In October of 1999 Steve was asked to be a member of a five hundred year old renaissance colony of artists, "La Società delle Belle Arti Circolo degli Artisti," (The Society of the House of Dante). In May 2001 Steve enjoyed his first museum opening of his work at the Museum of the House of Dante and the beginning of his dream to return to Europe to exhibit his art.

Steve's love of the Mercato Centrale led to his painting of it for over thirty years. "The beauty of the market captured me!" Over time his paintings have become an amazing, historical, collection of the ebb and flow of generations of Florentines living and working in the open market......read more.

Meet Artist Steve Kalar from his bio published by
La Società delle Belle Arti's Il Mercato Fiorentino"
ITALIA

My adventure in Italy began August of 1972. My parents offered me the opportunity to study my third year of university with the California International programs in Firenze, Italia, where I also attended the Accademia delle Belle Arti. My classes there were under the supervision of Prof. Silvio Loffreddo. As if it were yesterday, I remember the first morning I ventured into the central market near Borgo San Lorenzo....its beauty of space, seasonal color and daily life have inspired and overwhelmed me for over thirty years.

From 1972 to 1981, for a four and a half year period of time, I lived and exhibited my work in Firenze. I returned to California and began my career an an artist/ aesthetics designer, working through out the United States and mainly in Northern California, creating ambiance, special effects and commissioned art work for a multitude of projects and my various clientele.

The news of my father facing the effects of esophageal carcinoma brought me back to our family Ranch near San Miguel and a new beginning in my life's adventure I never imagined. Today I find myself amidst a new renaissance on the Central Coast of California and facing my life's greatest challenges as an artist/ aesthetics designer, with a new joy of spirit and self, and a new vision of this place where I was born.  September 1999....after nineteen years, I returned to my beloved Italia to find an old world filled with a new beauty and the reunion with dear friends beyond the imagination of my dreams. In October of 1999 I was accepted into the La Società delle Belle Arti Circolo degli Artisti and now find myself amidst another dream of once again showing my artwork in "Firenze."

It was in 1973 I met an extraordinary talented Florentine artists who has guided me in many endeavors of exhibiting my work in Italia and it is to him and his family I give my gratitude. My dear friend Artista Roberto Ciabani....it is with all my heart I thank you for your gift of family and your hand of friendship.

"Self Portrait" by Steve Kalar 1974

Steve is preparing to be the first American artist to exhibit at the Palazzoulo Guelfa Firenze Italia in 2011! Kalar will exhibit 150 of his Borgo San Lorenzo (open market) paintings.

Book cover and inside pages of "Artisti Toscani Nel XXI Secolo," top artists of Italy in the 21st Century.

Steve Kalar has the prestigious distinction of being chosen as the only American to ever be published in the Artisti Toscani Nel XXI Secolo, translated from Italian, Tuscan Artists of the 21st Century. The book sells for 90 euros or about $150.00. Steve received his own heavy, beautifully illustrated volume in the mail hot off the press. 100,000 copies have been distributed world-wide.

"Kalar, artista statunitense, attualmente vive e lavora tra la California e la Toscana. Nell'agosto del 1972 viene in Italia per frequentare l'Accademia de Belle Arti di Firenze, innamoratosi della città e del suo meraviglioso patrimonio artistico decide di stabilirvisi. I luoghi Toscani con la loro poesia e colori affascinano da subito l'artista che trae da essi una nuova spinta creativa. La vita cittadina e il quotidiano sono i veri protagonisti dei suoi dipinti, roprodotti in un abile disegno dai delicati cromatismi al quale non sfugge alcun dettaglio o particolare."

- Chiara De Cesare, in the book, Artisti Toscani Nel XXI Secolo