Cindy Frederico Giusti is the owner of the Offbeat Owl Paint Gallery downtown and she has a great passion for painting. Her passion began at a young age. She would spend all night painting in her parents’ basement as a little girl. Throughout her teenage years, her passion continued and eventually led her to apply for the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. From there, she started her own business as a graphic designer, but always dreamed of having her own art gallery where kids could paint and they could“express themselves through art.”
“I quickly fell in love with the atmosphere and charm of downtown Exeter, NH,” she said.. “I realized that this beautiful town was where I wanted to bring my dream to life.”
This is exactly what Ms. Giusti did. On August 1, 2015, she opened the Offbeat Owl Paint Studio and all her dreams and hopes came to life. Kids enter the art studio every day and paint what they feel. Ms. Giusti sometimes gives painting classes to these kids after school or on the weekends.
“It’s simple really,” she said. “I just want people to have a chance to experience this beautiful passion of mine and to create memories that will last a lifetime.”
Ms. Giusti’s favorite painting does not have a specific name. She painted it when she was 18 years old, and it’s a gorgeous canvas. She went to a specific place and copied what she saw. It took her two weeks to finish the painting and she had to go there only a couple of times, but sadly she does not remember where it is.
Ms. Giusti says that this is her favorite art work because she had an exceedingly fun time working on it. She was alone the days she was painting it. “There were no friends of mine fooling around me; I was alone and it was so peaceful,” she said.
Ms. Giusti’s second favorite painting also has no name, and is also a wonderful canvas. This canvas is not a real place. She came up with it on her own and it is a much smaller painting compared to her first favorite. She painted this one in the winter, in December, with a pallet knife. There was no process to painting it. She did not draw anything first. She just grabbed a pallet knife and started painting the landscape.
“Kinda like Bob Ross used to do-no drawing allowed,” she says. It only took two hours for her to finish it.
Phillips Exeter Academy kids can go downtown and learn to paint with this extremely talented woman. She has many students every day entering her gallery ready to learn. She accepts anybody and there is no judgment as to whether you are a good or bad artist; she just wants to make kids and teens feel happy and share her passion with others.