Ligori An Artist Of Many Talents

Arlene Ligori is an artist who couldn't settle on one form of art. Her work includes medical illustration, graphic design, sculpture, mixed media and more. 

Ligori currently has work on display in Chicago, New York and O'Fallon. A dozen of her fine art pieces can be seen in the Cultural Arts Center Gallery at the in O’Fallon Sports Park, 2650 Tri Sports Circle. The free exhibit runs through Oct. 28.

"I had been doing a lot of sculpture, but now I've been working with white birds and white cats," she said. "Since May of last year that's all I've been doing."

The artist has been on this path since childhood. "I've always been an artist, even from a young age. I was five when I started drawing. Art has always been in my life," she said. "My dad used to paint, I kinda took after him."

She became involved in medical illustration while studying biology in college. "One of my teachers said 'medical illustration' and bells went off in my head," Ligori said. "I liked science and drawing."

Ligori moved to St. Louis  from Springfield, IL, in 1998 to pursue work in medical illustration and graphic art. Her clients in the field of medical illustration include Washington University, Saint Louis University and the American Association of Orthodontists. She also crafts technical drawings for patents and has worked on a cookbook for the Panera Bread Company.

Her clients in the field of logo and graphic design include the American Cancer Society, the Metropolis Wine Club of St. Louis and the Jewish Community Center of St. Louis. "I had studied graphic design while I was studying medical illustration," she said. "They're closely related."

Despite her skill and success at illustrating and graphic design, Ligori's true artistic love lies elsewhere. "What I really love to do is bronze casting," she said. But when bronze sculpture proved too labor intensive and expensive, Ligoriturned to another medium.

"I needed to move to canvas," she said. "What I'm doing now is sort of what I was doing with sculpture," she said. "It's very popular."

And now Ligori has brought her work to the Cultural Arts Center Gallery in O'Fallon. "A friend of mine told me about it," she said. "Artists talk to each other about different galleries."

Ligori then met with Darren Grannas, O’Fallon’s cultural arts coordinator, about a potential exhibit.

"It's completely different than anything you normally see," Grannas said of her work. "I've never seen art like that at all. I like her use of media—it's unusual to see collage and spray painting mixed together and make it really work."

The Cultural Arts Center Gallery is open during regular Spirit Center hours: 5:15 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 5:15 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

For more information on Ligori's work visit www.aligori.com.