Published: January 09, 2008 03:56 pm            

ART: New age creations

Ron Zito spends his days taking care of some 250 nursing home patients, but his off-time thoughts take a decidedly artistic turn.

Zito, who serves as executive director of Our Lady of Peace in Lewiston, has dabbled in art since the 1970s. Much like his profession has adapted to great technological changes since then, so too has his hobby.

A one-time painter with minimal training, the Wheatfield resident made the transition into photography but wanted to maintain touches of his former craft. He has done so thanks to a computer-aided design program that allows him to digitally accent an image with virtual pen and ink or watercolor paint.

Zito takes a digital or print image shot on a 35 mm camera and transfers it into his computer. He then uses the program to enhance colors, accentuate detail and make the photo resemble a hand-crafted image.

“The end result is I’m able to scribe around the details so that it looks very much like what I used to do,” he said.

Many of the subjects in the 10 years he’s worked in this medium have centered around Wilson, the lakeside village in which Zito and his wife spend many weekends in their cabin.

“Being on the lake, you could really look in any direction and it’s an artist’s dream,” he said. “I look for scenes that will tell a story or where someone would immediately identify with the visual.”

The village — what Zito called “Niagara County’s best-kept secret” — has proven especially inspirational leading up to its sesquicentennial this year. In addition to chronicling the waterfront community, Zito hopes to accumulate enough artwork to set up an exhibit in his cottage by the summer. He then wants to use some of that art to take to area art shows.

For now, though, his work at the nursing home keeps him too busy to make art a full-time craft. He divides the 50 or so works he makes per year between his personal collection, gifts for family members and a few that are sold off.

While the method of his raft may change with the technology, Zito’s love of art will probably not.

“It’s a joy,” he said.

        

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