Mural decorates Watervliet church

About a year ago, John Razzano decided he wanted to give a lasting gift to his parish. Acquainted with Ms. Jeram's father, he thought of commissioning her to paint a mural on the entrance wall to his parish church. The pastor, Rev. Emery Parillo, OFM, and the parish council agreed.

Located just inside the foyer of the church, the mural, dedicated Feb. 4, is the first thing visitors see when they step inside the glass doors of the church.

Francis and Christ

In the middle of the fresco is the main doorway to the church. Over the door, in eternal flight, hovers a white dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit.

The background of the mural depicts, in pastel greens and blues, a combination of the Tuscany Hills of Italy and the local hills of Troy and Albany County.

"I wanted to include the Tuscany landscape and add a local influence at the same time," said Ms. Jeram.

Connecting dove

"I decided to insert the dove over the top of the doorway because I see the Holy Spirit, as love, connecting the two virtues of faith and hope that are displayed by the other characters," she explained.

Ms. Jeram designed the scene with these virtues in mind at the suggestion of Father Parillo and the parish council. She painted in traditional Italian style with water-based tempera paints she mixed herself.

"I spent a lot of time planning this," she told the Evangelist. "I wanted it to look like a 16th-century Italian fresco."

Ancient style

After she received her bachelor's degree in fine arts, she returned to Europe with the hope of further studying traditional art techniques. She was also looking for exposure to "traditional European art expression and art teachers." That was nine years ago.

"I first went to Assisi and lived in Umbria for two years," Ms. Jeram said. "After Umbria, I went to Florence and lived there for four years."

During this period, she studied under Mark Balma, an American artist internationally known for fresco painting. He had studied fresco painting in Italy in 1980 under Pietro Annigoni, a master fresco artist and painter. Between 1992 and '94, Mr. Balma completed the award-winning St. Thomas Fresco in Minneapolis, Minn., one of four that he completed for that city.

She also studied under Romano Stefanelli, who taught her traditional painting and drawing technique as well as religious fresco technique. Now in his 70s, Mr. Stefanelli spent more than 30 years painting frescoes in churches throughout Tuscany.

To Germany

Ms. Jeram has recently been accepted by the Berlin Art Academy to study under Georg Baselitz. She hopes to improve her traditional technique and skills.

"The Academy is difficult to get into," she noted. "It is equivalent to our state university system here. I am honored to have been accepted and am looking forward to beginning my studies there."

Local ties

Because of that time here, she was able to paint the mural at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Under her agreement with the church, she prepared the wall for painting at the end of December and spent a little over a month doing the actual painting.

Ms. Jeram feels that spending nearly a decade in Europe as an apprentice under master painters has given her invaluable insight into the medium.

"There is nothing like being able to learn from the experts," she said. "I have learned so much from them that I don't think I could have learned here. Fresco painting was very popular in Europe during the Renaissance and into the 16th century. I see evidence of its popularity making a return in our painting technique now."

(Some of Ms. Jeram's work can be seen at www.artlinkinc.com. To access her work, click on search and type in her name. For more information, email her at [email protected].)

(02-08-01) [[In-content Ad]]