ARTIST STATEMENT:

Franki DeSaro is a visual artist creating immersive site-specific silk installations and large-scale abstract landscape paintings on cotton. She sustainably hand-sources colors from botanicals and earth pigments from sacred locations worldwide to create earth pigment paints, natural dyes and eco-printed textiles. Intricately connected to the seasons and locations of her travels, DeSaro infuses her sublime encounters within nature into her work through a meditative process that reflects her contemplative and transformative experiences.

DeSaro invites viewers into the expansive wonder and subtle silence of nature environments. The natural materials and colors harvested from these locations, applied within her creative process, speak unspoken words that capture the places and moments of the artist's encounters and memory. She instinctively integrates her intangible experiences into a tangible visual expression.

Her work becomes a window into these moments, gently inviting viewers to reflect on their own perspectives and contemplations of similar experiences within awe-inspiring nature environments. Moments of absolute wonder, deep silence or of similar sensations; the moments or experiences in life that capture us; remaining with us, often leaving an indelible mark. Her work expresses the personal experiences in which we cannot explain, or falter to form into words but that which we feel, sense and know within ourselves; the indescribable divine knowings of our hearts and souls.

ARTIST BIO:

Franki DeSaro (New Jersey, 1993) received a BFA in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in 2015. DeSaro is an emerging artist, educator, certified spiritual director and non-profit founder. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally including New York, New Jersey, Georgia and France. DeSaro has created long-term art as healing and art education programs for cancer treatment centers, underprivileged communities and trafficked women and children throughout India, Africa and the US. Motivated by her passion for service, DeSaro founded the non-profit organization Light to Earth Sanctuary in 2018 which has been serving the needs of families across NJ for five years. In recognition of her leadership in community and global outreach, DeSaro was awarded the Young Professional Leadership Award by ATHENA International in 2017 and the Emerging Leader Finalist Award by eWomen Network in 2016.

Franki is an artist in residence alumna of Bell Works, a contemporary metroburb and hub for creatives which culminated in her 40 piece solo exhibition ‘Rebirth into The Light’, and to follow, a co-curator for the Bell Works’ Art Fair 14C booth in Jersey City, NJ. Additionally, DeSaro has been a recipient exhibiting artist for Art Fair 14C two years in a row. She was commissioned by The School for the Arts to create a 165 ft. eco-printed site specific silk installation ‘The Forest Path’, leading to additional outdoor site specific silk installations ‘Selah’ and ‘The Spirit and the Bride Say Come’ as a ChaNorth International Residency recipient during Spring 2023 Open Studios associated with ChaShaMa, NYC. ‘Navigating the Night’ was DeSaro’s most recent 2023 solo exhibit at Cabba Creatives Gallery in Asbury Park, NJ. DeSaro currently resides in her NJ studio, creating a large desert inspired body of work with earth pigments harvested from her Arizona travels while simultaneously offering Spiritual Direction with clients, and pursuing a Masters in Art Therapy from NYU in Fall 24’.