Recognizing a Courageous Legacy
A generous donor offers targeted support for students to overcome challenges.
RISD will now offer its first scholarship that provides financial assistance to students with disabilities, thanks to the generosity of John Rizzo, who recently established the Carmela Kolman 82 Endowed Scholarship to honor his late wife.
While meeting the rigorous studio and academic demands at RISD is daunting for every student, it was especially challenging for Carmela Kolman 82 IL. She was born legally blind in her left eye and had limited vision in her right eye. As a result, her vision was impaired and blurry.
Determined to express herself through her art, she painted what she saw and developed her own unique style. She was born with Marfan syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that affected her sight and cardiovascular system.
Her vision was much improved by surgery when she was 23 years old, and this required a significant adjustment to her creative process as she could now see much more clearly. “In her early years, her style was almost surreal. Once her vision was corrected, she painted in a highly realist style for a number of years. Eventually, her style changed to impressionistic. It is as if she integrated her previous two styles,” recalls Rizzo. “The evolution of her painting and her productivity demonstrate that no disability can stand in the way of talent and the drive to produce great art.”
a severe disability to enjoy a successful art career, producing and selling many beautiful paintings. I hope this scholarship and Carmela’s story
will assist and inspire RISD students in pursuing their artistic goals.”
She exhibited widely in New York City, including solo exhibitions at Denise Bibro Fine Art, and group shows at Lori Bookstein Fine Art, Kouros Gallery and Neptune Fine Art. Haverford College, Colby College, the University of New Hampshire, Boston University, the University of Wisconsin, Purdue University, the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse, the College of William and Mary and the Washington Studio School have exhibited her work, and it has been reviewed and featured in publications such as the New York Times, Modern Painters and Art New England.
