ABOUT THE ARTIST

Pueblo, Colorado native, Roberto Cardinale , began carving and whittling wood when he was a child.  He honed his carving skills studying church architecture during the five years he spent as a Benedictine monk.  He was convinced by his monastic life to pursue being an artist. 

He met his wife, P.J., during the mid-sixties at the University of Northern Colorado.  One of their first outings together was to search for junk.  They married and spent a year in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.  There, Roberto studied goldsmithing and P.J. studied painting. 

“Like Claude Monet, who painted the Rouen Cathedral many times to portray its changing appearance in the shifting light of day, I often build the same church many times to capture its different aspects….I’ve had the joy of constructing theses wonderful buildings, adding my own artistic interpretations – and with none of the restrictions of building codes, committees or budgets.”

ABOUT THE WORK

In Roberto Cardinale’s garage – turned- workshop, he builds wooden pine boxes and miniature churches reminiscent of churches he studied while living in Mexico.  He layers them with paint.  Then, he scrapes, scratches and repaints them until they have lustrous surfaces and bright colors akin to weathered Mexican doors.  His wife, P.J., fills the boxes and an occasional church with her huge collection of odds and ends; she works thematically usually according to faded romance and sentimentality. 

EDUCATION

BA in Mathematics and Philosophy, earned while serving as a Benedictine monk

MA in Art, University of Northern Colorado

Ed. D in Art Education, Arizona State University

Professor at University of Northern Colorado, Ohio State University, University of Arizona, Boston University

Director of Program and Artistry, Boston University

CAREER

President of the San Antonio Art Institute

President of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation

Served on Committee for SNAG ’97 Conference, Society of North American Goldsmiths, Albuquerque, NM

EXHIBITS