Demonstrating art talent at an early age, Carol Santora would draw whenever she could. She was often chosen by her teachers to illustrate school projects and bulletin boards. Inspired by Jon Gnagy, she absorbed his Learn to Draw program on television every Saturday morning and developed her skills with his numerous art kits. As a young adult she continued to draw things around her and began to copy drawings of the masters like Michelangelo, Tiepolo, and Durer.
In 1983 while working as a registered nurse, she was encouraged by her husband to pursue her love of art by returning to college to earn her associate degree in fine art. She joined the Leominster Art Association and began to participate in art exhibits. After her graduation she continued to paint and study art at the Fitchburg and
Worcester
Art Museums , and in classes with local artists. She returned to college in 1993 to earn her BFA, summa cum laude, from Framingham State College. In 1996, she retired from nursing to pursue her career in art full time.
In the many years that she has been painting, Santora has worked in charcoal, oil, watercolor, printmaking, acrylic, pastel and mixed media. Her subjects have included pets and domestic animals,
Maine seascapes, flowers and wildlife. In 1998, after completing a painting of a jaguar while experimenting with a crumpled paper technique, she became focused on the endangered ‘great’ cat. Her work is perpetually motivated by the great cats’ beauty and magnificence, as well as the dangers that it faces. Santora’s unique painting style is expressive of her own personal vision, and ranges from representational scenes of her subjects in intimate portraits to more conceptual mixed media work.
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Santora moved to
Maine in 2005. For seven years prior to that, she maintained a studio in both places. She continues to paint domestic animals and accepts commissions. You can often find her at
Cape
Porpoise , painting the skiffs as they lay silent against the dock or on a lighthouse hunt or antique car show with her husband. Santora is a firm believer that an artist must know her subject before she can paint it. She travels to zoos, conservation and rescue facilities all over the to study wildlife in captivity. She keeps current on events affecting wild cats and those in captivity and hopes to one day travel to see them in the wild. In addition, she donates a portion of her great cat sales to feline conservation.
Santora has exhibited in numerous solo, juried, invitational, and group shows all along the east coast as well as in California, Wyoming, New York City, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands and in Tain l’Hermitage and Tournon, France. She has garnered over five-dozen awards for her work at local and regional shows including, several first place, People’s Choice and Best in Show awards.
She is a member of the Wildlife Artist Association and is awaiting her third juried show to obtain Signature status. She is a juried member of the Art Guild of the Kennebunks, in addition to her other professional affiliations. Her work is part of many corporate and private collections in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Netherlands. Visits to her gallery Santora Fine Art on Route 35 in Kennebunk are always welcome.
