All About Me
Who Is Sidewalk Soulmates?
Sidewalk Soulmates is the pen name of Andrea Lunetta, a high school art teacher and artist who did not want her students to find her on the internet.
The name comes from a cherished memory of walking down J street with my amazing artist and friend, Miyah Mata, after a shot of tequila, talking about art and passing artsy girls our age on the sidewalks, wondering if we could all be friends, but being a little to scard to make the first move.
Sidewalk Soulmates is the pen name of Andrea Lunetta, a high school art teacher and artist who did not want her students to find her on the internet.
The name comes from a cherished memory of walking down J street with my amazing artist and friend, Miyah Mata, after a shot of tequila, talking about art and passing artsy girls our age on the sidewalks, wondering if we could all be friends, but being a little to scard to make the first move.
Early Life
I was born in 1997 and I grew up in the newly developed suburbs of Sacramento, California. An idyllic place called Elk Grove. This was the beginning of Sacramento’s expansion.
I am a biracial person, my mom immigrated to California from Panama but she is racially Chinese, and my dad grew up in San Jose but his ancestors came from Sicily, an island off the coast of Italy.
Growing up, I was a highly sensitive and creative being. My parents were more closed off to their emotions, and I didn’t have anyone to guide me through the complex feelings I experienced from a young age. As the oldest child, I didn’t have the presence of another child in my house until I was three years old, when I was blessed with my sister, Lauren (and then my brother, Steve).
At home, the way I experienced the world was rejected. This caused my wild imagination to withdraw into secrecy. School was one of the places where my imagination and expressiveness was praised. I won awards and was complimented for my ideas throughout school. The spotlight felt undeserved, as I was just doing what came ever so naturally to me, and it introduced me to the feeling of pressure to repeat the results.
People who are creative are usually intelligent, and this aspect of my gift was celebrated and understood by my parents. Oh, how I wanted to impress them, to know that they felt pride in me. Their expectations were the sky. It is a blessing to know that your parents believe you can achieve whatever you put your mind to, but you can only keep up the dance for so long. Eventually repressed emotions started to leak out of every crack they could find.
Around the age of fifteen was when I really started to rebel against my parents expectations for me. School also got more serious, and the place that was once my steady source of affirmation went dry as teachers expectations started to match my parents, and the pressure started to build. I broke, went through a brash period of rebellion, defiance, revenge, anger in order to protect myself throughout the rest of high school.
Then, at eighteen, the world got bigger with college, a boyfriend, and a job.
Currently
In my art I create drawings with colored pencils and crayons that bring to life a beautiful dance of colors, textures, and shapes. In my drawings I try to capture the sense of childhood wonder as I create, letting my senses drive the artwork: the sound of the pencil on the paper, the smell of the waxy crayon, or the sight of the ink strokes of an unusual brush.
The outcome of this process is drawings that have a dreamy essense. My drawings are an invitation to look, pause, remember. You are welcomed into the drawing and encouraged to stay a while, not rushed to leave.
I am currently making art at Verge Center for the Arts in Studio 10, and you are welcome to visit me on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays when I am at the studio drawing.
I was born in 1997 and I grew up in the newly developed suburbs of Sacramento, California. An idyllic place called Elk Grove. This was the beginning of Sacramento’s expansion.
I am a biracial person, my mom immigrated to California from Panama but she is racially Chinese, and my dad grew up in San Jose but his ancestors came from Sicily, an island off the coast of Italy.
Growing up, I was a highly sensitive and creative being. My parents were more closed off to their emotions, and I didn’t have anyone to guide me through the complex feelings I experienced from a young age. As the oldest child, I didn’t have the presence of another child in my house until I was three years old, when I was blessed with my sister, Lauren (and then my brother, Steve).
At home, the way I experienced the world was rejected. This caused my wild imagination to withdraw into secrecy. School was one of the places where my imagination and expressiveness was praised. I won awards and was complimented for my ideas throughout school. The spotlight felt undeserved, as I was just doing what came ever so naturally to me, and it introduced me to the feeling of pressure to repeat the results.
People who are creative are usually intelligent, and this aspect of my gift was celebrated and understood by my parents. Oh, how I wanted to impress them, to know that they felt pride in me. Their expectations were the sky. It is a blessing to know that your parents believe you can achieve whatever you put your mind to, but you can only keep up the dance for so long. Eventually repressed emotions started to leak out of every crack they could find.
Around the age of fifteen was when I really started to rebel against my parents expectations for me. School also got more serious, and the place that was once my steady source of affirmation went dry as teachers expectations started to match my parents, and the pressure started to build. I broke, went through a brash period of rebellion, defiance, revenge, anger in order to protect myself throughout the rest of high school.
Then, at eighteen, the world got bigger with college, a boyfriend, and a job.
Currently
In my art I create drawings with colored pencils and crayons that bring to life a beautiful dance of colors, textures, and shapes. In my drawings I try to capture the sense of childhood wonder as I create, letting my senses drive the artwork: the sound of the pencil on the paper, the smell of the waxy crayon, or the sight of the ink strokes of an unusual brush.
The outcome of this process is drawings that have a dreamy essense. My drawings are an invitation to look, pause, remember. You are welcomed into the drawing and encouraged to stay a while, not rushed to leave.
I am currently making art at Verge Center for the Arts in Studio 10, and you are welcome to visit me on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays when I am at the studio drawing.