Frank Michael Trozzo
About Me
Frank M Trozzo is an award winning Napa Valley professional artist and designer. His talents include painting, sculpture, jewelry, and digital design. He started painting and drawing at a young age and studied art in college with further art studies in Europe. He has an interest in nature, history and all aspects of the human mind. He is inspired by the works of Carl Jung as well as many artists throughout history who studied the inner landscape, Fuseli, Blake, Magritte and Folon to name a few.
I am a symbolist. It’s my mission to paint images from the subconscious: architypes, myths, metaphors and metaphysics. These are things that join us and transform us.
My background is in design and business. I had galleries in San Francisco, a successful web and multimedia company, and interests in real estate.
I was born in Washington DC. My parents encouraged me to draw and paint and gave me a set of oil paints when I was nine. I made models as a boy and these gave me an interest in history as well as structure. It taught me to visualize in 3D. I took art lessons and spent many hours painting pictures of Greek and Roman warriors as well as a variety of landscapes, buildings and faces.
I had a great painting teacher in college, Barclay Sheaks at Virginia Wesleyan University, who inspired and taught me to use acrylics and furthered my understanding of oils. I apprenticed to John Witt at the Cross Mill Gallery in Ashland Virginia where I learned bronze casting and built my own portable foundry to cast my figurative works.
After college I went to work on a master’s degree in Sculpture at the University of Maryland and worked with Jim Sanborn at Glen Echo Foundry. I was exhibiting at art shows and selling my sculpture and paintings, but it was a difficult time. My sister was making silver jewelry and since the processes are similar, I decided to try it. Every piece of jewelry I made sold quickly and so I decided to pursue it as a vocation. I gave up my sculpture studies and made it out to California looking for schools that taught gold smithing. I ended up at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland where I met German trained goldsmith and designer, Alan Revere. After training he helped me land my first job in the field. I saved money and ended up studying design and metal work at the Fachhochschule fur Gestaltung in Schwabish Gmund Germany. I also worked there as a goldsmith and diamond setter.
I came back to California in 1979 and opened my own shop. I met my wife in 1982 and together we opened a craft gallery in San Francisco where I made fine jewelry and sculpture and showed the work of other excellent artists. In the early 80s computers were beginning to take hold and I spent hours learning to program them. In 1997 I met someone who did multimedia CD Roms and he taught me what I needed to know to develop a multimedia business and then a web design company which eventually led into real estate investing. I became a broker, bought and sold houses, did remodels and helped clients buy and sell.
I changed my direction in 2014 after a serious medical condition. I realized that life is fleeting and I should be doing what I love to do. Ideas that I had been suppressing started to flow. I’ve been painting every day ever since.
Education
BA, Virginia Wesleyan College in Art/Education 1974
University of Maryland Masters Program in Art 1975
Fachhochschule fur Gestaltung Schwabish Gmund, Germany 1977-78
UCSF Multimedia Studies Program 1985
CRS courses completed 2005
CCIM courses competed 2009
Credentials and Affiliations
Art Association Napa Valley Board Member 2016 - present
Licensed California real estate broker
Board President North Bay Association of Realtors 2007 - 2008
North Bay Association of Realtors
California Association of Realtors
Former President of the Macromedia User’s Group
Business Background
30 years of business and consulting experience
CEO of three start up business
Expertise in Computers, market research, finance, strategic planning,
Recent Shows and Exhibitions
AANV Group Show at the Napa Library. Jan 2 -31 2020
Visual Expressions Group Show Napa Valley College. Oct - Nov 2019
Napa Valley Open Studios 2019. Sept 21 - 22 and 28 -29
Napa Town and Country Fair, August 7, 2019 Award
Marin Town and Country Fair, July 2019 Special Award
Yountville Sip and Stroll. Juried. April 27 2019.
Cigar Box Show at Jessel Gallery February 2019
2 Person Show at Stonehedge Winery, January - March 2019
Painting of the Month, Napa Art Association, December 2018
Open Studios Opening at Jessel Gallery September 2018
Art Show at Markham Vineyards, August - October 2018
Open Studios, September 2018
Napa Town and Country Fair, Second Place in oils, Professional category, August 2018
Painting of the Year Napa Art Association, July 2018
Napa Art Association Show at Copia, Juried, July 2018
Press:
Napa Valley Register Article September 27 2018
“Open Studios Continues”
Napa Valley Register Article January 9 2020
Six Artists, Eclectic Visions, by Rosemarie Kimpton