Dr. Ernesto A. Amaranto is a retired Associate Professor of Psychiatry at UMDNJ--New Jersey Medical School.  His interest in art dates back to high school when he was assigned to draw on the blackboard the needed illustrations of the day’s lesson in Biology as a punishment for sketching instead of paying attention during class.  His plans to pursue a career in art were altered by his father’s “directive” that he would become the first one in the family to be a physician.

 

Through the years, Amaranto kept his interest in art, albeit in a limited way, by sketching (always sketching), visiting museums and tentative attempts at painting using water color, acrylic and finally oil.  In 1974, he decided to take private art lessons offered by one of the art teachers at the New School in New York City.   He then signed up for a summer art program offered by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.  More significant is the influence of his cousin, Jose Trinidad, an accomplished and successful artist in Canada from whom he took many art lessons through the years.  Trinidad challenged him to “always have a canvas on your easel and just do it - paint.”  Amaranto took on this challenge and kept his interest in art alive through the years.  Being retired from a successful career in medicine, he now has the total freedom to fulfill his original goal in life…to paint.