R i c h a r d   D e   F i o r e  
 Click     to enlarge

OBITUARY:
FINE-ARTIST Rich De FIORE passed away on August 26, 2006 at age 56.  He, his love of life 'n beauty of our environment and his gigantic talents will be highly missed (by this world, many of us and by me.    T. Collins.)

Visitation hours were on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 (2-4PM and 7-9PM) at Dangler's 600 Speedwell Avenue Morris Plains, NJ. with services on August 31.  The funeral Mass at 10 AM at St. Margaret's Church in Morristown with internment at St. Mary's Cemetery in Boonton, NJ. 

Richard De Fiore  
OBITUARY :
Morris Township and Morris Plains ARTIST - Richard G. De Fiore died on Saturday, August 26, 2006 at his home following a long hard bout with diabetes.

His father, Alphonse, died in 1981,  He is survived by his mother, Genevieve DeFiore; his children Matthew of Houston, Texas and Arielle of Canton, Georgia.  Also by his sister, Mary Ann and husband , Lawrence Blackburn of Matawan, NJ.  And also by his niece, Laura Marie, and nephew, Daniel - and many cousins.  Richard was a 1967 graduate of Morristown, NJ high school  and a 1973 graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute.

Richard was a fine, yes, fine artist with the passion of Vincent Van Gogh of a hundred years before.  We hope that the ages will love Richard DeFiore's paintings as we do. They are inspired and glorify this world and our lives on this much better planet!

 
Speedwell Dam

OIL PAINTINGS ON SHOW at  the MCL GALLERY - FALL OF 2005

Morristown High School   Salutes Rich Fiore, 
                          Class of 1967 !    -     says TJC

Lighting, Camera Resolution and Media Distortions from "pixel float" when photos are enlarged or otherwise sized effected these results.  Yes, see the original
 "oil paintings" !

           MORRISTOWN FALLS WITH MAYNARD DIXON SKY  

                                          July 2005               30 x 40"        $ 750

                           HISTORIC SPEEDWELL FALLS          

                                          July 2005               30 x 40"        $ 550.

                                MOUNTAIN LAKES BEACH                
                                         September 2005    24 x 36"         $ 400.

 

          PURPLE SKY REFLECTIONS
         
           June 2005              30 x 40"         $ 550.

                    ACROSS MOUNTAIN LAKE 

                         September 2005    24 X 36"        $ 400.  

             SPRING IN MORRIS PLAINS  
             
              April 2005              20 x 24"        $ 350

 

        WHAT VINCENT SAW 
        IN ROBERT'S GARDEN
          
    May 2005               24 x 30"       $ 320.

          OL' CHESTER MILL, 6:30 PM 
                 
               May 2005              30 x 24"        $ 400.  

 

THE LAST CORRAL          
                     
  
1979                      36 x 60"      $ 4250.
 

   THREE PEAKS SEDONA '79' 
 

   
      1979 - 2005          24 x 48"       $ 750

 FIVE FINGER ROCK 1979 
 1979                      20 x 24"       $ 490.

        

    MALIBU, POINT DUME '78
  
     1978 - 2005         24 x 48"        $ 850.

   

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Written by
Click for   Rich De Fiore   more photos.

"They say" that the year 1968 was a seminal year in history.  
Apollo 8 took men around the moon!  The sun began to set on Jim Crow Law.  

I graduated from Morristown High School (1967) and set out to discover this beautiful world.

I graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1973.  In 1975, I met Thomas Hart Benton (age 83) at his home in Kansas City, Missouri.  Tom explained how he had copied Cubism, Surrealism, Pointillism, ... and all the ism's - as I flipped through his lifelong work that was leaning against the walls in his home, before his retrospective at the Nelson Gallery.

In 1979, I took a three month sabbatical to Sedona, AZ.  Kris Steele and I built a house/studio on the back of the 1970 Dodge pickup truck that I had bought in LA, CA.  We drove back to her dad's place in Sedona, where we spent a month stretching canvases.  We then set out into the dirt roads and started painting the Sedona Series.  

We set up in a secluded valley; I built about seven easels and began painting - usually about an hour each day on seven different scenes.  I used the back window on the truck for a palate, as I needed lots of paint daily - and the glass makes it easy to clean off, when the paint gets hard.  We stayed out there for three months, then I returned to Santa Monica, CA, where they gave me my first one-man show.

