Artist Zingaro

Artist Zingaro (born 1954) is an American artist best known for his original artworks the ancient medium of vitreous enamel. Zingaro creates artworks in his New Mexico studio and shows his works in galleries across the U.S. Abstract color forms, flowers and organic elements are common themes in Zingaro's enamel artworks.
Life and career
Zingaro was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts to first generation Azorean and Canuck immigrants. Officially, his artistic education began when he entered the youth program of the Swain School of Design at age eleven. In his teen years, Zingaro apprenticed with the painter George Mandevellis in his Cape Cod studio. Two years later, Zingaro traveled across America, making his living as a commercial mural artist and signwriter.
In the mid-70's, Zingaro settled in Madrid, New Mexico where he later opened a studio/ art gallery. Here he worked in the mediums of acrylic on canvas and found-object metal art. In 1985, he began traveling the U.S. again, this time on assignments with the palladium photography artist David Michael Kennedy. In 1990, Zingaro worked with the dancer to paint the set for the National Dance Institute's production of Fat City in Santa Fe. Zingaro earned a formal arts degree from Stockton College in 1995. In 2001, Craig Ruwe, a master enamel artist who had trained under the renown enamelist Fred Uhl Ball, engaged Zingaro as his studio assistant.
Vitreous Enamel
The earliest known evidence of vitreous enamel, otherwise known as porcelain enamel or fused glass on metal, are six golden rings found on the island of Cyprus in the mid 1950s. These rings were dated back to 1200 BC. While the medium has taken many turns over the centuries, few were quite so bold as the works of Fred Uhl Ball whose experimental techniques elevated enamel work from decorative objectives to abstract, interpretive wall art.
Ball's training of Craig Ruwe followed by Ruwe's training of Zingaro extended the legacy of the vitreous enamel medium. When Ruwe died in 2004, his final request of Zingaro was that he continue to train artists in and evolve the process of vitreous enamel art. In 2009 Zingaro founded a production studio in Atlanta, Georgia with his protégé, Houston Llew. Llew is best known for vitreous enamel art collectibles known as Spiritiles. Zingaro trains and assists enamel artists in their career development.
Using a variety of techniques and talents developed over a lifetime Zingaro’s body of vitreous enamel artworks number over five hundred original works. They are shown in galleries and held in private and corporate collections.

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