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Art

An artist's adaptation

Allison Massari uses life-changing incidents to explore new methods of expression.

By LENNIE BENNETT
Published January 25, 2007

Robert Mitchell, glass
	[Art Festival Beth-El]

ADVERTISEMENT [Art Festival Beth-El] Allison Massari, Under the Tree of Hope, acrylic. [Art Festival Beth-El] Allison Massari, Juggling Gardenias, acrylic

ST. PETERSBURG

Of the 150 artists participating at Art Festival Beth-El on Sunday and Monday, the least likely is probably Allison Massari. Because Massari, 40, shouldn't be alive, much less painting.

But she is and she does, both superbly.

The St. Petersburg native's life and art were in doubt in 1998 after a car smashed into hers. Trapped in her burning car, she, too, caught on fire. By the time a security guard smashed through a window and pulled her out, 30 percent of her body was badly burned. She was hospitalized for months and in physical therapy for years. Her constant companion for much of that time was excruciating pain. The promising young painter couldn't use her arms.

In 2001, living in Colorado, she was creating art again - not paintings, which were too much for her still-damaged arms, but collages using tiny bits of multicolored paper that looked, from a distance, like beautifully blended paint. Then a car rear-ended hers, and Massari was left with serious brain injuries. She had to relearn basic tasks and doctors told her she would never paint again.

"In a way that second accident was worse than the first. I remember thinking after the fire that I didn't have my body but I had my mind. This time I felt I had lost that."

She had lots of physical therapy, "things to teach coping strategies, how to adapt to your life. It was depressing. I refused to believe life as I had known it was over."

She went to an alternative medicine clinic where, she said, "I noticed some incredible improvements. My dad a doctor said, 'Maybe it's just the placebo effect, but who cares?' "

Her first foray back into art was printmaking because she still couldn't process colors, among other things. But she made steady improvement and has been painting again for about two years.

"Now it's all back," said Massari, who lives in California.

Examples of her newest work will be at Art Festival Beth-El. All are self-portraits, though they are not vehicles for self-representation so much as character studies of the human condition. Her figures have, as they have always had, a monumentality to them.

New is her treatment of color, bold but now with added nuances. And usually there are fruits and flowers, used as symbols. In one painting, peaches represent an abundance of blessings and opportunities. In another, three papayas are lined up in front of a woman.

"I was thinking, what if God granted me three wishes," she said. "But I feel like I've already been granted my wishes."

Preview

Art Festival Beth-El

The festival, in its 34th year, is at Temple Beth-El, 400 Pasadena Ave. S, St. Petersburg, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday. Free admission.

A Patrons Preview is from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $20.

About 150 artists will exhibit paintings, ceramics, glass, jewelry, wood and metal. Syd Entel Gallery will present limited edition prints. On Monday, the Avenue of Shops will offer crafts and gift items. Refreshments are available both days, and a luncheon Monday, by reservation only, is $15. For information, call (727) 347-6136.

[Last modified January 24, 2007, 11:43:00]