Ferdinando Spina
Ferdinando (Fred) Spina is an artist, poet, and writer who lives in balance between his career as a social worker and his passion for art and creative expression. Spina’s paintings are ambiguous and mysterious, and his murals, and sculptures are whimsical works that explore the contradiction between the vastness of space inherent in the western Canadian landscape and ideas of solitude and loneliness. The figures he portrays are almost always placed in situations of isolation, where the relationship between space and figure are most accentuated.
Spina is largely self-taught, and began to draw and paint while working towards a degree in Psychology and Social Work. His most recent paintings have been inspired by the Kitikmeot Region in the Canadian Arctic, where he works with children as a social counsellor and art therapist. Living and working in the North influences his art, and gives insight into a world about which most of us know very little.
A number of Spina’s works are featured in public places around Calgary, including: a mural by the Centre Street Bridge called The Wall of Names; the mural Prairie Roundhouse Fun in the UNICEF building on 17th Avenue, and the Sentinels of Time, 15-foot sculpture and sundial arranged in a semi-circle located in the Mission District of southwest Calgary. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and has works in many public and private collections in Canada, the United States, and in Europe.
Spina is largely self-taught, and began to draw and paint while working towards a degree in Psychology and Social Work. His most recent paintings have been inspired by the Kitikmeot Region in the Canadian Arctic, where he works with children as a social counsellor and art therapist. Living and working in the North influences his art, and gives insight into a world about which most of us know very little.
A number of Spina’s works are featured in public places around Calgary, including: a mural by the Centre Street Bridge called The Wall of Names; the mural Prairie Roundhouse Fun in the UNICEF building on 17th Avenue, and the Sentinels of Time, 15-foot sculpture and sundial arranged in a semi-circle located in the Mission District of southwest Calgary. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and has works in many public and private collections in Canada, the United States, and in Europe.