Ilona Jean Passino

About the Artist

My Art education began very early in life, growing up with two parents who were very talented. My mother was an accomplished porcelain artist and china painter for over 30 years and my father was a craftsman, and studied and painted landscape oil painting later in life. Both encouraged me at a young age to explore my curiosity of making things with my hands, and I was fortunate to go to a school that also encouraged the arts.

When I was in my late teens I settled on painting as my favorite medium, and later in college moved on to design, printmaking, stained glass construction, sculpture. I spent almost 15 years working in stone sculpture and glass mosaics.  In 2003, I created two large public art projects when I was living in my former home town of Rochester, New York.  One, a life sized glass and marble mosaic lion,  of which I am proud to say was gifted back to me by my sponsor and ended up being donated by me, to the Children’s Train Yard at the San Diego Zoo.  I moved the lion to California in 2005 when I relocated there and he was in several large venue art shows over the few years that I kept him.

Now that I’m settled in semi-retirement, I have gone back to my roots, painting again and with a twist of incorporating mixed media along WITH my painting.  I became accustomed to using so many different materials and texture in my art over the years, I very much enjoy incorporating them in my art. For me it is what makes art so much fun.  I love to create when I need to escape from the world. Whatever mood I am in at the moment usually dictates my subject matter or materials. In addition to my art, I was an accomplished pianist at a young age so I also love having music playing in my home, especially when I’m creating art.