Artist and designer, Loretta Alexandra, born in Louisiana, raised in New York City, currently resides in Dallas County, Texas. She is the mother of two adult children. Besides interests in traveling, creative writing, and genealogy, Loretta devotes much of  her leisure time engaged in one creative project, or another, involving art & design in some form, or fashion. Because of her travels and a desire to document her trips, the camera, a natural vehicle, is her constant companion, second only to her daughter Gitiim, whom Loretta refers to as, “my steady, ever ready traveling buddy.”

Loretta began art training at the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, and is a graduate of  The Cooper Union School of Art,  where she majored in fine arts, with an emphasis on painting. From childhood, through her early twenties, Loretta’s goal was to be a studio painter, and live off of selling her work. But after graduating from art school, life happened!

Having neither formal prior technical training, nor an earlier vision while she was still in art school, of such a profession for herself, Loretta entered the field of textile design through the ‘back door’. Bringing her skills as a colorist and painter, and her drawing ability, Loretta began her career learning all the technical aspects entailed, on the job. The career spanned thirty-plus years, of which the first four were spent as an in-house artist, in New York City. Thereafter, aside from a few years working in a studio in Los Angeles, CA, Loretta continued as an independent, free-lance designer, mostly working solo.  The exception being, her several years in partnership with another designer, Carmen Tepalian (Gelabert). Said Loretta, “At the time, Carmen, my mentor, had many more years of experience, and loads of expertise, all of which she so generously shared with me, her junior partner. From idea to sketch, to lay-out design, to execution, and finally, putting the design into repeat for the finished project–which then went to the screen maker, and lastly, the printer–Carmen was a master!”

Collaborating with other artists on new undertakings, is what Loretta finds inspirational and vital, in these days of her retirement. Accepting the recent invitation from fellow artist/designer and photographer, Alex M. Bustillo, to create a photo page of her travels, and join him on his site, Traveling With Friends, reminded Loretta of just how much a joy it is to connect and collaborate with people with whom she shares such interests.

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About Loretta’s future projects: One that is never ending: using her original art and photographs in digital art creations. And, what will follow? A mixed-media creation, incorporating original art, photography, digital art, and text—a mix of poetry and prose—to tell a story, years in the making and still evolving.

You can contact Loretta at her E-Mail Address: gimati6467@gmail.com