About The Artist/ Resume

FLORIN ION FIRIMIŢÃ is a visual artist, teacher, and author who traces his interest in art back to his father's modest amateur photo lab, in Bucharest, Romania, where he was entrusted with mixing chemicals, developing film, and printing black-and-white photos, at the age of six. His interest in drawing and painting started around the same time, under the influence of his mother, an art teacher and a fashion designer. Between 1988 and 1990, he was the manager of the painting department of the National Theater of Opera and Ballet, in Ballet, in Bucharest, Romania, and also as a costume and set painter. In 1990, he relocated to the United States, where he continued his education at Naugatuck Valley College and at Central CT State University. Today he teaches, paints, exhibits, lectures and writes art-criticism, essays and short stories. In the spring of 2001, he was appointed the art advisor for the State of Connecticut's International Art Exchange Program, in Port-of-Spain, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Lately, his fiction and essays have appeared in France, Great Britain, and in the U.S. in House Beautiful, The Sun, and the Hartford Courant. His story "Birds" was included in the 2002 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica. The Art of Leaving a film about the artist's life and art was released in 2003. The film was the official selection of seven international film festival such as Santa Fe, Chicago, New York City, Durango, and also Montreal's 23^rd Festival International du Film Sur L'Art. Between 1990 and 2010 he participated in more than 200 solo and group exhibits. His work could be found in private and public collections in Europe, Australia, and the United States. When he is not spending time with friends in Southern France, he teaches art s in Connecticut.

More on the web: www.absolutearts.com/fifstudio http://www.theartofleaving.com/

EXPERIENCE

1991-2010 Participated in over 200 solo and group art exhibits in the United States and Europe. Published numerous short stories, essays, criticism and exhibit reviews in the United States, France and the U.K.
2002- 2004 Screenwriter; "The Art of Leaving," directed by Brian Kamerzel.
2002-2007 Visual Arts Co-Director; The Multicultural Arts and Technology program at Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT.
2001 Art Advisor/ State Of CT Department of Education - International Art Exchange Program, The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.
1988-1990 Manager; Painting Department; National Theater of Opera and Ballet, Bucharest, Romania
1986-1990 Costume and set painter; National Theater of Opera and Ballet, Bucharest, Romania.

EDUCATION

2005 Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT. Masters in Art Education
1997 Central Connecticut State University. BS in Art Education
1994 Naugatuck Valley College. AA in Fine Arts
1983 Nicolae Tonitza Lycée, Bucharest, Romania. Fine Arts Major
1977-1983 Studies with Romanian artists Constantin Ciocârlie, Adrian Benea, and Gheorghe I. Anghel.

HONORS AND AWARDS

2010 National Gold Medal for Art Teaching, awarded by Scholastics, New York City

2007 Honorable Mention, Arts Center Killingworth Juried Exhibition
2005 Selected by the editors of Art Business International as one of the 2005 Emerging Artists/ Trendsetters
2003-2005 The film, "The Art of Leaving - A Portrait of Florin Ion Firimitã" - official selection of the 2003 Santa Fe International Film Festival; the 4^th Annual Durango Film Festival (2004); the 1^st Artivist Film Festival, The Egyptian Theater, Hollywood (2004); the 26^th Annual Big Muddy Film Festival, Chicago (2004); the New York Film Festival (2004); the Williamsburg Film Festival, New York City (2004); the 23 International Film Festival of Art Films, Montreal (2005)
2000 - Present. Included in "Who's Who in America"
1997 Included in the 27th Edition of "Who's Who in the East"
1994 National Prize for Literature - New York University, Suffern Writing Conference
1992 Honorable Mention - National Arts Program

