Each of Zappitell’s paintings is a long journey of gestures. Completely filling canvases or panels with innumerable layers of deliberate, vigorous brushstrokes, she shares an affinity with abstract expressionists such as Joan Mitchell and Willem de Kooning. However, her paintings are fully informed by her life experiences—from being a wife and mother to traveling the world to the meditation practice of finding the pause. The colors she selects subconsciously reflect these experiences, such as the glowing oranges and reds that followed a trip to Africa. The detailed, specific titles she gives the paintings once they are completed bring it all together. While rooted in the deeply personal, Zappitell’s work is not an internal secret. By beginning within a universal framework of serenity and living in the moment informed by the past, the resulting works are stimulating and accessible to all.

–Marisa J. Pascucci, Curator of Collections, Boca Museum of Art