Ken and Lilyanna Clause met each other and Marisa Bruno at SUNY Fredonia where they were all working on their BFA degrees. Since those days, Ken and Lilyanna married and went on to get their Masters from RIT. They are both now enjoying their careers as art teachers. When Marisa is not working in her studio, in the Hungerford Building (Studio 254), in downtown Rochester, she is helping her mom and dad run their two locations of Donna Marie’s Gluten Free Bakery.
Ken Clause spent three years majoring in physics before switching his major to art. He says of that time, “I stopped trying to fulfill the wishes of others and became who I was meant to be. I tell my students that art is everywhere, whether it is in the form of music, dance, a painting or the packaging on a store shelf. I encourage them to take their “artist” off the assembly line and explore themselves as creative individuals.”
Lilyanna Clause refers to her paintings as Abstracted Landscapes. She says, “I find a genuine beauty in nature. I’ve looked at this piece, this aspect of nature and I want you to see how I feel it.” She says too, that her young daughter led her into the teaching field because she wants to share the joy of discovery that she sees in her daughter with her students.
Marisa Bruno finds the four stories of artist’s studios in the Hungerford Building a great experience. She says, “Hungerford people help one another.” Likewise, Marisa enjoys meeting new artists and helping them navigate the art scene in Rochester. Of her portraits she says,” I work in oils because I like to blend. I like it too, that every studio in the Hungerford is open on the first Friday of every month. I can show, sell and take commissions for my work right from my own studio 254.”
Ken, Lilyanna and Marisa have an Art Show of their work at the Parma Public Library that will be on display through December. This show is the seventy-fifth in a series of exhibits hosted by the Parma Public Library which feature area artists. For more information or to inquire about a show, please call Rosalind Lipomi, Adult Services Librarian, at the Parma Public Library at 392-8350 or visit the web at www.libraryweb.org/parma.
