09/09/2025
Laura Bianchi and Ivano Balluchi, two artists who lived or live in the Tuscany region of Italy have one important thing in common, other than their immense talent. They are both represented by two insightful artists in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Gold/Smith Gallery’s owners, Karen Swartsberg and John Vander, discovered Laura Bianchi at a small street art fair in Volterra, Italy over 30 years ago. Karen discovered a small painting propped up on an antique credenza at the outdoors Antiquariato in Lucca, Italy in 2021 that Balluchi had painted thirty years ago! When she looked him up on the web all she found was his obituary and a contact with the gallery that showed his work for decades and a decades old phone number for his widow. Serendipity had brought these two artists together with these Maine“galleristi”,who truly believe in their talent and are now sharing their discovery with everyone that come to visit their 51 year old art gallery in Boothbay Harbor.
Laura is a hyperrealist who lives in the sleepy village of Vecchiano, near Pisa. This quiet setting allows her the valuable space she needs to concentrate on her super precise paintings. She’s a very private person and only goes out to photograph details of clothing, shoes and hairstyles. Her portraits are inventions of just normal folks standing on the edge of space in a moment of pause or reflection. The artist’s hyper-definition of her subjects brings them to life beyond what a photo could achieve. Her oils are amazing and unforgettable.
Ivano Balluchi was a professor fine art at the Academia di Belle Arte in Livorno. When his school was closed on weekend and holidays he’d prep his wood panels, mix his paints and head south to paint plein air at the rolling hillsides along La Costa Etrusca, the Etruscan Coast. He loved that landscape filled with Etruscan villages and tombs between Livorno and Grossetto. He Knew it like the back of his hand. It was his lover and for forty years he painted this place he loved. You can almost understand which painting is older than a similar one by the size and number of cypress trees on a hillside. His painting are impressionistic and moody. Though not precise, they capture the elusive romantic kingdom that was known as Etrusca. The first culturally great civilization of Italy.
The exhibit “Two Tuscan Artists” is featured at Gold/Smith Gallery, 8 McKown St.,Boothbay Harbor now through October. The gallery is open every day 10a.m. to 5p.m. There’s a reception for the exhibit Saturday September 15 from 4 to 6p.m. The public is invited to enjoy two great exhibits and libations with chocolates! For more information the gallery can be reached at 207-633-6252 or www.goldsmithgallery.net
