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Date: 11/25/2019
CHICOPEE – Many people in this community know Jess Roncarti-Howe from her roles in non-profit organizations, the last being as president of the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce.
What they may not know is she has been an artist most of her life. Her work will be on display in the exhibit “Then There was Three Fine Arts” at the Chicopee Public Library on Front Street starting Dec. 5 with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m.
Roncarti-Howe spoke to Reminder Publishing at an exhibit at Oops! An Art Experience in downtown Chicopee.
She explained that she started drawing as child and was encouraged by her parents with both lessons and equipment. She loved comic books, recalling her favorites including underground and independent comics from Kitchen Sink press to the locally grown adventures of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
She said with a smile that Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” remains her favorite title.
Roncarti-Howe said she was attracted to comics because of the coloring of the illustrations as well as the depth of the art and recalled how she would copy comics to help her learn lessons she would later apply to both landscapes and portraiture. She earned a degree in fine arts and dreamed of a career as a comic book artist.
Her career however went in another direction, into working in non-profit groups. “Very few people’s journey is in a straight line,” she said.
Her other work pushed her art out of the way for several years and through her connections as chamber president she was able to return to it and exhibit her work at the Good Works Coffee House on Center Street. She noted that had been her first show in 15 years.
She said her husband “gave me a huge push” to return to art.
Currently, Roncarti-Howe is working on a children’s book and she hopes to have several panels of it in the exhibit at the library.
She enjoys working in acrylic paints as well as mixed media, but she admitted with a smile that a ballpoint pen is her favorite.
The medium is “completely unforgiving,” she said.
“I love doing portraits,” she said, but added “inspiration comes from everywhere.”