelphia, PA), and Harry Anderson. Welcomes many artists into his home including Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, Bruce Nauman (a former student), Vito Acconci, Ree Morton and Rafael Ferrer.

1970: Exhibits "Saints, Glass, Tools, and Romances" at Atelier Chapman Kelly, Dallas, TX, one of his first one-person installations. Included in the sculpture annual at the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC. Receives Howard Foundation grant from Brown University.

1971: Collaborates with Dale Chihuly and Jamie Carpenter pouring molten glass into bamboo at RISD. Exhibits the work at Museum of Art, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY. Teaches summer school at University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI (through 1973) and has a show, "Christ & Pythagoras." Shows an installation at Henri Gallery, Washington, DC.

1972: Solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC. Installations at the Clocktower, NYC and Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA. Teaches in Rome, Italy for Tyler School of Art.

1973: "Saints Glass" at 112 Greene Street Gallery, NYC. Installation at the Institute of Contemporary Art at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Meets Gordon Matta Clark and contributes to an artist cookbook. Goes to Pilchuck Glass School, Stanwood, WA, founded by Dale Chihuly, as a visiting artist. He continues to work there annually through 2001. Works over the years with Pilchuck artists Richard Royal, Seaver Leslie, Jamie Carpenter, Joey Kirkpatrick, Flora Mace, Robbie Miller, Billy Morris, Buster Simpson, Toots Zynsky, Howard Ben Tre and Therman Statom. Separates from his wife Mary and leaves Glenside, PA to live in Philadelphia at 1359 71st Ave. Receives an NEA grant.

1975: Meets Stephanie Smedley, an artist, who years later becomes his wife. "Restoration Pieces" at Alessandro Gallery, NYC.

1976: Moves to La Jolla, CA to take a one year job teaching at the University of California, San Diego as a visiting professor. Hired by David and Eleanor Antin at the suggestion of Ree Morton.

1977: Moves back to Philadelphia, PA and returns to Tyler School of Art. Exhibits "Saints, Lamentations, Limitations" at Alessandro Gallery.

1978: Moves permanently to La Jolla to teach at UCSD with Newton and Helen Harrison, David and Eleanor Antin, Manny Farber, Patricia Patterson, and Alan Kaprow. The University supplies him with his first real studio in an old water tank on campus. Creates "Fear" series while visiting Dale Chihuly that summer in Providence, RI. Begins the first of several trips to Italy to make pilgrimages, to visit his family, and to look at art and architecture.

1979: Creates the "Potato Famine" series, his first work at UCSD. Exhibits them at the Boehm Gallery, Palomar College, San Marcos, CA and at Gallery One, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA. Meets art dealer Barry Rosen.

1980: Exhibits "Fear" and "Potato Famine" pieces at the Frank Kolbert Gallery, NYC. Receives NEA grant.

1981: Two week residency at Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA. Long time friend Dale Chihuly calls asking what the Italian word for spots is after creating a design using all the available colors in the hot shop. The Dale Chihuly "Macchia" series was named by Italo Scanga, only after Dale Chihuly's mother Viola Chihuly called the series of glass the "Uglies".

1982: Exhibits at Charles Cowles Gallery, NYC. Creates woodcuts with Chip Elwell. After 9 years of separation, he and Mary Louise Ashley divorce.

1983: Marries Stephanie Smedley. Included in the Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC. Exhibits "Archimedes Troubles: Sculptures and Drawings" at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, "Italo Scanga Heads" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and "Italo Scanga: Sculptures" as titled at the Delahunty Gallery, NYC. "Animal in Danger" and "Montecassino" series made. Working with studio assistants Ryk Williams and Dan Britton.

1984: Constructs "Figure Holding Fire" with his son Joe at Santa Barbara Museo, Mammola, Italy, his first public commission. Joe and he continue doing the public commissions together through the years. Included in "Primitivism in 20th Century Art" at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC. Has his first one-person show in Florida at the Bruce Helander Gallery.

