First Post: an Introduction to Me.

Some of my cousins and me in Williamsburg, VA.

My name is David Valentino, and I'm a Lighting Design student at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.  From Vernon Hills, Il, as typical American suburb, just 35 minutes from the Chicago loop. 

A self portrait: the multiple personalities of my conscious, superimposed over my ancestral homeland, Tuscany.

 I am the only child of two parents, David, who I am named after, and Mary.  My dad is from Wappenger's Falls, New York, and my mother from Houston, Texas.  The chances of the two of them meeting in the airport, and both moving to Chicago, and then actually going out for the first time was slim.  My mother's side is English, and my father's side is Italian, from Tuscany.  My grandparents on my Dad's side came over through Ellis Island in the years preceding the first World War.  Most of our family on that side still resides around New York.  My father was the oldest of three brothers, and this has structured our family relations all my life.  Thanksgiving is the main holiday for our family.  Before my birth, the brothers decided that they would see each other every holiday, and so a 'rotation' was born.  Every Thanksgiving, each of the brothers would take their families to one of the other's homes, whether it be in Richmond, Annapolis, or Chicago. As families grew, and cousins married, more homes were added to the rotation as the family grew.  Currently, there are about 30 of us that get together every year.  Fact: Italian families are huge. And that's just Thanksgiving.  When we get everyone in the family together for a reunion every few years, we swell to close to 100.

A photo of downtown looking from the North that I took at Lincoln Park.

We use digital media to keep our family together and communicating.  Since we are all living across the country, we use video-chatting in lieu of phone calls to keep in touch.  My dad publishes a weekly family newsletter online that recaps the notable events of the entire family to keep us all informed on the happenings in each other's lives.

Growing up in Vernon Hills, going to the schools I went to, and having the family I did were all blessings.  Not everyone in the country has such a conducive upbringing.  I don't want to say that I had an easy childhood, it was just challenging in other ways.  Many students in the US go to impoverished schools, don't have healthy diets, and are stuck watching the tv or on the computer because both of their parents are working long hours.  

Another Portait-Images that make up my goals and personality.

I did not have to deal with these challenges, instead I dealt with a very academically challenging childhood.  Most people in my high school end up going to Ivy League schools, or programs over seas, it is a very competitive school environment.  Instead of going to play football or video games like other kids, we would be studying for hours after school.  This was in part because I went to school with many children who were from out of the country, whose parents were working for corporations in the city.  Many of my friends were from the UK, France, and Spain.  But the driving competitive force came from students hailing from Asia.  Their Mother's were affectionately known as 'Tiger Moms' and only expected the best from their children.

Friends in Wicker Park, Chicago.

But after year of this, I began to explore the other side of education, still focused on academics I moved into Theatre, and then Visual Art.  I was able to put my education to use in creating art on stage and on the canvas.


Having a well rounded, educated view of the world that I can use in my art is only second to my family and friends, because people are the most important thing in my world.

You know it's a Valentino Thanksgiving when you have to have three turkeys: two in the ovens and one fried!