Glendale News Press
Nov 2 2009
CA

Passion for classics

Glendale artist Ara Dona is back after a four-year art apprenticeship
in Florence, Italy. One of his paintings is hanging behind him. (Roger
Wilson/News-Press)

Artist says if you connect with a subject, it will show in the
painting.

By Max Zimbert Published: Last Updated Sunday, November 1, 2009 10:12
PM PST

Glendale High School graduate Ara Dona must now find a way to make a
living after finishing a prestigious four-year program at the Florence
Academy of Arts in Italy.

Dona’s work is dark, concentrated and emotional. The classical style
originated in Florence and gives its practitioners the skills to
capture emotion and convey meaning in ways that photographs cannot.

"Classical painting, it requires interpretation," Dona said. "The
thing that’s very important and attractive about classical art is
the discipline it gives you to paint exactly what you see, [but]
every artist when they paint something from life, they interpret it
in their own way."

He is scheduled to have his works shown at the Lake Avenue Church in
Pasadena in mid-November.

Technique requires an understanding of anatomy, chemistry and sometimes
construction. A lot of classical art originates with models posing
in unnatural positions that sometimes require their limbs to be tied
up. Chemistry is necessary to avoid cracking paints as well as knowing
how to blend paints together.

"It’s not a matter of what you paint, it’s how you paint it," he said.

"You can paint something, but if you don’t paint it the way it is
required to paint, there’s no point."

Many people have been inspired by Dona’s work and have helped him
along the way. One individual was so inspired, he invited Dona
to use a studio all summer, and when Dona said he couldn’t manage
transportation, he lent him a car, said Jo Butcher, a teacher at
Glendale High School who described Dona as her third child.

"They believed in this young man’s talent and his humility," she said.

"I hope that he is able to maintain that type of aura that he has
that people believing in him and want to see the best of success."

Butcher said she virtually gave up her family life for two years to
nurture Dona in high school.

"The greatest gift for a teacher is to see someone learn," she said.

"He had such a desire, you couldn’t turn your back on him. The
sacrifice in your own life, it was worth it to give to somebody. I
won’t be getting anything possibly in return, but society will."

Dona was born in Armenia and moved to Glendale in the early ’90s. He
earned $65,000 worth of scholarships for his education and has had a
few celebrity clients like Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise and Kent Perkins,
husband of "Laugh-In" regular Ruth Buzzi. He also won an art contest
where the prize was wall space in Rep. Adam Schiff’s Washington,
D.C., office.

His scholarships began to trail off into his final year, but his
accountant sponsored his studies for $26,000.

"He has so much talent, and I wanted to encourage that," Andy
Allcroft said.

Dona and girlfriend Julia Stjernstrom said they hope to find a studio
soon and begin work and two complementary 14-foot pieces depicting
the jailing and angelic intervention of St. Paul. The work will take
about six months, and the artists said they hope to do portraits for
commission in between.

The two met in school at Florence and quickly became friends,
Stjernstrom said.

"He was well-known there by everybody," she said. "One of the first
things he said was, ‘I shouldn’t be afraid of paint, the paint should
be afraid of you.’"