When Ben Saggese won his first art award at a sidewalk art show, he had no idea that a lifetime of painting would follow. He was 15 years old.
His current show, which he just calls, “Current Works” is displayed in the lobby of The State Theatre in State College. The collection will remain in the The State Theatre through February.
Most of the paintings are part of the 60 to 65 he has done in the last year. Most are of his favorite subjects of flowers, animals and other things that are significant to people.
“I did many historical and scriptural themes in my earlier works,” said Saggese. “Now it is more about the things that move people.”
Saggese described his day:
“I get up and paint from around 6 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. I couldn’t do that for a couple of years in my life. My COPD problems were preventing me from doing the work I loved. One day I saw a TV program where an actor talked about taking a hiatus. That clicked and I thought. ‘I’ve had a hiatus, but I’m not done.’ I jumped up and began to paint again. Over the next couple of years, I finished 500 paintings, I believe.”
Saggese did study art at the Pittsburgh Art Institute and earned an associate degree in commercial art. But that was not for him. He said he stuck it out because he was told that commercial art was the way to make money.
His first job out of school was painting clouds for Warner Brothers’ Road Runner cartoons. The only work he did commercially after that was for business cards or something similar.
“I believe in blooming where you are planted which explains my wanting to live in Munson,” he said. “It was my place to bloom.”
Munson, in Clearfield County, is about 30 miles from State College.
Sagesse and his wife, Minerva, whom he met in Mexico, have been married for 34 years. He met Minerva in Mexico on one of his trips there. They live in an old Methodist church that has been converted both into a home and an art gallery.
The artist also taught at the Clearfield Arts Studio and at his gallery for many years. He also taught at the prison and regarding that, he said, “There were some talented … I would say geniuses, there.”
MUNSON artist Ben Saggese’s “Current Works” paintings are displayed at The State Theatre in State College. The exhibition will be on display through February. Photo by Connie Cousins | For the Gazette
The painter has studied and worked in Mexico at least five times.
“Holy Week was coming up at the time of one retreat and I was asked to do the Stations of the Cross. I also finished the ‘Agony in the Garden’ and the ‘Ecstasy’ (paintings),” he said. “I had to paint 16 hours a day to finish in three months. For the Stations of the Cross, I mixed food color with varnish to obtain the effect I wanted.”
Although Sagesse rarely leaves his home due to his breathing problems, he has a long trail of art shows behind him. He has shown at Mount Nittany Medical Center, Bellefonte Art Museum and outside the area in Clearfield, in Erie at Gannon and Mercyhurst universities and in Columbus, Ohio.
“I want people to know that I haven’t retired,” Sagesse said.
