FRESCO: A MODERN PERSPECTIVE Set for Garibaldi-Meucci Museum Today

Today, May 19 at 2 p.m., Staten Island Museum Art Curator Robert Bunkin will present "Fresco: A Modern Perspective," at the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum.

Despite fresco painting's popularity-Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling being the supreme example-many people, including artists and art historians, don't really understand the technique of fresco. Although the term has become almost synonymous with "mural," it actually refers to a very specific technique, known in Italian as buon fresco (true fresco), which is painted into damp, freshly laid lime plaster. The chemical components of fresco bind the color to the wall permanently, and are inseparable from its surface. Mr. Bunkin will attempt to demystify this process, using simple demonstrations, and illustrate his talk with lesser-known frescoes from remote parts of Italy, such as Andrea Delitio's fresco cycle based on the Legende Aurea (Golden Legends) in the Duomo of Atri in Abruzzi, and the Triumph of Death by an unknown late Gothic painter in Palermo. One of the great frescoes, Triumph of Death, was conserved by the legendary Leonetto Tintori, in whose Laboratorio per Affresco Bunkin studied. Bunkin will also discuss strappo and stacco, the two traditional techniques perfected by Tintori in which frescoes are removed in order to conserve them.

Robert Bunkin taught art history for over 20 years at Parsons School of Design, and taught drawing and painting at Wagner College, the Art Students League, The New School and Borough of Manhattan Community College. In 2010 he conducted the first fresco painting workshop at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He has led many fresco workshops in Massachusetts, and painted fresco murals and installations at Snug Harbor, PS 18, and Wagner College on Staten Island. He worked as educator and exhibition coordinator at the Staten Island Children's Museum and in the Education Department of the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Among many exhibitions he has curated are "Fresco: A Contemporary Perspective" at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art in Snug Harbor, "About Faces: Portraits Past and Present" for the Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor and "Charged Brushes" at The Painting Center in New York. He has studied art history at Scuola Lorenzo de'Medici, Florence and fresco painting at Leonetto Tintori Laboratorio per Affresco in Vainella, Italy. His work is represented by The Painting Center in Chelsea, NY, and he has shown in solo and group exhibitions in New York, nationally and in Italy.

Admission of $10, $5 for members includes a light reception.

The Garibaldi-Meucci Museum was the home of Antonio Meucci, the true inventor of the telephone, and a refuge to Giuseppe Garibaldi, the legendary hero who championed the unification of Italy. For over 50 years the museum has fulfilled its mission to preserve the legacies of these great men, and to promote understanding of the Italian-American heritage through cultural, artistic and educational programs and classes. The historic Italian landmark on Staten Island, the Garibaldi-Meucci Museum is owned by the Sons of Italy Foundation and administered by the NYSOSIA GMM Board of Commissioners.

Regular museum hours are 1 p.m.-5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday. Admission is $5 per person, members and children under 10 are free. Call ahead for groups of 10 or more. The first floor of the museum is wheelchair accessible, but the restroom is on the second floor.