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITS

2009 The Square Foot Show; Artwell Gallery, Torrington, CT
Show for a Show; Artwell Gallery, Torrington, CT
2008 The Square Foot Show; Art Gotham Gallery, SoHo, New York City, NY
Sheltered; Central Gallery, Old Saybrook, CT
Show for a Show; Artwell Gallery, Torrington, CT
Feast for the Eye; Central Gallery, Old Saybrook, CT 2007
Necessary Objects; White Space Gallery, New Haven, CT, US
Persistence of Memory; Central Gallery, Old Saybrook, CT
Trees and Torsos; Central Gallery, Old Saybrook, CT
The Feminine Mystique; Gallery 137, Indian Orchard, MA
Illuminations; Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
The Square Foot Show; Art Gotham Gallery, New York City, NY
TAP (Teachers as Artists Project) Chashama; New York City
WAA Gallery, Washington, CT
2006 Lascano Gallery, Great Barrington, MA
2005 White Space Gallery, New Haven, CT
Illuminations; Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA
2004 Four Visions; The New Hartford Art League Photography Group Show, New Hartford, CT
2003 Picturing What Matters: An Offering of Photographs; George Eastman House, Rochester, NY
2001 Circle of Learning; Samuel S.T. Chen Gallery, Central Connecticut State University, New Britain, CT
2000 Six Painters - Six Visions; Gallery on the Green, Canton, CT
1995 The Governor's Mansion, Hartford, CT
Chen Art Center, Central CT State University
1993 Paier College of Art, Hamden, CT
1992 Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT
1991 Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITS

2009 "Reliquaries"; Citicorp Center, New York City, US
A la Recherche Du Temps Perdu, Mixed Media Works 2004-2008, Good News Cafe, Woodbury, CT
2008 Private Labyrinths; Minor Memorial Library, Roxbury, CT
Private Labyrinths; Downtown Gallery, New Britain, CT
2007 Private Labyrinths; Marty's Gallery and Cafe, Washington, CT
Short Stories; Marie-Louise Trichet Gallery, Litchfield, CT
Washington Art Association, Washington, CT
Mill House Gallery, Chester, CT
Gallery @ 85 Main Street, Chester, CT
2005 White Space Gallery, New Haven, CT
2004 ACT II Gallery, New Hartford, CT
2000 The Bushnell, Hartford, CT
1997 Emporium Gallery, Mystic, CT
1995 Pat Steier Gallery, Litchfield, CT
Gilbert Gallery, Miss Porter's School, Farmington, CT
1994 York Square Gallery, New Haven, CT
Small Space Gallery, New Haven, CT
Higher Education Center, Waterbury, CT
1993 Paier College of Art, Hamden, CT
1992 The Afro-Latin Festival, NOW Gallery, Waterbury, CT
1991 Silas Bronson Library, Waterbury, CT

RADIO AND TELEVISION

1995 Guest on The Faith Middleton Show, NPR (National Public Radio)

LECTURES AND CONFERENCES

2008 Art and Spirituality Forum, Wisdom House Retreat and Conference Center, Litchfield, CT
1993 Art and Life - Confrontation, Paier College of Art, Hamden, CT

SELECTED THEATRE PRODUCTIONS/ SETS

1989 Romeo and Juliet - ballet; music by Serghei Prokofiev
1989 Lucia di Lammermoor - opera by Donizetti
1988 Norma - opera by Vincenzo Bellini
A Midsummer's Night Dream Comedy - ballet
Don Pasquale - opera by Vincenzo Bellini
Taming the Shrew - ballet; music by English Renaissance Composers.

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

St. Francis Medical Center, Hartford, Connecticut
Dr. Fred Cohn, Middlebury, CT
Dr. Eric and Dr. Beatriz Olson, Middlebury, CT
Semina de Laurentis, Connecticut
Craig and Laura Frederick, New Britain, CT
Maura Marsu, Bucharest, Romania
Higher Education Center, Waterbury, Connecticut
Nell Vismantas, California
Don & Linda Batt, New York
Donald Cohn, Washington, D.C.
Karen Van Seters, San Francisco, California
Ann Reid, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

GALLERY REPRESENTATION

White Columns Gallery, New York City, USA

WEB GALLERIES

Florin Ion Firimita