Born in 1947, Gary Spinosa attended the Cleveland Institute of Art for his BFA and Edinboro University for his MFA. In 1970, he received a scholarship to Yale for a one-man show in the summer, which was no easy feat. He credits classical music concerts with much of his artistic inspiration, and says they were the reason that he began creating art. During a concert, he had a vision of a larvae, and set out to create a print of this vision. For him, making art is its own form of meditation. Spinosa's work seems to be inspired by world religions, and he says that they are ways for people to connect with their ancestral memories and past lives. He feels that he's contacting a universal part of ourselves and capturing it in his art. He believes that our genes are passed on from our ancestors, and that in today's world, we've lost touch with that connection. His work strives to fix that. In much of his work, animals play a part. To him, birds are a connection to heaven, and the doe is a welcoming guardian to the ancestral world. There is much to see and gain from Spinosa's multi-layered work. Spinosa currently resides in Pennsylvania, where he has a studio complete with kiln. Many of his pieces live in his house with him, perhaps so that he is always surrounded by his ancestors.
Source: https://www.cantonartcollection.com/
