The founder, chief designer and principal instructor of Buon Fresco® & The Academy of Wall Artistry is New York artist - Victoria Jean Christine Bingham.  

Born in New York City on Halloween, Bingham was recognizable as an artist at the age of 6 with her precocious drawings of reflected light and perspective.  By 13 Bingham was drawing commissioned portraits.  She received her first award for art at 14 and the age of 16 she had already had her first painting stolen.  Named a ‘renaissance woman’ by friends, Bingham’s abundant skills and numerous interests have both abetted and interrupted her busy art career. 

In 1975/6 Bingham attended Syracuse University's College of Art on full scholarship, studying painting and illustration under the tutelage of such artists as Jerome Witkin and Tom Allen.   Serious illness provoked her premature departure from school  but was followed by a dramatic recovery 2 years later and the subsequent decision to join the Army.  The military chapter of Bingham’s  life began at Fort Jackson, SC in the cold November of 1978 during 2 months of grueling Army Basic Training [in the days before stress cards] and found the self taught caricaturist knocking out satirical drawings of the drill sergeants [not in lieu of pushups however].  Still, PVT Bingham was quick to discover that the pen WAS mightier than the sword and people of all rank and file LOVE to see themselves in caricature.  Her drawings of the 2^nd Battalion, Delta Company leadership hung in headquarters for years after her graduation.   Bingham is proud to have graduated Ft. Jackson Army Basic as '1st' Female in Physical Fitness, and later Combat Medical School at Fort Sam Houston TX as the honor graduate of 365 medical students.

Back in New York - when she wasn't drilling as a reservist with an Army Hospital in Brooklyn, Bingham supplemented art by driving a NYC taxi cab.  In the record breaking snow storm of APRIL 1982 Bingham saved the life of a 75 year old man while driving in her cab, [thanks to previous training in the blizzard driving boot-camp, otherwise known as 'Syracuse', New York] Years later she told the story while appearing in Joe Berlinger’s [Film Director of Paradise Lost & My Brother's Keeper] classic documentary film ‘Outrageous Taxi Stories’.   By 1986, never far from the drafting table –Bingham became a full time caricaturist on the tri-state party circuit and drew 'some million & a half' folks faces through 1991 when she 're-upped' into the military and left for Monterey, California to learn Russian at DLI [The Defense Language Institute]. 

SGT Bingham’s graduated from the Russian Course at DLI - tied for first place in the class- 'drawing' a supply of job offers from DOD departments of which Bingham selected the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Office [DPMO] and went to Washington DC for an assignment that lasted 3 years.  One of her most 'memorable' occasions was during a DPMO plenury in Moscow, Russia, in April of 1995, when she was afforded the chance to sing a Laima Vaikula ballad in Russian, for the present crowd of Russian - military, government and KGB officers during a dinner engagement.  Bingham recollects that, following the song, was the first time she had ever seen one particular KGB agent, smile.

Bingham's proudest accomplishment in Washington was a successful petition to have a Korean War POW Veteran awarded for heroism while a prisoner in Korea - 43 years after the fact.  Bingham's efforts garnered the Army Silver Star for PVT Wayne 'Johnny Johnson', whose remarkable listing of American soldier deaths -  kept surreptitiously while in prison at risk to his life, went on to flesh out a Defense Department data base of POW/MIAs.  [Johnson's heroic story is told in the January 1997 Readers Digest first 'Article of Lasting Interest' series entitled 'The List']  2.5 years later, when the assignment finally ended, Bingham, ever the artist,  picked up her palette and with the help of Andre Kouznetsov began a career of decorative painting.

In 1997 Buon Fresco, the artistic collaboration of Bingham and Kouznetsov was born. This time Faux Finishing finally became a full-time career and the resulting portfolio of work speaks for itself. Buon Fresco's work has been displayed in National magazines, The Washington Post, HGTV twice and a Dreamwork’s film [Head of State].  Bingham’s Venetian Plaster designs have provoked the likes of Traditional Home magazine to remark; ‘We’ve never seen walls like these’; Sims Bray, the publisher of Veranda Magazine, to say 'Utterly Impressive' and  Interior Designer Justine Sancho to call it ‘The ‘best Venetian Plaster - period!’    

Among a total of 6 awards so far, the studio has been awarded the 'Best Walls in the House' [Elizabeth Warnock Prize] for 2 out of 3 National Symphony Orchestra Show Houses and most recently the 2006 Sepp Leaf, NY  - 'Pride of Place' Prize for the 'Most Distinguished Venetian Plaster'.   One designer who recently engaged Bingham's skills for a collaborative effort, told her it was because she was working on a project that required 'nothing but the best'!

An inventor also with two issued patents to her current credit and several more pending, Bingham’s art philosophy is that ‘Fine Art, like invention, begins with participating in instruction, then  following it up with the inspirations that only ever come as a result of diligent application.’   Oh and her personal philosophy reflects Churchill's 'Never Never Never give up'.

When asked why she teaches her 'competition' Bingham will say that first of all, she loves to teach and she also loves to 'help people' who are willing to help themselves.  In the past she has also taught Biblical Research for 7 years in New York; had a school in New York City called, 'The Greater Waiter Training Center' where she taught Professional Food & Wine Service and currently instructs Drawing and Art History at a High School Art Club in Virginia.  Bingham will be the first one to admit that the best way to advance your understanding of anything, is to 'make it your own', and then TEACH.         And the best way to be blessed is to give.

LIST OF AWARDS FOR DECORATIVE ART WORK

• 2006 - Pride of Place - 'Most Distinguished Venetian Plaster '- as awarded by Sepp Leaf, Co., New York City

• 2005 - Best of 2005 - 'Excellence in Design Award' - Walls & Ceilings Magazine

• 2004 - 'Elizabeth Warnock Prize for 'Decorative Painting Excellence' 2004 -National Symphony Orchestra Decorator Show House

• 2003 - Best Decorative Finishing - Jan/Feb 2003  Awarded by Paint Pro Magazine

• 2000-  'Elizabeth Warnock Prize for Decorative Painting Excellence' 2000 National Symphony Orchestra Decorator Show House

• 1999 - Best of 1999 Decorative Finishing'- Awarded by American Painting Contractor

all text and image copyright 1997 - 2008 buon fresco, llc

www.buonfresco.us