Paula Borsetti

My guest this week is Paula Borsetti, a visual artist, mother of 1 and grandmother of 2 from Beverly, Massachusetts USA.Paula grew up in a creative family, her dad played the bagpipes and her mother encouraged her creativity. While in high school she took an arts course at a local school and went on to study visual arts. When her daughter was little she joined the local Art Guild to push herself to get involved in exhibitions. After holding various unrelated to art jobs, she fell into teaching art at High School and went on to teach for 26 years, up until 2 years ago when the pandemic hit. She’s been full time in her studio ever since, just a few steps from her back door and surrounded by a trio of Springer Spaniels.Paula works in a variety of media including painting, drawing, printmaking & mixed media work. Shecreates abstract paintings that tell a story of her life. Her work reflects a love of family, friends and the natural environment of New England. Working in acrylic on linen and panel, she borrows colors, patterns, textures, forms and movement to create layered paintings meant to evoke personal moments and narrative.Her largest and most recent PALS series is an ongoing body of work inspired by the battle her friend's son is waging against ALS. Creating this series allowed Paula to process witnessing what this disease does to people – the patients, their families, friends and the community. She has spent the past 9 years raising funds and awareness for ALS. Her husband Joe and herself created Locust Street Studios, where they make whirligigs and do cooperative projects together.Paula is very passionate about being involved in her community, and is inspired by a family history of strong, independent women, and of mentors who showed her that she could continue her creativity even with children, work and mentoring others. Paula is very is involved in the care of her 2 grandsons and is incredibly grateful for that time.She has many shows coming up, you can check them all out herePaula- instagram / websitePodcast - instagram / websiteMusic used with permission from Alemjo my new age and ambient music trio.When chatting to my guests I greatly appreciate their openness and honestly in sharing their stories. If at any stage their information is found to be incorrect, the podcast bears no responsibility for guests' inaccuracies.