RSS Feeds:
Lina was born in a small fishing village in Torre Faro, Sicily. She and her family came to America in the mid-‘50s, settling in Westchester, N.Y. Like countless immigrants before them, they came to America seeking a better life. Her parents achieved the outward financial success they sought, but harmony in Lina’s home was more elusive. Lina has a sister, Marie, who is six years older. As children, she didn’t know where her hand started or where her sister’s finished. She was who Lina watched and listened to. Her sister’s face was where Lina found her sanity; her face has always brought her home.
One of the main influences that led Lina to art took root as early as age 5. She was discouraged from going outside to play–so she turned to paper and pencils. First, she started drawing Superman, then, ball gowns. While she never combined the two, Lina realized as early as kindergarten that she was vastly different from her peers. They brought bagged lunches of peanut butter sandwiches. She brought bagged lunches of provolone cheese with a side of braised eel. While the students in Lina’s class would receive gold stars on their papers, she sat very quietly in the back of the room, trying to hide the fact that she didn’t know how to read. Those gold stars where painfully unattainable for this one-eye browed little Sicilian girl. This is where Superman came in. Lina found that the power of drawing him and her ball gowns finally got her those huge gold stars. Lina doesn’t draw the Man of Steel much anymore, but she still enjoys provolone cheese with a side of braised eel.
