DONNA ROPPOLO

Donna Roppolo is a professional artist and designer native to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She graduated from Louisiana State University School of Interior Design. She later pursued her career in decorative painting while studying in California and New York, where she developed an extensive portfolio in the decorative arts. At age 22, she launched her business, Painted Deceptions Incorporated, and then later studied at the Graesan Studio in Milan, Italy, where she perfected the application of Venetian plaster. She continues working in homes and businesses creating finishes that are custom to every interior.

Donna is excited about her newest endeavor featuring her original art, working with a mixed media on fabric to create unique fragments and panels. “I have always been intrigued by the masters of the arts. I am inspired by timeless interiors and fascinated with hand-painted chinoiseries and frescoes. I am applying my knowledge and history in the decorative arts to create a modernized application of this centuries-old art form.”

Her process begins with a simple piece of fabric surfaced with a mixture of plaster and resins. The fabric is then delicately handled to create random fractures that will inspire its own composition. A mixed media of oils, acrylics, and glazes is used on her grisaille panels, while other pieces may include the application of precious metals layered onto her distinctive canvas.

Donna works from her studio, overlooking a courtyard veiled in natural light with reflective waters and organic materials. She is inspired by the amorphous shapes in nature and the environments she encounters. She has grown to embrace the comparable nuances and imperfections in her work, and recognizes restraint while submitting to the natural order of the unintentional. “It’s so amazing when the accidental turn of a brush or a drop of medium falls onto the surface and creates those favored markings. You just can’t plan that kind of thing.”

During free time, Donna enjoys gardening, traveling and entertaining. Most days, she can be found engaged in her work with her loyal companion, Taszi, by her side.