Design and Art Australia Online

Michael Ambriano is a largely self-taught landscape painter whose work often depicts the southern districts of Sydney. The youngest child of Antonio and Caterina, Ambriano was born in April 1975 to parents of Italian heritage. His father, who was born in Isole Eolie, an archipelago of islands located near the Mediterranean and Southern Tyrrhenian Seas, emigrated when he was twenty-seven years old. In Sydney, he met Caterina Natoli with whom he had three sons, Dominic, Gino, and Michael.

Ambriano was educated in the Catholic education system, attending St Francis De Sales Primary School in Woolooware followed by the De La Salle Colleges in Caringbah and Cronulla. From a young age he showed an active interest in art and was encouraged in these endeavours by his parents, especially his mother.

In December 1994 Ambriano’s older brother, Dominic, died from severe pulmonary hypertension. Two months later he lost his father, Antonio, to pancreatic cancer. The artist has stated that during this period he found painting, especially painting outdoors in natural settings, therapeutic as it allowed him to focus on the world around him. Painting continued to play a therapeutic role in his life when in June 2008 his mother Caterina died from heart failure and cancer.

In 1998 Ambriano received his Certificate in Printing and Machinery from the Sydney Institute of Technology in Ultimo. He used his acquired skills to become an assistant printmaker to master printer Tom Goulder at Duck Print Fine Art Limited Editions, Sydney, in 2004. Ambriano was promoted to head assistant printmaker in 2007.

Whilst largely self-taught, Ambriano has taken a number of classes to refine his artistic skills. In 1993 he took a life drawing class as well as a media and animation class, and in September 2009 he enrolled in 'Questions of Seeing a Landscape’, a master class taught by Idris Murphy at the Hazelhurst Regional Art Gallery and Art Centre in Gymea, New South Wales. In addition, Ambriano has contributed to numerous group exhibitions. In September 2010, he and his brother, Gino, held an exhibition entitled 'Sticks and Stones’ at the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery. In this exhibition, Ambriano exhibited several paintings, including Loftus Creek , a triptych oil on canvas, as well as other oils on canvas and drawings.

The southern area of Sydney has remained significant to Ambriano as a place of comfort, memories and inspiration: it is where he grew up and has continued to live and work. Ambriano’s casual job as a courier for a pathology company in the area has served to supplement his income and has allowed him time to focus on his art.

Writers:

Jenita Stoloff
Catherine De Lorenzo

Date written:

2010

Last updated:

2011