Arts & craftsmanship
The Aurora Public Art Commission presents Interior Journey, Furniture Renaissance, an exploration of the materials and methods of furniture construction and design, from 1760 through the present.
Curated by the Aurora Public Art Commission and Albert and Mary Ann Signorelli, Interior Journey features the work of three artists: furniture designer and craftsman Tonino Stalteri, and photographers Tony Berardi and Sally Good. In addition the exhibit includes numerous pieces of period furniture from the collection of the Aurora Historical Society.
Tonino Stalteri
Tonino Stalteri, native of Calabria, Italy, has spent the past 20 years mastering his art to become a true artisan. Stalteri uses old world craftsmanship to design and create eclectic, contemporary furniture. His designs are built using traditional style joinery, dowels, finger joints, dovetails, mortise and tenons. All pieces are made from natural materials including many hard and soft woods, concrete, and many types of metals (aluminum, copper, steel and iron). There is also a focus on recycled materials, for example, Stalteri has retrieved materials from demolition sites and incorporated them in various ways.
Stalteri’s specialty includes metal weaving, which provides an intriguing look to a design. He also experiments with natural stains. The latest designs include hand-hammered hardware for cabinets and doors. He begins with a raw piece of copper and uses the tradition of hand-hammered effects to create the rustic drawer pulls.
Tony Stalteri has said that his greatest pleasure is to complete a design within a customer’s home and to see the significance it assumes in their living space. No two pieces are ever the same.
Stalteri’s work is represented at the following galleries: Casa De Artista in Old Town Scottsdale, Ariz., and Sawbridge Studios lin Chicago & Winnetka. A photo gallery can be viewed at the website: www.designsbytonino.com .
Tony Berardi
Chicago native Tony Berardi has been a professional photographer since 1956, when he started working for the International News Service.
In July of 1957 he moved to the Chicago Herald American. That newspaper was afterwards renamed the Chicago American and then again renamed Chicago Today, where Berardi won many awards, nationally and internationally. During this time some of his photographs were hung at The Hague.
After working in sports and the Sunday magazine section, Berardi was appointed Director of Photography in 1971. When the paper folded into the Chicago Tribune in 1975, he became the chief photographer and director of the photo department. Under his guidance the paper won many photographic awards and honors.
After retiring in 1997, Tony Berardi and his wife Sally Good started the firm, Photofields, a photographic company specializing primarily in interior design, architecture and landscaping photography.
Sally Good
As a 13-year-old, Sally Good’s dream was to become an underwater photographer. Although she eventually decided to stay on dry land, her interest in photography led her to the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, where she received an associate’s degree. She then continued her education at the London College of Printing in the U.K.
After college, Good found employment doing darkroom work for renowned agricultural photographer, Grant Heilman, but soon realized that “I needed to be in a job where I was doing the shooting.”
Having heard the old adage, “If you can’t get a job in Chicago, you can’t get a job anywhere!” she moved to Chicago and worked as a photo intern at the Chicago Tribune. Good remained on the staff for 10 years, working mostly on feature assignments and in the color studio, shooting food, fashion and portraiture. She won numerous awards, notably the Beck Award in 1983.
After taking time off to raise their four children, Sally Good joined her husband, Tony Berardi in 1997 and started the firm, Photofields.
Their work has appeared Design & Architecture, North Shore magazine, Midwest Home Chicago, Chicago Life and Time Out
source:www.suburbanchicagonews.com
