Unleach your creativity with a master printmaker

Donna Frustere is a Master Printmaker, Art Educator, and Wellness Coach. While earning her degree in Art Ed she became intrigued with printmaking. Frustere loved drawing on the surfaces of the plates, the editioning process, and the intensity of creating multiples. In 1982 she left Maine an attended The Hartford Art School pursuing a Masters of Art Ed with a printmaking concentration.

Ms. Frustere has taught at both Public, Hartford Schools, Private, and “Center for Autism” for nearly 43 years. Retired, she now leads several workshops, and professional development seminars, promoting the Arts with teacher strategies, utilizing printmaking, and book arts. She served as the Art Education Advocacy Chair for the Connecticut Art Education Association, remains a Presenter for the National Art Ed Conferences, past President of the Canton Artists Guild and A Resident Artist in several districts to date.

Donna is a Westerly RI native and has returned to Westerly in 2020 after her extensive teaching career in CT.

DM FRustere is  a founding member since 1992 of The Printmakers Network of Southern New England. Her work is archived in the Slater Museum in Norwich CT and many prominent collections including the Matatuck Museum. Her awards are numerous as is her impact on her students and collectors over her extensive career.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Frustere’s work reflects moments in life past to present with the underlying subtleties of family traditions, and ancestry. The various forms of printmaking provide the layers of her life. Various marks on metal, linoleum,gelli plates plexiglass, wood, and other surfaces along with an array of inks, papers, and tools provide a strong universal visual language. Frustere’s lines vary. Her choice of inks allow for blending transparent or bold layers to providing rich textures to her print content. In 2021 Frustere retired from the CT classrooms and moved to Westerly,RI where she was born. Here her Italian heritage has become more evident in her art. Frustere’s work has become more rooted thus expressing the challenges and triumphs over the years. She combines the tangible with the tactile. Many new works explore a combined variety of printmaking styles and techniques which are less toxic in nature. From Monotypes of Misquamicut shores to interpretations of selected quotes, Frustere demonstrates that telling one’s stories utilizing the Arts, helps heal oneself inside and out!