D'Ambruoso Studios

Sam D'Ambruoso of Middlebury, CT has been professionally painting landscapes and portraits since 1972.  His artists' workshops in the United States and in Italy, begun in 1997, have been acclaimed by past participants many of whom return year after year.   A graduate of Providence College, he has studied with the internationally renowned landscape painter, Thomas Beuchner of Elmira, New York, and advanced landscape painting with Skip Whitcomb of Fort Collins, Colorado.

His portraiture training began at the Paier College of Art, Hamden, CT with Joseph Funaro; figure and portrait painting since the late 1980s with Dan Gheno at the Lyme Academy College of Fine Art.  In the fall of 2006 he studied advanced portraiture with Peter Cox at the Art Students League, NYC, and in 2007 he studied with Laura Stern Boecke of Katonha, NY, respected for her portraits of noted public figures.  

He has on-going classes in general painting and portraiture and has taught portrait drawing in area colleges.  He is a member of the Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society and the Plein Air Painters of America. With respect to portrait and figure painting, he is a member of the Connecticut Society of Portrait Artists and the Portrait Society of America. He is also an Elected Artist at the Kent Art Association, Kent, CT.  He was selected to lead landscape-painting sessions at the 2004 Arts and Materials Show, sponsored by American Artist Magazine, in Pasadena, CA.   His paintings are in public and private collections, and he is represented by The Courtyard Gallery of Mystic, CT.

Mary Ann D'Ambruoso is the Workshop Coordiator.  Since 1997, Sam and Mary Ann have hosted International Art Workshops concentrating on Italy and New England.  In 2006 a new program was added which presents travel opportunities focused on Italian Culture and Cuisine.  She began her hospitality career in 1979 and took her culinary training in NY City at the Professional Culinary Arts Center, The New School for Social Research.

She worked as Director of Catering and Convention Services at private clubs and hotels in Connecticut organizing corporate and social events.  Her culinary experience includes Executive Chef at an innovative resident Spa facility developing specialized menus and recipes; conducted seminars on nutrition at the spa and spa cooking classes at The Silo, New Milford, CT.  Her original menus and recipes were featured in Town and Country,  Cosmopolitan, and Choclatier magazines as well as The New York Post and other CT newspapers.  She was also interviewed on the cable television shows Attitudes and Lifestyles.