1985: Begins the "Metaphysical" series with Ryk Williams in the water tank, UCSD. "Italo Scanga New Works" at Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico. Travels to Leggia, Switzerland and creates work for dealer Reto a Marca with assistant Chuck Collings. Toru Nakatani begins working with him at UCSD, and continues this working relationship (at his Turquoise Street studio) for the remainder of his life.

1986: His first retrospective, "Italo Scanga: Recent Sculpture and Drawings" at the Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA. Shows at John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA, the Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia, PA and Bette Stoler, NYC.

1987: Exhibits "Troubled World" series at Amalfi Arte, Amalfi, Italy.

1988: Purchases 961 Turquoise Street studio, San Diego, CA. Exhibits at Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, Italy; Anders Tornberg Gallery, Lund, Sweden; Dorothy Goldeen Gallery, Santa Monica, CA; Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA and Germans Van Eck Gallery, NYC. Commission for the City of San Jose, CA "Figure Holding the Sun."

1989: Amalfi Arte publishes "Italo Scanga" with an essay by Michele Buonomo. Separates from Stephanie Smedley and moves into Turquoise Street studio. Receives Distinguished Alumni Award from Michigan State University.

1990: Artist in Residence at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME. Builds sculptures with son, Bill. Exhibits at Betsy Rosenfield Gallery in Chicago, IL. Divorces Stephanie Smedley. Starts spending a majority of his time working on paintings.

1991: Meets welder David Grindle and initiates a series of metal sculptures with glass, trees & cones and several large welded "Trees" at Turquoise Studio. Travels to Vietri Sul Mare, Italy with son Bill to work at a ceramics factory.

1992: Meets Su-Mei Yu, a chef and restaurateur, his companion through the end of his life. Exhibits in solo shows at the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library, La Jolla, CA and the Susanne Hillberry Gallery, Birmingham, MI. Meets David and Leisa Austin, and becomes a featured artist at Imago Galleries, Palm Desert, CA.

1993: Moves to Su-Mei Yu's house in La Jolla, CA but continues using Turquoise Street as a studio. Has one person shows at the Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA and the Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GE.

1994: Meets Nando Randi, visiting from Ravenna for the America's Cup. Over the next years establishes friendships with many Italians visiting San Diego and living in Italy including Chiara Fuschini, Felice Nittolo, Diego Esposito, Ubaldo Grazia and Giuseppe Padula.

1995: Exhibition at Galleria Il Patio, Ravenna, Italy. Travels to Deruta, Italy with son Bill and works at Deruta ceramic factory; also in 1996, 1997 and 1999. Travels to Thailand with Su-Mei Yu. Receives Chancellor's Award, University of California, San Diego.

1996: Starts making sculptures with large carved wood religious figures he has carved in Thailand. Exhibition at Barry Rosen & Jaap van Lier Modern & Contemporary Art, NYC.

1997: Artist-in-residence for two weeks at University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA. Makes frescoes with Megan Marlatt. Exhibitions at Bayly Art Museum, Charlottesville, VA, Bryan Ohno Gallery, Seattle, WA, and Comune di Ravenna, Ravenna, Italy.

1998: Begins a series of small bronzes. Exhibits at Grossmont College Hyde Gallery, San Diego, CA and Cuesta College Art Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA

1999: Purchases a second studio at 4130 Napier Street, San Diego, CA. Shows at Flanders Contemporary Art, Minneapolis, MN and The Lillian Berkley Collection, Escondido, CA.

2000: Begins work on an exciting new series of work, after several years of primarily painting, called the "Candlestick" series with Mike Patterson and Neal Bociek. Exhibition at Larry Becker Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2001: Major commission, "Continents" at the San Diego International Airport. Ready to travel to Italy for several months for scheduled exhibitions in Lago, Calabria and Ravenna, Italy. Also working on creating a museum of his work in his hometown of Lago, Calabria. Dies of heart failure on July 27 at Turquoise Street studio at age 69.

He is survived by his companion, Su-Mei Yu; two daughters, Katherine Scanga of Riverside, R.I., and Sarah Scanga of Charlottesville, Va.; three sons, Anthony of Glenside, Pa., Joseph of San Francisco and William of New York; and four grandchildren.

Person Type(not assigned)