L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 9 J ust north of Spokane lies t h e t i n y c o m m u n i t y o f Clayton, Wash., population 4 4 3 , f o u n d e d i n 1 8 8 9 a n d named after the abundant clay d e p o s i t s n e a r b y . T h e t o w n became home to the Washington Brick Company, renowned for its beautiful decorative tiles and terra cotta sewer pipes. Many of its craftsmen were Italian immi- grants. The story of Leno Prestini is inextricably bound up with the terra cotta factory and the tiny town of Clayton. His name is not well known today, but in the 1940s Prestini's provocative, politically charged paintings made quite a stir. Although he was never able to take his art to the next level, this self-taught artist and sculptor created a sub- stantial body of work. The Prestini family emigrat- ed from Besano in the north of Italy, first settling in the granite quarries of Vermont and later m o v i n g t o C l a y t o n . L u i g i Prestini found work as a chiseler i n t h e W a s h i n g t o n B r i c k Company but died in 1919 from pneumonia. Leno and his older brother Battista dropped out of school to help support the fami- ly. By 1925, the two boys were employed as piece workers at the brick plant. It was obvious from the start that Leno was artistically gifted. Within a year, h e h a d a d v a n c e d f r o m t e r r a cotta apprentice to chief model- er. I n a n e w s p a p e r i n t e r v i e w with the Colville Statesman- Examiner, Prestini explained how his career evolved. "At the plant in Clayton I learned to work with my hands," he said. "A n architect w ould make a rough sketch of an ornament for a building, an angel in flight, perhaps. But the detail would be up to me. Each man worked that way and so each developed his specialty in shaping the clay into figures." But building codes changed and the work started to dry up. "The other men started drifting a w a y , " h e s a i d . " I d i d s o m e drifting myself. And then I start- ed painting." Leno's "drifting" took him to Chicago and San Francisco. He tried his luck in Mexico and sailed as a mess boy on an oil t a n k e r t o H a w a i i . H e l o v e d a d v e n t u r e , w h e t h e r i t w a s climbing mountains or panning for gold. He even built his own d i v i n g g e a r f r o m a n o l d h o t water heater and a garden hose. I n 1 9 3 6 , h e r e t u r n e d t o Clayton, got a job in the brick- yard and resumed his painting. Much of his art centered on the life he knew: Clayton's brick p l a n t a n d m a c h i n e s h o p , t h e region's sawmills and mining c a m p s , i t s m o u n t a i n s a n d forests. He transformed these Northwest settings into paint- i n g s u n m i s t a k a b l y h i s o w n , marked by a brilliant sense of color, dimensional depth, and a knack for the odd detail. His work stirred with energy and vitality. A s World War II neared, Prestini became more distraught by the news from Europe and his RITA CIPALLA paintings reflected his emotional turmo il. O ne of his life-s ize paintings showed a futuristic bat- tle scene where a cave man wres- tled w ith a flame-breathing robot. He called it "Civilization– Page 1936." H is next painting, "P age 1939," took three years to pro- duce. It was five huge panels depicting key players and sym- bols of World War II, including Neville Chamberlain and Benito Mussolini. The work was hung in the Clayton Café. A fter painting "P age 1940,"Prestini took his series, now know n as the P ages of History, to Spokane where they were installed in a stationery store window. The store manag- er, though, was forced to remove the paintings after just two days when passers-by complained about their graphic imagery. Undeterred, Prestini traveled to Los Angeles with his paint- ings and attracted some media attention there. Interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, he told the reporter, "I'm no artist but I can't help thinking." The news- paper article opened a few doors for his "Pages of History" series. The paintings w ere pho- tographed for a spread in Life Magazine, but the story never ran. Prestini claimed the article was killed because the editors did not want to offend European leaders. In 1960, Gonzaga University hosted an exhibit of 50 paintings. Local critics praised his symbol- ism and vivid palette. "Leno Prestini may not be a trained artist, nor a genius in color and position, but there is more to art than outward form," said Rev. Louis Ste. Marie, a Gonzaga pro- fessor. "Here is a man for all to understand and love, a man who has lived his life intensely, aware of the past and the present, of himself and of his fellow man." The exhibit toured to several cities in Washington state but Prestini seemed frustrated. In 1963, his brother Battista, living in Los Angeles, received word that Leno had been hospitalized in Spokane with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He lingered for nearly a month but never regained consciousness. He was 57 years old. Years earlier, Prestini had sculpted the figure of a two- headed mountain climber posed on the edge of a cliff. When Battista asked him about it, Leno replied: "Every time I get to the top of the mountain, my prob- lems are still with me." D etermined not to let his brother's memory fade, Battista moved back to Clayton and built a s mall mus eum to dis play Leno's work. In 1998, the family donated more than 70 paintings, sculptures, photos and docu- ments to the Stevens County Historical Society. Eight paint- ings and some terra cotta sculp- ture are on display in the histori- cal society museum in Colville, Was h. Loon Lake H is torical Society has two Prestini murals on permanent display. Folk ar tist and sculptor Leno Prestini was a Stevens County original Artist Leno Prestini seen in front of his painting "Ghost Riders in the Sky" at the Triple R Restaurant in Clayton, Wash., in the 1950s. (Stevens County Historical Society) The dramatic painting "Page 1941" by eastern Washington artist Leno Prestini is part of his Pages of History series, created as a commentary on World War II SEATTLE ITALIAN COMMUNITY

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