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Museo ItaloAmericano
Building C
“Legacy” pairs four decades of work from the jewelry designer and creator Barbara Natoli Witt with painting and sculpture from artist Tricia Grame. Natoli Witt blends tapestry, colored threads, antique beads, and gemstones into exquisitely detailed creations reminiscent of ancient neckpieces. Cleopatra would have felt at home in one of her pieces.
Born into an Italian-American family in New Jersey, Natoli Witt became interested in needlework in childhood. In college, she studied fine and graphic arts, but when she moved to the Bay Area in the late 1960s, her early interest in needlework, coupled with a fascination for ancient cultures, moved her art in a different direction. She became interested in the historical and anthropological uses of beads and, combining this with a parallel interest in tapestry weaving, she began to develop the unique artistic style that she pursues to this day. Her works are rich in texture and color, with a deep symbolic undercurrent.
Essential to an appreciation of both Natoli Witt and Grame’s art is an understanding of the importance of universal symbols in their work. The former draws from ancient cultures (the Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, Syro-Hittites, among others) for inspiration as well as from modern cultures of Africa, Asia, meso-America, and Native America. For both artists, the symbols cross many cultural lines, yet each incorporates them into her work in such a way as to make them her own.
Natoli Witt has designed more than 1,400 necklaces, belts, bracelets, and neckties. Her pieces are in the collections of many major museums throughout the country and in many private collections. The exhibit at the Museo ItaloAmericano contains 36 necklaces representing the range of the artist’s career.
 The paintings and sculpture by Tricia Grame contain strong female symbolism and are a perfect complement to Natoli Witt’s necklaces. Although they approach their art in completely different ways, both artists express the universality of the female.
“Legacy” is on display at the Museo ItaloAmericano from April 7 through July 8, with an opening reception on April 5. See Visual Arts for details and www.museoitaloamericano.org.
– Jovanne Reilly
Images: Vine Necklace by Barbara Natoli Witt (top); “Rivelare” by Tricia Grame (bottom)
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