Artist Susan Dobay to Presents Art Video Interpretation of Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly”

Artist Susan Dobay’s powerful multi-media music/image integration project based on Puccini’s Madame Butterfly will be featured at Altadena Library’s A Taste of Japan program to be held this Saturday, March 22 at 2 p.m. at the Main Altadena Library.  “Tanka Poets on Site” led by Kathabela Wilson will read their poems inspired by the art. Other elements of this fascinating program include an authentic Japanese tea ceremony by Naomi Onizuka; an illustrated talk on the beauty of Japanese food by Maureen Nyham, President of the Japan Arts Council at Pacific Asia Museum; a presentation by visiting Japanese poet Mariko Kitakubo; and Japanese snacks.

Dobay has this to say about her use of image integration: “The computer is a tool that has become pervasive in our modern lives.  Presently I am experimenting to bring the image of my original paintings on canvas into the computer.  I have found that combining images from my paintings on canvas with other digital images provides me the opportunity to express myself in new ways to combine modern technology with fundamental artistic technique to create a new fusion… It’s not that painting is obsolete or dead, it’s that painting like everything else is changing and evolving.  As technology evolves so does an artist’s tools for self-expression.  What’s vital is that the artist doesn’t get lost in the technique—that the artist continues to create art that retains its humanity and integrity.”

Hungarian by birth, Susan Dobay is owner of the Scenic Gallery in Monrovia, California. After studying graphic art both and Hungary and the U.S she served as an illustrator for adverting agencies, magazines, and newspapers. Her art is represented in collections in London, Switzerland, Hungary, Canada, Chicago, New Jersey and Los Angeles. Other image integration projects by Susan can be viewed on YouTube. For more information about Susan Dobay please see her website: http://www.susandobay.com/