Italian foreign exchange student senior Eleonara Canal created a memoir of her past, but she didn’t use any words. She chose three objects which represented the stories of her life and painted them in a technique that makes each object appear like it is on a different dimension, each representing a part of her past and present. After reflecting on her life in Italy and her artistic influences, Canal has decided to go back to Italy to go to art college.
“Here, I only have two hours per day to paint,” Canal said. “In Italy, I had six hours to paint and focus on one art. I like a lot of artistic styles and I appreciate how artists can portray objects and bodies. I’m very interested in seeing how I can proportion and distort things because it’s weird, in a good way, and a lot of people can already draw them normally.”
Recently, Canal has been studying the different ways an artists can construe an image. However her interests in art began at a much younger age as Canal went on expositions to art museums with her parents, uncle and aunt. She was truly introduced to art through her aunt’s jewelry business.
“Most of the time she makes jewelry that is for display,” Canal said. “I thought it was weird, for someone to have jewelry just for decoration, but now I understand the artistic value in it.”
Canal’s aunt, Alessandra Lisboa, was the person who exposed her to the world of arts and crafts through her work as a jeweler and the personal paintings she did. Lisboa even gave Canal the opportunity to make jewelry for her friends and explore a different type of art.
“I started out with a thick block of silver,” Canal said. “First I thinned the silver, then melted it, cooled it, shaped it, made a hole in it and ended up with a small silver earring. I remember thinking ‘it’s so much work for such a small thing’. I actually thought about going into the jewelry business with my aunt, but that was before I studied painting.”
Even though Canal has been heavily exposed to the craft of jewelry making, she says that her true skill and love for art lies in painting. This year she created her favorite, and what she believes is her best, painting through the trompe-l’oeil technique. She began by choosing three different objects that were both important to her and represented her. She chose the scene of a man and a woman on a beach, a pair of keys and dancing shoes.
“The scene on the beach is supposed to be romantic and sad,” Canal said. “There is a somber mood because time is ending. The sun is setting so these lovers are about to part ways. In Italy I sort of left a ‘friend’ who wasn’t really my ‘boyfriend’ but the connection was there. The scene on the beach represented the people who you leave, and that, sometimes, you have to leave a lot of people in your life.”
While the scene with the man and the woman deal with the consequences of moving to a foreign country, the keys are a symbol for Canal’s struggle in making the decision to leave Italy.
“In Italy, there are a lot of people who never think about the chance to become a foreign exchange student, but I knew that I had to come and see a different culture,” Canal said. “I lived my whole life in the same place in Italy and I didn’t want to give up that chance for change, even if it meant leaving my home.”
Canal said that the dance shoes – symbolic of her dancing aspirations – were supposed to be things that the majority of people could relate to and reminisce on.
“I wanted to learn how to dance but as I grew up I realized how much I loved art,” Canal said. “It shows how much things can change in someone’s life. I think that everyone has, at one point in their life, wanted to be something but has been introduced to something new and better.”
Lately, though, Canal has been thinking more about her future in art. She draws from the example that Lisboa has presented her and knows that the lives of modern artist can end up differently than how they imagined.
“To be a very successful artist you have to become famous, and if you don’t, it becomes difficult,” Canal said. “My aunt is a jeweler, and she doesn’t really enjoy it as much as painting, but she has to do it to make money. I’m so willing to work in this business because I’ll enjoy it so much, so I don’t mind that possible difficulty.”
Canal is taking the challenge of being a modern day artist head on, in order to continue doing what she feels is meant for her. She says she has put her past to rest and is ready for whatever awaits her back home in Italy, at the art college.
“Art is one of the most important things in my life,” Canal said. “I can paint for hours and I don’t feel like time is passing. You can see the difference on a painting when you’re mad or happy through the colors you choose and the different ways you paint. When I’m painting I feel focused and I feel like I can concentrate on all my emotions and give them life, on the canvas.”
