These are the last few days to see Columbia artist Jean Lomasto’s art at Sound Bites Eatery, but she’ll be back in October 2024 in the same location for a full month-long gallery exhibit. Still, even during the few weeks that Lomasto has shown her work at the Jasper gallery in the popular alt-scene eatery has been insightful and successful, giving diners and patrons a glimpse into the artist’s lovely work.
Lomasto says that she has “no official university training in painting. I was married to an art student as an undergraduate and hung around the art department a good bit, when I wasn't at the theatre.” Lomasto goes on to explain that “Philip Mullen was my husband's teacher in undergraduate school. I have always lived in places with easy access to art.” But it’s Lomasto’s experience herself that helps undercover the roots of her aesthetic.
Born in Brooklyn, when she was 15 years old, she moved with her family to Greenville. She attended USC with an interest in a career in costume design. Lomasto says, “Many principles of design transfer easily from theatre to painting or seemed to for me. I have a Master of Fine Art in Costume Design from UVA. I have taken a few introductory painting classes locally and in LA. I took drawing classes at the Art Students League in New York, when I was working there in the field of costuming.”
After obtaining her MFA, Lomasto moved to NYC where she worked in many costume shops in the city including Julliard and, as she says, on a few Woody Allen films designed by Santo Lomasto. She became wardrobe supervisor for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and toured a good bit of the world with them, designing Dudley William’s finale costume for his performance at City Center.
She returned to Columbia, SC in 2014 and designed many shows for Trustus Theatre: Peter and the Starcatcher, Marie Anntoinette, Appropriate, Marly’s Christmas Carol, among others. “One of the greatest influences for my painting was Nicholas Wilton,” Lomasto says. “I signed up online at the start of COVID for a 10-week painting course. Design elements and using paint were important, but the biggest factor for me in this course was psychological. ... meaning Nicholas Wilton encourages students to find what is in them and then paint. Locally, I find Columbia to be filled with amazingly talented people who support each other, but the following two take the cake for me: One day I was working in the library and Stephen Chesley walks up to me and says, ‘Hi, I like your work. Go bigger...just go bigger.’ I picked myself up off the floor and said, ‘okay.’ I have had the opportunity to reconnect with Philip Mullen, who is kind enough to really look at my work and comment on it. This is such a generous thing to do on his part.”
Catch Jean Lomasto at Sound Bites until Sunday this year but watch out for a show of new work in October 2024.