John A. Balistreri
June 9th, 1957-. Balistreri is best known for his eclectic style. His areas of interest include Wilderness and rural areas, wildlife, people, family and friends, random subjects that move him; and most importantly, art rooted in John's Catholic faith. “I choose to allow the subject matter to determine my approach, thus my work might seem to be without a single style or technique. In this way I’m free to create as I please without preconceptions”. “The Message Dictates the Method”
Born to emigrant parents from Sicily. John is a first-generation American. He attended the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee between 1975 and 1976 majoring in art. John then traveled America, Canada and Mexico studying art on his own, creating art, visiting art museums and galleries. In the following years John sold his fine art and freelanced his talent obtaining a wide variety of extraordinary commercial art commissions. They ranged from creating drawings for animated television commercials to painting cast models of frogs for the Milwaukee Public Museum's Rain Forest exhibit and everything you could imagine in between. Enrolling back into school in 1980 John graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 1984 from Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. While at MIAD John majored in painting and minored in drawing, printmaking, and sculpture. After graduation John opened a studio gallery in Milwaukee in 1987, “The Bottega Studio Gallery”. He continued creating fine art paintings that he sold from his gallery and sculpted commercially for National and International Corporations. His sculpture ranges from large cast bronze works and fabricated pieces, to small-scale sculpture that is stamped or cast as well. Enrolling in a Post Baccalaureate program offered at Cardinal Stritch University John received a Wisconsin art-teaching license in 2004. John has been working as a professional artist for over forty years and has owned and operated fine art galleries since 1985. Throughout John's fine art career, he has been creating, exhibiting, and selling his art to Private Art Collectors, Institutions, Non-profit Agencies, Corporations, and is also represented in Fine Art Museum collections. Over the years John has also lectured on different art topics for a variety of venues. Currently John owns a Studio Gallery located in Ephraim, Door County Wisconsin that he established in 1990, “Balistreri Fine Art”, 9727 Maple Grove Road. When the gallery first opened John exhibited works from artists around the world and as his personal life changed the gallery changed along with it. Balistreri Fine Art now exclusively features John’s art. As of 2023 John retired from teaching and is devoting his time fully once again to creating art and running his studio gallery. In 2017 John joined an International Printmakers Guild “Vox Populi” and exhibit’s his fine art prints worldwide with the Guild. As a professional artist John's main goal is to continue to grow artistically and spiritually, to hone his artistic abilities to have the sensitivity needed to communicate effectively and successfully in visual terms his thoughts, feelings, and concepts.