Founders
Nelson Shanks (1937 – 2015) — painter, art historian, teacher, connoisseur, and collector– distilled the foundational principles of Studio Incamminati from his lifelong experience with, and devotion to the arts.
Among his notable portrait sitters are President William Jefferson Clinton; Diana, Princess of Wales; Charles, Lord Spencer; and His Holiness Pope John Paul II. Significant commissions include Luciano Pavarotti for the Metropolitan Opera, Mstislav Rostropovich for the Kennedy Center, and Denyce Graves for the National Portrait Gallery. His work has been exhibited at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Kensington Palace in London, and Fortezza Firmafede in Sarzana (IT), Kensington Palace in London, the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Russian Academy of Art in Moscow. For more on Nelson Shanks, click here.
Leona Shanks
Leona Shanks, a Studio Incamminati instructor, was awarded First Place in juried competition of Inspiring Figures: American Women and Figurative Art. Her work also was featured in the accompanying exhibition at the Butler Institute of American Art.
Leon Shanks was a top finalist in the Art Renewal Center’s International ARC Salon worldwide competition. Her solo exhibition, Searching the Soul, was featured at Dacia Gallery in New York.
Also an accomplished sculptor, Leona won the Edmund Stewardson Award for Sculpture. Her works hang in many private collections and have been widely exhibited.
