Greetings and welcome to my virtual studio! I am Maria Pacca and my studio is in Jacksonville, Florida, where I now reside after having lived in many places all over the planet.

These travel adventures have given me a wide variety of subject matter and inspiration for different media. I lived in Hawaii for 14 years and painted the ocean in acrylic; in Guatemala, I painted volcanoes; in Brazil, I painted exuberant landscapes; in Colorado, the mountains became watercolors. During all of these travels, I have continued to draw the human figure in charcoal, one of my most favored mediums. I have chosen to show you my work through my “artscopes” (the name I gave to my cylindrical paintings), charcoal drawings of the human figure, and wave paintings. The artscopes hang from the ceiling or on a wall, as well as stand freely, as you can see in the video. They measure from 24 inches to 60 inches high, and the average diameter is 4.5 inches.

Recently, I spent some time in Brazil and became overwhelmed with the circumstances in the Amazon Rainforest, and with the devastation that continues to occur daily there. The cylindrical paintings were reminiscent of trees, and before I knew it I had made a whole forest of them. Now, I am intent on bringing people’s attention to this very important corner of the world – the lungs of the planet – and I have created a whole immersive installation called “AMAGONE! We are Amazônia”, complete with bird and animal calls, waterfall sounds and plants. This collection of works was first shown in Denver at the D’Art Gallery on Santa Fe Drive, in June of 2021. Other displays are being arranged! An interview about this exhibit is on view on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qWNZjqiRXhY?si=X-5WordlyIdzJJJN

In my own studio, I created a small version of the show and that’s what you see in the short video, and in the still images full of green.