In Malibu, paintings were done while I was working in a special effects studio in Los Angeles.  I thought the Point Dume painting  was owned by Bob Dylan, but I never did see Mister Dylan!  The painting was finished twenty seven years later. 

I was an owner of Tile De Mexico Terra Cotta manufacturing in Stroudsburg, Pa. from 1985 to 1995.  I did tile contracting in Los Angeles, CA, Morris County, NJ and Atlanta, GA from 1980 until 2004.

Currently, I am teaching in Bernardsville and New Providence, NJ schools.  I give private drawing and painting lessons.  I'm very busy working on landscapes and portraits and on commissioned pieces.

Now, I am working in New Jersey, usually three hours at a time in the summertime, mostly on scenes depicting water and reflections.  I noticed after numerous hours of looking at the different reflections that the colors are especially intense.  
There are about five different things going on at the same time :

1.   reflection of trees and sky
2.   surfaces of algae or leaves - or, in Monet's case - "Waterlilies"
3.   below the surface are images and shadows cast by the rocks on the bottom
4.   shadows will be cast from overhanging trees onto the surface of the water - as in my Chester Mill paintings
5.   and the most difficult to translate to paint, I think, is  when the wind blows and creates waves across the still,  otherwise perfectly reflective surface.

Many times whilst I'm painting, children come up to speak to me about what I'm doin', I try to tell them a story about the Indians. and how they didn't have mirrors to view themselves, but then one day, each of them unintentionally must have leaned over to cup his or her hands for a sip of water in the stream and saw their image for the first time.  How wonderful or astonishing that may have been.  At least the children liked the story!

     Thanks, 
 Rich 

---

RICH wrote a sort of resume in early 2006 :

I have been painting for 35 years, seen much of America and tried to capture its God given beauty. Please visit with me through these works, adventures and learning experiences . Write if you feel like it, I'm glad to respond.

Here are some recent exhibitions;  

August 2005 - Oxford Municipal Building, NJ, 

September 2005 - New Providence Public Library, NJ,

November-December 2005 - Morris County Library, Morris County, NJ.

I enjoyed outings with students to the Metropolitan Museum :in New York City.

I was owner of De Fiore Custom Tile Contracting - New Jersey, California, Atlanta  1980 -  2004.

I was owner of Tile De Mexico, my terra cotta floor tile factory in Stroudsburg, PA from 1987 - 1996.

I received my public school teacher certification in 1986 - for Teacher of Art and Elementary Education.

I also worked in Hollywood studios, 1980.

I was a Manager of Winchell's Donuts in 1975, and a Juvenile Counselor in the state of Missouri in 1974.

---

Education experiences:: 

I attended Morristown, NJ schools and graduated from Morristown High School in 1967.  I set out to discover this beautiful world.

A Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute in 1973.  I studied with Ken Ferguson in Ceramics  - and painting with Ron Slowinski.. After graduating, I met Thomas Hart Benton at his home and viewed his lifelong works, Tom helped advise me on my mural in K. C. in 1974. 

In 1979, I took a three month sabbatical to Sedona, AZ.  Kris Steele and I built a house/studio on the back of the 1970 Dodge pickup truck that I had bought in LA, CA.  We drove back to her dad's place in Sedona, where we spent a month stretching canvases.  We then set out into the dirt roads and started painting the Sedona Series.  

We set up in a secluded valley; I built about seven easels and began painting - usually about an hour each day on seven different scenes.  I used the back window on the truck for a palate, as I needed lots of paint daily - and the glass makes it easy to clean off, when the paint gets hard.  We stayed out there for three months, then I returned to Santa Monica, CA, where they gave me my first one-man show.

In Malibu, paintings were done while I was working in a special effects studio in Los Angeles.  I thought the Point Dume painting I had begun was owned by Bob Dylan, but I never did see Mister Dylan!  The painting was finished by me twenty seven years later.

I  did Graduate studies at University of Missouri and at Montclair State University from 1974-1986, and I received a teacher certification in Art and Elementary Education for  N J in 1986.

I had vocational training at Tile Local #400, La Puente, California and became a Union Tile Setter in 1980.

Other ceramics training: classes were with Ken Ferguson in Kansas City, MO. in 1970, and recently, 3 yrs. with Michael Feno of Fire and Earth in Morristown, NJ. 

I again studied and painted for 2 years at The Center for Visual Arts in Summit, NJ.  

              A Great Old Painting of Speedwell Factory Village              Photo by Tom J. Collins of Speedwell Dam and Old Highway Bridge
                               
                                                                 Click to ENLARGE

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