By: Marilyn L. Davis

Claudia Ricci, Ph. D. is not only a monthly contributor at Two Drops of Ink but an artist as well.  I grew up in a family of artists and understand the importance of images and how much they enhance the words. I appreciate that Claudia sends a visual representation of her words in each of her submissions.

 

Claudia Ricci: From Writer to Artist

 

Claudia Ricci, Ph.D., taught English, journalism and creative writing at the University at Albany, SUNY for 14 years, and did a year-long teaching sabbatical at Georgetown University in 2009.

She was a staff writer for The Wall Street Journal and a prize-winning reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times, where one of her projects was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

Her first novel, Dreaming Maples, was published in 2002 after it was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Shortly after publication, Claudia was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease.

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From Scraps of Paper to Pollock-like Paintings

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During chemo, she could barely function, relying on poetry to get her through the ordeal.  During the summer, she started making collages out of scraps of paper.  This leads to a hillside painting of fir trees. But Claudia realized she wasn’t a realistic painter.

Instead of giving up, she started throwing paint on the canvas, rather like Jackson Pollock.

The paintings piled up, and she gave many to her son, Noah, who was living in New York. She jokingly says that Noah had so many of her paintings in his apartment that she could claim a gallery exhibit in Brooklyn.

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From Brooklyn to the Warren Street Gallery 

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Claudia’s paintings are on exhibit at the Warren Street Gallery through June 30, 2019.

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Additional Writings

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• Alaska Quarterly Review
• North Dakota Quarterly
• Bayou,
• Yemassee
• Barkeater
• The Adirondack Review
• The MacGuffin
• Another Chicago Magazine

Ricci’s writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Business Week, Parents magazine, and The Washington Post.

She began writing for the Huffington Post in 2008.

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Novels by Claudia Ricci, Ph.D.

 

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Visit her Gallery Pages

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Her blog: MyStoryLives

Two Drops of Ink posts

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Two Drops of Ink: The Literary Home for Collaborative Writing

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