Will Pupa, Artist-in-Residence
Will Pupa was born in California to Italian-American parents who both came from the same province, “Caserta”, in the “Campania” region of Italy near Naples. Will grew up in Southern California. He did his BFA in sculpture at CSULB and then went to study in Florence at the Academy of Fine Arts and completed his degree in sculpture in Carrara, Italy. In addition to these formal studies Will also attended artistic anatomy courses for two years at the Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest. After ten years in Europe, the last two of which were devoted to an apprenticeship in the studio of a leading figurative Italian sculptor in Pietrasanta, Will returned to California.
In California, Will taught Figure Drawing and Figure Sculpture courses at community colleges, art schools and universities while continuing to pursue his own artistic work. He acquired the studio of his teacher, Marcello Tommasi, in Pietrasanta, Italy and uses the studio to offer private lessons and complete commissioned works. He organizes and directs the annual Summer Study Abroad program to Tuscany Italy for Loyola Marymount University. Presently Will is Artist in Residence in the Marymount Institute at LMU.