Leonora Velásquez Velásquez di Domenico
educator illustrator painter sculptor
Leonora Velasquez di Domenico was born in Medellín, Colombia, on August 5, 1956. She later developed a transnational artistic life linking Colombia, Spain, and Italy. Her documented professional residence in Italy was in Castelnuovo di Conza, in the province of Salerno, while her early artistic and educational formation took place principally in Medellín and Madrid.
Velasquez di Domenico began her technical education in 1978 at Colegio Mayor de Antioquia, where she trained in architectural and engineering drafting. In 1983 she studied educational administration at the University of Medellín. Her artistic formation included painting studies in Medellín with María Cristina González de B. from 1984 to 1986 and with Libe de Zulatégi from 1992 to 2001. After moving to Spain, she studied baroque painting with Laureano Sastre in Madrid from 1986 to 1988, completed training in graphic representation and perspective for interior and furniture design at the Escuela de Artes Decorativas in 1986, and studied aerography for illustration at the Centro del Diseño y la Comunicación from 1987 to 1988. In 1989 she conducted research in educational administration at the Complutense University of Madrid. She continued artistic development through studies in printmaking, watercolor, sculpture, artistic anatomy, glass painting, mosaics, and stained glass, including work at the Fundación Biblioteca de Itagüí Diego Echavarría Misas, Casa de la Cultura de Envigado, and with instructors such as Luis Carlos Molina, Hernán Darío Castaño, and Oscar Restrepo.
Velasquez di Domenico has worked across education, administration, research, and the visual arts. Her documented early professional training included architectural and engineering drafting, followed by work connected with educational administration. In Colombia she served as executive director of the Biblioteca de Itagüí and worked as an educational researcher associated with the Complutense University of Madrid. Her artistic career encompasses painting, sculpture, illustration, aerography, graphic design, watercolor, acrylic, oil painting, glass painting, mosaics, and stained glass. She has presented individual and collective exhibitions in Colombia, Spain, Italy, and Slovenia. Her individual exhibitions included presentations in Medellín, Madrid, Jesi, Castelnuovo di Conza, Oliveto Citra, Lioni, Teora, Colliano, Trieste, and Agropoli. Her collective exhibition record includes venues and events in Medellín, Itagüí, Envigado, Madrid, Girona, Terrassa, Trieste, Padua, Ljubljana, Naples, Milan, Caserta, Salerno, Agropoli, and several towns in Campania and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Her documented artistic work also includes a stained-glass window for the Chiesa Nuova of Castelnuovo di Conza, illustrations and cover designs for books, hand-designed Christmas cards, paintings for animated films, and artwork for a record sleeve. A 2010 solo exhibition at the Studio d’Arte e Cultura in Agropoli presented landscapes and figures executed in several painting techniques, while contemporary commentary described her work as developing from figurative study toward a nearly informal mode of expression.
Her artistic work has been described in exhibition commentary as characterized by sensitivity, essential lines, movement, and a progression from figurative study toward an almost informal mode of expression.
Quotes from others about the person
At the inauguration of her 2010 solo exhibition in Agropoli, the organizers and attending public officials praised her artistic work and the selection of landscapes and figures presented in multiple painting techniques.
Her documented professional and artistic connections include the Fundación Biblioteca de Itagüí Diego Echavarría Misas, Casa de la Cultura de Envigado, the Instituto de Bellas Artes in Medellín, the Complutense University of Madrid, the Accademia dei Partenopei, and exhibition venues and cultural organizations in Italy, Spain, Colombia, and Slovenia.
