What is the Officina Stamperia del Notaio?
The Officina Stamperia del Notaio, an international multidisciplinary artist’s residency program, was conceived in 2013 by Founder and Director Serena Perrone, and opened its doors for its inaugural season in Alfonsina Bellomo’s Magazzini Notarili, the home of Tusa Nero su Bianco and other cultural activities, in 2015.
Serena Perrone: Founder and Director, OSN International Artist’s Residency Program
Serena Perrone is the Founder and Director of OSN. Outside of the OSN residency season, she maintains an active career as a visual artist and professor who's main focus lies in printmaking, photography and works on paper. A dual citizen, she was raised between Tusa and the United States, where she did her schooling, and continues to split her time between the two. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design with a Master’s Degree in Printmaking, and holds a BFA in Painting, A BA in Art History and a BA in French from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
She is currently Associate Professor (with Tenure) and Head of the Printmaking Department at Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Previously, she was a Visiting Critic in the Illustration Department at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Assistant Professor and Head of Printmaking at Pratt Institute’s upstate New York campus, PrattMWP College of Art. She has taught printmaking, drawing and foundation studies at several institutions including Kutztown University, Tyler School of Art, Swarthmore College, the College of New Jersey and the University of Georgia’s Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy. She has been a visiting critic and lecturer at Cornell University, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Moore College of Art, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Washington University in St. Louis, and numerous other institutions. Aside from her role as the Founder and Director of OSN,she has also served as guest curator and juror at numerous venues including the Pratt Institute’s gallery at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Museum of Art, Fort Point Artist Community in Boston, and RISD’s Sol Koffler Gallery in Providence.
Perrone’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Smith College Museum of Art, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, and the New York Public Library, among other public and corporate collections. Her work has been exhibited in numerous solo exhibitions including the Spring/Break Art Show at United Nations Plaza in New York; The Print Center in Philadelphia, List Gallery of Swarthmore College; the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking; Cade Tompkins Projects; the University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, and the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice.
Recent group exhibitions include: the Detroit Institute of Arts; Cleveland Museum of Art; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the International Print Center New York; The Print Center, Philadelphia; Smith College Museum of Art; SUNY Purchase; and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She has received grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, South Arts, Idea Capital, the Santo Foundation, the William J. Cooper Foundation, and the Vermont Studio Center, and she was a Pew Fellowship nominee in 2016. Recent projects and residencies include C.R.E.T.A. Rome, the Flatbed Center for Contemporary Printmaking, Philagrafika, Marianne Bernstein Projects' Due North and Due South (in Iceland and Sicily, respectively), and the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice. She is represented by Cade Tompkins Projects in Providence, Rhode Island and is a member of the artist collective Ground Floor Contemporary, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Her work can be seen at serenaperrone.com.
Alfonsina Bellomo: Owner, Magazzini Notarili and President of Tusa Nero su Bianco
Alfonsina, the owner of the Magazzini Notarili and President of the cultural association Tusa Nero su Bianco, is a tireless advocate of arts and culture and has been an influential force in Tusa, with various initiatives and projects throughout the years that have served to honor and preserve the architecture, oral history, and cultural patrimony of Tusa. In the early 2000s she created, with Daniella Tasca, a lecture and performance series called Tusa Nero su Bianco, bringing poets, scholars, journalists, storytellers and musicians to the Magazzini Notarili (the location of the current studio spaces) to present public presentations touching on the history, politics and cultural traditions of the region.
Alfonsina undertook the enormous task of repairing and restoring it to create a large multi-use venue that most recently has served as an exhibition, lecture and performance space that has hosted countless public events for the City of Tusa, Tusa Nero su Bianco, Factus, Associazione Fotografico Alesino, and other cultural organizations and initiatives. During the OSN residency sessions, Serena converts it into a workspace that houses her equipment and materials used by the artists selected by OSN to undertake personal projects.
Independent of the annual programming of Tusa Nero su Bianco, from 2015-2025 the Magazzini Notarili have also served as the main site of Serena Perrone’s international artist’s residency program, Officina Stamperia del Notaio.