91-year-old CT artist brings art exhibition to CCSU

With a variety of ceramic and metal sculptures, 91-year-old Thomas Zaccheo wants to show the world the talent he has honed over decades.

Zaccheo will showcase his art during an exhibition titled “Transformed by Fire” at the Central Art Gallery in the Samuel ST Chen Fine Art Center at Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) from September 5 to October 4. The approximately 150 pieces he will display in the exhibition include ceramic creations such as birds and roses, metal sculptures such as a mask and a cast iron heart, and various bowls made using pottery techniques from around the world.

The Farmington artist said he turned to art later in life while working as a doctor. Although Zaccheo said he “loved what he did for a living,” he needed something to relax and began creating art about 50 years ago. To hone his craft, he took a ceramics class at Wesleyan University in Middletown and said that’s where his love of ceramics began. He noticed that many of his clients weren’t living fulfilling lives as they aged, and he wanted to make sure that didn’t happen to him.

“When I was (working as a doctor), I saw a lot of people working on their lives only to retire and then be completely bored with their existence,” Zaccheo said.

The Farmington native said a ceramic sculpture of a boat full of nails recovered from a 1769 home in Berlin, Connecticut, titled “Bring me your weary, your poor… who yearn to breathe free…” is one of the most meaningful pieces he will display in the exhibit. Zaccheo said the piece honors the journey of immigrants to the United States, including his parents, who immigrated to the United States from Bari, Italy.

“I thought they would represent well the iron determination of immigrants to succeed in the ‘New World’ where the streets are paved with gold. This idea was in my head for years before I found a way to express this concept in this piece,” said Zaccheo.

Zaccheo added that his pieces are inspired by all kinds of cultures. Throughout his life, he has traveled to countries such as Japan, Greece and Mexico, admiring the different artworks there. He has made several pieces using the Raku process, a Japanese pottery technique that involves heating clay to very high temperatures and then cooling it.

“We collect knowledge from different cultures and then apply it to our own aesthetics or our own thinking. Japanese artists have created works that rival anything produced today in terms of beauty and design,” Zaccheo said. “So my creativity is based on the things I’ve seen, the processes I’ve learned. And it’s not all me. It’s the people who came before me.”

Although he retired about 30 years ago, Zaccheo has vowed to “never stop learning.” He enrolled at CCSU, has now earned over 300 credits in various courses, including art, languages ​​and drawing, and is still a student. He added that he does it for fun rather than to earn a degree. His wife also takes courses in archaeology and anthropology at the school.

“I only go because I like to learn. I have enough credits, but when they say I should get a degree, I ask, ‘Do you think this will help me get a job?'” Zaccheo joked.

His exhibition at CCSU is not the first time he has presented his art to the public. With the help of his three sons and two grandchildren, he installed several metal birds on the front of a building in Greenfield, Massachusetts, in 2023. Although the birds took over 300 hours to create and about 12 hours to install, he said the joy the piece brought to others was worth it. He also created a yellow ceramic begonia that took third place in a competition at the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington.

“We learned a lot about drilling holes in bricks and anchoring things with epoxy to keep them where they’re supposed to go. It was an educational but very rewarding experience,” the artist said. “We’ve gotten a lot of comments from people walking by saying, ‘It really makes my day to see something bright and cheerful.'”

Zaccheo hopes that viewers of his works will learn not to judge people’s talents based solely on their age. The artist added that his artwork gives him a reason to keep living.

“People really need to know that they don’t have to just die when they get older. They can enjoy their life. They can learn things,” Zaccheo said. “I’m contributing something, in terms of my creativity, in terms of my willingness to work, in terms of the product I want to make and how I want to present it; I’m showing my heart.”

Admission to the exhibit is free and the gallery is normally open Monday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., according to the CCSU website. An opening reception for the exhibit will be held at 4:30 p.m. on September 5.