“I remember sitting often, amazed by the beauty of them (the beads) and the colors,” he said.

Years later, Cavalieri, 67, unknowingly painted the same bead curtain at Yaddo, an artist residency in New York, revisiting the same subject that inspired him years ago.

From now through Feb. 14, Cavalieri is displaying four large paintings, six small drawings and one watercolor piece from his “Ghosts and Beads” collection at the Noho M55 Gallery, one of the two oldest artist-led galleries in New York City.

Being his tightest exhibit yet, he hopes the collection has an “ongoing life” as he remains “dedicated to that practice.”

Corliss Cavalieri (right) speaks with dance artist Jon Kinzel (left) in 2020 at the MacDowell residency. Courtesy photo

Art and medicine

Cavalieri had both an artistic and medical influence growing up, as his father, Dominic, was a physician at the Altoona VA Medical Center, while his mother, Jane Ann, worked as a nurse at the city hospital.

Cavalieri describes his mother as a talented artist who took classes with local artist Fred Counsel, who was an Army artist during World War II.

As a result, Cavalieri also took lessons with Counsel, practicing painting, clay, ceramics and “whatever I wanted to do,” Cavalieri said.

His parents’ divorce was a “little rough” on Cavalieri, as he was a young child who went on to live with his mother and his grandmother, Helen. While

Courtesy photo

Cavalieri attended Bishop Guilfoyle, Jane studied anesthesiology at Saint Francis Medical Center in Pittsburgh to earn more money for her mother and son, leaving Cavalieri in the care of his grandmother from first to fifth grade.

“My mother never wanted to be the prototype for the women’s movement, but she was,” Cavalieri said.

Attending high school at Bishop Guilfoyle, he enjoyed taking art labs with teacher Lani Clark.

“I was really impressed with his (Cavalieri’s) creativity,” Clark said, as he used different media to create new art pieces.

He took a ball of clay home one weekend, and he returned with a “country cottage,” she said, with vegetation made out of cheese from his mother’s grater.

"Winter into Spring" by Corliss Cavalieri Courtesy photo

Cavalieri was “extremely creative in putting different ideas together,” she said.

Pennsylvanian roots

Influenced by the creative scene, Cavalieri enrolled at the Ivy School of Professional Art in the late 1970s.

There, he rubbed elbows with notable artists such as Keith Haring.

Haring’s idea of art was “very expansive,” Cavalieri said, as they bonded over their rural Pennsylvania roots. Haring grew up in Kutztown.

Cavalieri is also mentioned in “Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring” by Brad Gooch, depicting Haring’s rise as an 1980s artist before he died in 1990.

While studying at Ivy, Phillip Mendlow, the dean of academics, encouraged Cavalieri to transfer his studies to the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore instead, where Cavalieri eventually earned his bachelor’s degree in painting.

Moving back to Altoona after graduation, Cavalieri secured a job at the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art while living with his mother after his grandmother’s death.

“Those were really good years because I got a chance to be in central Pennsylvania in a whole different way,” he said.

He also looked into furthering his artistic education by working on his portfolio, considering urban colleges with easy access to an Amtrak train station for frequent visits to his mother’s house.

At the time, his portfolio was “incomplete,” so he quit his job and devoted time to improving his art collection, making “lots of paintings” along the way.

Hard work paved the way for Cavalieri, as he soon packed his bags and moved to Philadelphia in 1985 after receiving good news from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture.

Ancient artifacts

South Street in the 1980s was a “wild time for mom and pop stores,” Cavalieri said, as he moved into an apartment above a clothing store.

There were shop windows along South Street that had “kooky, crazy, veiny” components to them, which can now be seen through some of his art pieces, he said.

Cavalieri became the Port of History Museum curator after completing his master’s of fine arts degree in 1989, starting his career in art administration.

With four years of experience, Cavalieri then took over as curator for the Civic Center Museum in Philadelphia, managing and identifying a collection of 35,000 ancient and global artifacts, including pieces from different World’s Fairs and Expeditions.

“And that doesn’t talk about files and photo documentation,” he said.

Art history writer Stephanie Grilli said Cavalieri became “intimately acquainted with a range of artistic expression” while working at the museum, making direct contact with pieces and their “visionary or animistic impulse and not just their abstract properties.”

Cavalieri decided to leave the Civic Center in 1996, showing in solo and group exhibitions across galleries in Philadelphia, New York City and New Jersey.

But it was Grace Hartigan, painter and former director of the Hoffberger Graduate School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art, who introduced Cavalieri to what was originally known as the 55 Mercer gallery.

Since then, Cavalieri has shown over a dozen exhibits with the gallery.

Before “hanging up his administration hat,” he worked as the director for the Paul Robeson Galleries at Rutgers University from 2000-04.

When he puts down the paintbrush, Cavalieri enjoys cooking, gardening and reading, while describing himself as a “health fan.” He currently lives in a house in Philadelphia and owns an in-city studio to create oil paintings and other works.

“I’ve always felt like I had a calling” to art, he said. “And I’ve tried to follow in the path of that calling.”

Ghosts and beads

Cavalieri considered showing other pieces from different collections at his winter exhibit, but he decided to stick with the theme of beads instead.

However, he said he’s not a “theme person” because art is about “exploring ideas, and that’s not easy to fit inside a box.”

“That’s one of the reasons why art should be pursued,” he said. “It asks more questions than answers. It’s what will ultimately solve problems, if you continue to ask questions you don’t know the answer to.”

Grilli said there’s a “joyful” aspect in Cavalieri’s artwork, as it “reaches out to the every person” while being multi-layered.

Cavalieri heard about Grilli’s talent as an art writer about a decade ago, and they’ve stayed friends since. She also enjoys “spending time with his artwork,” she said.

“The fact that he (Cavalieri) embraces the power of the imagination, I find him to be very compelling,” she said.

Looking forward, Cavalieri said he’s open to showing at more exhibits and gaining gallery representation.

Clark also hopes Cavalieri stays successful, as his new work has “a lot of potential.”

“It’s always wonderful to see where he’s going to go,” Grilli said.

Thinking about his place in the art world, he said, “I don’t think I’m done with it. There’s a lot of images left in me to pursue.”

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.

The Cavalieri file

Name: Corliss Cavalieri

Hometown: Altoona

Education: Bishop Guilfoyle; Ivy School of Professional Art; 1981 graduate of Maryland Institute College of Art; 1989 graduate of Tyler School of Art and Architecture

Career: Artist, museum curator

Hobbies: Painting, cooking, gardening and reading