"Gods like white above all" Leon Battista Alberti.
Angelo Savelli, an Italian painter who lived in America, who passed away in 1995. A very special, and I daresay, a unique Man, one so sensitive and mediumistic, so romantic and transgressive, so unpredictable and unconventional.

A life intensely lived with the strength of intelligence and love, the two magic ingredients which induced Louis Kahn to write:
"The work of Savelli moves from silence to light Stopping at light and asking of it the barest of presence In it lies the essence of poetry, the essence of the poet"

Of Savelli I jealously preserve that magic key which he donated to me, a key that allows me, now that He is no longer here, as when Hewas alive, to read into his hear and listen to the peaceful melodies that emanated. The melodies that are still alive today in his spirit and which are an authentic moral and ethical guide for me.

Angelo is now with Dante, Virgil, Socrates, and Plato, as he has always wished to be in the other dimension; he leaves us his great work and his irreplaceable and magic memories.

Susanna Argenterio

Maggie Soliz

Dear Angelo,
I am not sure if you remember me, Maggie Koehler from UW-Stout in 1972? (you nicknamed me Bardot!)  You were only a part of my life for such a short time... but had a huge impact on how I have lived my life and some of the things I have taught my children.

"If you are like most humans, half of your choices will be right and half will be wrong.... the difference is what you do with those choices."

Now that I have 2 in college (2 still at home) I find myself repeting those words of wisdom.
My husband Dan and I have been living in Batavia Illinois for 23 years and are probably considered a pretty normal old married couple.  Raising 4 kids, paying the bills etc... but my time studying art at Stout never left me.

I have always felt that the creative part of the American soul has been left uncared for. Pulling on ideas planted back then, we have formed the Batavia Renaissance Project.  Using the old buildings in town, we are bringing local artists, musicians, thesbians and writers into the downtown to be celebrated and enjoyed by people who are use to spending time on sports and shopping.

So far trhe reaction has been positive.  We now claim 3 galleries, 3 theaters, including Shakespear in the Park, Orion String Ensemble, Concerts for a Cause an Artists Guild and a Writers Guild.  My dream is still to get the art school (workshops) of the ground and feature a Renaissance Fair on our Island Riverwalk. Lots of dreams but many people to share them with.

After I found your name in google.com, I figured I should let you know how much I appreciated your inspriation.  Take care, I hope you are well.
Fond regards,


Maggie Soliz (Bardot)

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Howard DaLee Spencer

I am indeed pleased to read that Savelli's friends continue to treasure his memory. Savelli was undoubtedly the most charming and pleasant artist that I have ever worked with---a man filled with the joy of life.

We did a show of his work at about the time that he moved to his apartment under the Brooklyn Bridge. In those days, I worked as a curator for the Wichita Art Museum in Kansas. We didn't have much money, but we had a handsome museum, cube-back van, and curator (me) who was willing to drive that truck as often as 10 times a year to New York in order to pick up and return shows. We organized many shows on a shoe string via this method, during the ten years that I was in Wichita.

After I left that Museum, I understand, doing this sort of thing became "impossible," which meant that no one was willing to drive a truck back and forth from Wichita to New York anymore! But, I still have very fond memories of working with Savelli, though I also remember that the place where he stored much of his work was very dusty! I left Wichita in 1989, and have not returned. I understand that the museum has not done well in the last decade.

I spent most of the 90's in Reno, Nevada, working as a
curator with the Nevada Museum of Art. Driving a truck to New York from Nevada was just too impractical, so during my time in Nevada I drove a truck all over the western half of the United States organizing and transporting exhibits. I am presently "between positions" as they say, which means a "new Director" was hired at the Nevada Museum of Art who forced out and replaced three fourths of the Museum's staff---including me.

( I gather that the "new Director" is now on the verge of being forced out himself after losing financial support for the museum. Such is show biz!) In any event, I used to receive handmade Christmas cards from Savelli, which I have saved over the years. However, I do not have any files left in my possession from the time that I did his show in Wichita.

Files on the show should be at the Wichita Art Museum in their deep storage. I don't know what might be left in them, however, as such files are often times thinned out to their basic essentials when they go into storage just to save on space. And, there have been three changes of director since then.

Directors, like Pharaohs, tend to obliterate references to previous Directors in the vain glorification of their own imperial reign. So, I don't have any idea as to what may
actually remain on the Savelli show in their deep storage files.

I know that I gave Savelli a great stack of exhibition catalogs, some of which should still be around at the Museum, and I think I still have a few stored somewhere as well. The best of luck with your work. You have brought back many fond memories.


Best wishes, Howard DaLee Spencer

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