Waxing Eloquent

Artist Etches The Topography Of Her Past.

- Susan Lagsdin

Food on the plate, furnishings and fabrics, the color of walls, custom-made cards to friends — all precise and all creative expression.

For years Alessandra Piro brought her keen and educated graphic artist’s eye for color, texture and composition to her own home.

She honed her skill as friends asked for her design advice, and eventually it escalated into a freelance career in Denver and in Wenatchee since 1988, where she worked with, among others, the clients of local residential builder Fred Dowdy.

“Those really important art school elements I learned at the start fit right in to interior design,” she said.

Her 30 years in the design profession — all while raising a family — were satisfying, but another passion was always pulling her. Finally, in 2014 she became what she wanted to be: a fine artist (in both senses of the phrase).

It was a pivotal year. With her adult children away from home and settled elsewhere, Alessandra took a few classes at WVC to refresh her long-past art school experience and just started painting.

At 61 she’s a woman with a clear purpose. “I always knew that sometime down the road I’d have my time,” Alessandra said. “Now I feel like I’m working so fast… trying to make up for 30 years of not painting.”