Prep’s world-renowned art teacher was honored at the Chiesa Madre Church in Carlentini, Sicily. Mr. Jeremy Caniglia (‘88) has been teaching at Prep for twelve years. But even with his famous art he still finds teaching at Prep to be his main priority.
“I just love teaching,” Caniglia said. “I’ve had friends go on and they’re doing their own thing now, like maybe they’re doing a church painting, maybe something big commission and I love to see that. But I like to inspire students, you know, it’s much more exciting.”
Caniglia believes that inspiring his students is a key way to build and create his own art. He believes that teaching is his duty.
“In 2017, I studied in Norway, with two other people in this huge castle under a man that is known as the last Renaissance master and his paintings sell for millions each,” Canglia says. “But he always emphasized the fact that you must teach, you have to teach to get better.”
Caniglia finds inspiration in many different things other than his students including nature and gardening.
“I’ll do pack trips for maybe five days somewhere and I just love it being in the middle of nature,” he says. “And I have a huge garden and I’ll have like 30 or 40 bees in my face and I just love it.”
Caniglia was just honored in Carlentini, Sicily at the Chiesa Madre Church. With a painting of Saint Lucia. Who went through many hardships through her life especially when her mother was going to die.
“The painting originally showed her with her mother, who was laying across [Saint Lucia] and [The Church] loved it” Caniglia says.
But, in 2022 this stopped as Caniglia was diagnosed with multiple Myeloma. A type of cancer that attacks plasma cells. He decided to take another angle on the piece.
“I decided to do a smaller, reflective version of her by herself,” Caniglia said. “But this piece is before she was torture and I, sent it in and they loved it.”
This piece took him two years to complete and it had many inspirations but the biggest one came from the beginning of her journey.
“This piece’s inspiration came from her journey, from her pleading with God to save her mother to being tortured in her house for not marrying this guy,” he says.
But Caniglia thinks that this angle on the piece is better than his original.
“Seeing all the youth in the church and all the little kids, you know, they can relate to this more,” he says “They don’t have to see her being tortured.”
He said that creating this piece for two years pushed his creative process and that is what he wants to push it his students.
“I just love the creative process and the loop of making things and that’s never gone away since I’ve been at Prep,” Caniglia said. “I want to push that to my students and help them love the creative process and always continue to make things that they love.”
