Eugene Pizzuto followed lifelong passion for art

Until a few days before his death, Eugene Pizzuto was hard at work interpreting his view of the world through sketches in notebooks. His last project, black-and-white calligraphic abstract sketches, was inspired by a recent visit to Eastern Washington.

And even as his health deteriorated, he made trips to Seattle's Arboretum to capture the landscaping.

Some of his recent works are still on exhibit at Baas Art Gallery & Framing in Seattle's Madison Valley, where Mr. Pizzuto was represented for the last few years.

Mr. Pizzuto, a landscape painter and retired University of Washington art professor, died April 17 in his upstairs studio at his Montlake home, after a diagnosis of stomach cancer last month. He was 79.

Retired since 1993, he had been a professor of drawing and painting in the UW's art department for 36 years.

Mr. Pizzuto was born in Waterbury, Conn., the youngest in a family of four children. He and his wife, Laura Pizzuto, also an accomplished artist, met while both were art students at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

"He had very definite ideas about art and his judgment about painting was very different than mine, and I was curious about how he came to have those ideas," said his wife, who paints under the professional name Laura Pizzuto-Velaz and calls herself "a people painter."

The attraction between the two grew. "We talked, and argued, and had a wonderful time learning from each other, and it lasted all our lives," she said.

Married since 1949, the two pursued careers in art while raising two children, a daughter, Lucy Kay Phillips, a landscape painter in Sitka, Alaska; and a son, James Pizzuto, a University of Delaware geologist in Newark, Del. The couple had made their home in Seattle since he took the UW teaching post in 1957.

Besides an art degree from the University of Wisconsin, Mr. Pizzuto earned a master's degree in fine arts from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

After diagnosis of his illness, Mr. Pizzuto, his wife and daughter spent time traveling and creating art together. His most recent show at Baas Art Gallery closed last weekend.

"He always had six or seven or eight, or even 20 notebooks going in addition to a canvas and other projects he was working on," said his daughter.

Family members said he brought to his work and life a boundless curiosity, a love of music, and a passion for the natural world, particularly mushrooms. Besides the Baas Art Gallery here, his works have been exhibited in the UW's Henry Gallery and galleries throughout the country and abroad.

"He was so strong and brave and spent his last days as he had always lived. He went out hiking to enjoy the spring and continued to paint," said Baas Art Gallery owner Karrie Baas.

An art reviewer once wrote: "Pizzuto's surety of touch distills each vista into the freshness of spring; each nude into a Muse. Nothing feels labored or reined in. Clearly, a mature artist's hand is at work, dashing off drama and magic, responding to gut emotions rather than analyzed thoughts."

Mr. Pizzuto also is survived by three grandchildren; his brother, Ernest Pizzuto of Waterbury, Conn.; and a sister, Teresa Martinelli of Middlebury, Conn.

His remains will be cremated and scattered in Eastern Washington, according to his wishes. Plans for a memorial service are pending.

It is suggested that remembrances go to the Group Health Community Foundation, 1730 Minor Ave., Suite 1500, Seattle, 98101.