Local Artist Amy Guadagnoli Honored as an NOIAW “Wise Woman” of 2021

Amy Guadagnoli with some of her art. Credit: Natalie Wulderk

The National Organization of Italian American Women recently honored a local artist with Abruzzese roots, Amy Guadagnoli, as one of its “Wise Women” for 2021. NOIAW’s annual event was held virtually on January 23, 2021 and for the first time combined to honor four “Wise Women” from New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. The event was organized with the help of NOIAW Washington, D.C. Chair Diana Femia and was emceed by Gemma Puglisi, sister of AMHS member Angela Puglisi. Welcoming remarks were also given by Domenico Bellantone, First Counselor of the Embassy of Italy. Amy Guadagnoli is an artist, designer and teacher whose works appear in various museums, including our Italian American Museum of Washington, D.C. (IAMDC). Her family traces its roots to Cansano in Abruzzo

More of Amy’s art at the Italian American Museum of Washington, D.C.

She specializes in woodblock printing and says she is greatly interested in the power of the arts to engage minds and improve lives. Now residing in Maryland, Amy was born in Denver, Colorado which influenced her to draw from the organic earth forms she found, as a child, in the mountains. She joked that there were not many Italian Americans in her area growing up, so her schoolmates had trouble pronouncing her last name which they mangled as “Guacamole. ” While studying art at the University of Denver, she became interested in relief printmaking and she learned how to hand carve and print multilayered images without machinery. After moving to Austin, Texas, she taught a monumental-scale printmaking class for at-risk teens, where students collaboratively carved and printed large woodblocks.

Amy’s passion in working with young people, along with her interest in using design to promote education, led her to a job with an educational consultancy where she led statewide projects in Texas and the Southwest. Her design work has won numerous national awards and she has exhibited her work in Colorado, Texas, Arizona, California, Maine, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Lima, Peru. Her work has been reviewed in the National Italian American Foundation’s (NIAF) publication and she has spoken on such topics as “Gutenberg Revisited: How Art Teaches the Next Form of Literacy.”

The Other Honorees Were:

Angela Mingari Mills, M.D.

(New York), whose parents immigrated from Sicily and who is Professor and Chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons as well as Chief of Emergency Services for NewYork-Presbyterian.

Marisa Giarnella-Porco

(Connecticut), who is a long-time social worker dealing with women’s and children’s issues and who is also the Co-Founder and President of the Jordan Porco Foundation dealing with youth suicide and mental health issues.

Bruna Petrarca Boyle

(Rhode Island) who was born in Fornelli, Italy, in the region of Molise where she completed her elementary school education and who is an adjunct lecturer in the Language Department at the University of Rhode Island

In previous years, NOIAW’s Washington, D.C. event was held at Maggiano’s restaurant in Friendship Heights, on a date close to the Feast of the Epiphany. Past NOIAW honorees have included AMHS Past President Maria D’Andrea-Yothers, AMHS 2nd Vice President Lynn Sorbara and AMHS member Angela Puglisi.