Written by Elaine Bean
As formerly published in The Courier.
In the summer of 1913, William Oktavec, a corner grocer in the heart of East Baltimore’s Bohemian Czech community, got tired of the sun beating on the merchandise inside his store and painted the wire screen on the front door with images of the fruits and vegetables he sold inside. A neighbor admired his artwork and its practical “magic” bonus: Passersby couldn’t see into a room behind a painted screen, but those inside could still see out. This was ideal for Baltimore’s row houses with their street-level windows. The folkart became a fad throughout the city’s ethnic neighborhoods, and in 1922, Oktavec opened The Art Shop where he sold painted screens and taught classes on the folk artform.
One hundred plus years later, a Bishopville artist is keeping the Baltimore screen painting tradition alive. John Iampieri, who grew up in Baltimore and attended Mt. St. Joe high school in Irvington, not only paints windows screens and sells them locally, he’s teaching the craft to children and adults across the state of Maryland and beyond.
“I’ve seen firsthand the joy this folk art brings to youth of all ages,” Iampieri said.
“My curiosity with the magic of screen painting goes back to my childhood, seeing painted screens everywhere on the windows of row houses in East Baltimore, evolving into a deep fascination of this unique art form.”
In 2010 at age 60, Iampieri became a roster member with “Young Audience of Maryland,” now known as “Arts for Learning Maryland,” that enabled him to bring the screen painting artform to others across the state.
“I was mentored by an organization that changed my life, still to this day. As a visual artist I was taught the techniques necessary to successfully teach the art of screen painting in the classroom based on a school’s core curriculum standards. I am truly blessed to still be associated with this group, and have shared the joy of screen painting with thousands of children, from first grade to high school,” he said.
Iampieri also teaches adult screen painting workshops, including at the Art League of Ocean City, and sells screen painting kits in the Ocean City Center for the Art’s gift shop to make it easy for people to give it a try.
“I’ve never lost my excitement sharing this special-one-of-a-kind folk art,” he said. “Over the years, I’ve traveled to many states to have some fun with anyone interested in embracing the amazing art form. With the guidance of Elaine Eff, the author of Baltimore Painted Screens, an Urban Legend, we’ve been enabling people globally to understand what this folk art offers.”
In 2018, Iampieri led a community art project called “Our Eastern Shore Habitat” where local students helped design and paint screens that included Eastern Shore outdoor scenes. Students at Stephen Decatur Middle School and Worcester Prep and at the Town’s Park & Rec Department’s after-school program at Northside Park participated in the project. The screens moved to a working space in Studio E at the Arts Center, where the artist invited the public to contribute to the paintings. In the summer, the painted screens were installed on the fences of the tennis courts next to the Ocean City Center for the Arts and are currently on display outdoors at Northside Park in Ocean City.
The artist shared that it’s fun to see the “smiles of accomplishment when students realize they can successfully paint on a screen of any size and screen material using household paints and the brush of choice.”
Before he became a full-time screen painter and instructor, Iampieri was a self-employed entrepreneur. He moved across the bridge to St. Michaels as part owner of the St. Michael’s Inn, then became manager of The Inn at Perry Hall before moving east as manager and maître d’ of the Yacht Club in Ocean Pines. He also painted murals and did faux finishing in homes on the side. Now as a screen painter, he takes on custom jobs both large and small. “Over the years, I have painted screen porches of all sizes up to fifty feet,” the artist said.
Iampieri believes passing on a tradition like screen painting is important and proves that everyone can find their own artistic expression in their own unique way. “Everyone learns in different ways,” he said. “Art is the universal place we all understand whether it be music, theater, dance or visual art.”