Nola Pardi Proll, 96 years old, a professional artist, has lived in Danville on Montair Drive since 1959, in the home her husband Bill built. Their three children, Leslie, Danielle and Bill all went to San Ramon Valley High School.
Nola is exhibiting 20 of her amazing marble sculptures at the Italian Museo, “Rhapsody” in Fort Mason Center, until August 28, 2022. She is exhibiting with two other Italian women artists, Serena Bocchino and Kara Maria. In 1999, Nola enrolled in the Marble Arts Workshop in Pietrasant, Italy. She returned there every summer to carve and relish the immersions in the ambiance of marble art. Flying to Pisa, renting a car, then driving to Pietrasanta to carve for a month became a ritual for 7 years. She also speaks Italian and French fluently, a woman that continues to inspire many. She exhibits at the Blackhawk Gallery, a member of Alamo, Danville Artists Association and has been in exhibitions at the Danville Village Gallery. Nola carves and chisels in her studio on Montair and loves working outside facing Mt. Diablo. Her exhibition includes works from 2000 to 2021.
Nola’s imaginative multi-faceted sculptures reveals her love of stone, nature’s found objects, shells, driftwood, and the sea. A sense of the primitive pervades her work. Her dance background and interest in African, Etruscan, and Near Eastern art have influenced her approach to stone. She studied dance with Walton Biggerstaff and then launched a solo dance career performing throughout the United States, Europe and the Far East. Her interest in Africa culture was reflected in her dance choreography and in her self taught wood carvings. She also created her own paper-mache puppets, and became professional puppeteer in the Bay Area for many years.
By Tricia Grame, Ph.D., Resident since 1985