Page 6 - The Clare Connection_Summer 2018

2 6 CLARE CONNECTION

Artist Profile

Sara Rini Aversa:

Art Revolves Around Us “These aren’t experiences that somebody’s

going to gift you,” Sara says . “It’s hard work
EVERY ASPECT of Clare resident Sara Rini Aversa’s life and and growth and taking chances .”
career has been touched by art in some way, shape or form.
Beginning in high school,
Sara enrolled in art
classes, working with
silk screen, oil paints,
watercolor and more to
explore her creativity.
After she graduated
in 1950, her parents
supported her dream of
pursuing interior design,
and she began attending
Ruth VanSickle Ford’s
Chicago Academy of
Fine Arts. She went on to
Sara Rini Aversa work for John M. Smyth
Company, a former
Chicago furniture firm. When she married in 1954, Sara and
her husband led their lives according to art.
“We were always in the fields of expanding in art,” she says.
As she raised seven children, Sara continued with her passion
of interior design. Art drove Sara to help her husband in the
beauty business, and it was the impetus behind the couple
opening their clothing store Aversa in 1970, working with
textiles and pulling looks together.
Through it all, life afforded Sara countless rewarding
experiences with art. Pregnant with her youngest son, she
took an encaustic course at the University of St. Francis in
Joliet. In 1998, she began taking watercolor classes, and
it quickly became her favorite way to express creativity,
though it’s not without its challenges
“Watercolor is probably one of the hardest mediums to
work in, because once it’s on paper, it’s hard to change,”
Sara says.
With these studies, Sara had many opportunities to travel
and paint on location, in scenic spots like Cinque Terre in
Italy, Sintra in Portugal and other areas of Europe. In fact,
inspiration for most of her works comes from photographs Clarity