Attends St. Rita grade
school: morning mass, milk,
pretzels and pagan babies;
becomes an altar boy, listens
to the nuns, noting how their breath
and garments always have the
odor of soup, does homework
(usually), is bullied by others,
becomes a hardened bully himself
(but very soft inside); hates math:
his older brother does math
homework for him; tolerates geo-
graphy; is excited about drawing
(Joe attributes this both to the
conventional Bugs Bunny
and airplane drawings his father
makes for him and drawings done
by his cousin, Joe Emanuele
(his elder cousin’s quick accurate
renderings of aunts and uncles
amaze him); Joe’s teachers like
his drawings, he is commissioned
to do classroom artwork: Halloween
witches, Santas, reindeer and
Thanksgiving Day turkeys;
remembers mostly Miss Wilgosh,
Mrs. Goodrich, Sister Ann Josepha,
and Sister Maria; plays football very
aggressively on the playground
during recess in the winter; wants
to be Dick Butkus. In 8th grade
reads The Exorcist, is terrified and
curious; in response, he and his
friends create a mini-haunted
house in his friend’s home.
In school, Joe loves to look at
the backs of girl’s knees.

Father Tom from St. John
Cathedral High School, along
with Cathedral students, visits
Joe’s 8th grade class to recruit
new students. They present a
slide-show about the school
accompanied by the song “What
You See Is What You Get”, by
The Dramatics. This marriage of
music with images makes a
memorable impression on Joe.
Goes to movies with his mother
and cousin Nancy; his mother
listens to his incessant questions
about movies. In eighth grade,
takes class picture with oily hair
in white turtle-neck shirt;
graduates grade school.

As rehabilitation for
his accident, the
State agrees to pay
for his schooling:
he chooses to study
film at the University
of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
but the torture (or what he
perceives as torture) involved
in collaborating with others
and requesting film
equipment (i.e., talking)
on a weekly basis
becomes too much for him;
desperate, he seeks solace in
the life drawing studios at the
University; now it seems he
finds what he is looking
for -- connecting with
others silently, drawing,
analyzing and celebrating the
marvelous human form without
the cumbersome intercession
of speech; he switches from film
to drawing & painting; admires
the work of American painter
Andrew Wyeth, then is
obsessed with the art of
Alberto Giacometti; he is also
influenced by UWM professors
Alicia Czechowski and
Roy R. Behrens. During this
time, he idolizes Canadian
pianist Glenn Gould.

After graduating from UWM
in 1986, he learns how
difficult it is to move away
from home: he is accepted
with a full scholarship to
the graduate painting
program at Boston University,
but after just two weeks, grows
fearful, homesick and withdraws
from the program.
The following year, he
is accepted to the University of
Chicago MFA program, but after two
weeks withdraws. Next year, he reapplies to
U of C, to which he is accepted,
but again, in bizarre fashion, withdraws.
Understandably, the art dept., his friends and
family cannot figure him out. The next year,
he schools himself by spending 3 months
alone in Washington, DC, copying master
paintings from the originals in the
National Gallery of Art.

With his mother
and brother
Peter, he helps
take care of grandma
Emanuele at their
home until she
passes away in 1989.
Decides to apply
to the Cornell
University graduate
art program; brother-
in-law Mike Zaffiro
takes bets at his bar/
restaurant on whether
Joe will stay in or
withdraw from school.
In fall of 1989, hires
Ami Peters, who
works as his painter’s
model two days per
week for 3 months;
shortly afterward,
Ami moves back to
her homestate
New Jersey.

While working for a
West Allis, WI photo-
retouching lab, Joe
learns he is admitted
to Cornell’s MFA
program with a near
full tuition assistantship.
After a shaky start (as
many expected), his
friend Ed Geniusz
helps him resolve to
stay in school. Summer
of ‘91, Joe is invited by
Ami to spend a week
at her parent’s home
in New Jersey,
marking the
beginning of their
relationship. He
graduates from
Cornell one
year later.

After graduation, Joe moves in with
Ami; they live with her parents along
the southern New Jersey shore. After
one year, they get their own place.

He lands adjunct teaching appoint-
ments at the University of the Arts in
Philadelphia, Atlantic Community
College and the Richard Stockton College
in New Jersey, teaching drawing,
painting, and 2-D design. Takes part
in a solo exhibit and several group
faculty exhibitions. Maintains
correspondence with friend/mentor
Roy R. Behrens.

Increasingly disenchanted with
painting, he has the idea to create a
video documentary on the maternal
side of his family, with the help of his
cousins Joe Emanuele. & Tom Vicini.
In 1994, his father dies; one year
later, he begins a video
documentary chronicling his
father’s life (as of yet uncompleted).

In 1996, he marries Ami.
They honeymoon in England.
The following year, he teaches
for a year at his graduate
alma mater Cornell, during
which time he corresponds with
renowned art historian
E.H. Gombrich.

Moves to Seattle,
WA with Ami while
she earns her
master’s degree in
whole systems
design at Antioch
University.

After 22 years,
Joe decides to return
to the study of film.
In the fall of 2001,
he attends the
MFA program in
digital video at the
Univ of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee. During this time, he designs the EmanueleFamily.com web site, which flourishes for a few years before closing down. Quickly noticing the UWM film progam’s unspoken disavowa
of video, he withdraws
and uses his student
loan-acquired video equipment to learn
on his own.
Fall of 2002, Joe and
Ami return to
New Jersey.