SARATOGA SPRINGS — Angela Fina, 76, died November 10 at her home in Amherst, Massachusetts. The cause of death was Ovarian Cancer for which she had been treated for 10 years.
Angela was born and raised in Saratoga Springs. She was the daughter of Marion (Powers) Fina and Fil L. Fina, Sr. She graduated from Saratoga High School and earned a B.S. in Art Education from Nazareth College of Rochester. After graduation she entered the community of the Sisters of St. Joseph of
Rochester and in the nine years as a nun she earned an M.F.A. in
Ceramics at the School for American Craftsmen at Rochester Institute of Technology.
She taught Ceramics and Drawing in the program she set up at Nazareth College. After leaving the convent, Angela became a tenured Professor at Sheridan College School of Craft and Design in Port Credit, Ontario, teaching ceramics and glaze chemistry for nine years.
In 1977, she chose to leave her college teaching to become a full-time, self-supporting artist potter. She set up a studio in Amherst and for 34 years and made and sold colorful porcelain tableware and vases for flower arrangers (Ikebana). She produced over 2,000 thrown and hand-built vessels every year.
Angela’s career included many one-person shows of her work in galleries around the country. She sold her work in craft stores from Maine to Florida to the Midwest, California, and the Northwest. Her work was juried into the American Craft Council Shows, the Smithsonian Craft Fairs, and many other craft shows around the Northeast.
In addition, she held a successful open house sale in her studio every December. Many local patrons helped her succeed by buying scores of pots and vases. Though she left her tenured college position, Angela never lost her zest for teaching ceramics, glaze chemistry, and ceramics history. She taught innumerable workshops at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, Brookfield Craft Center in Connecticut, and art centers in Washington, D.C., Boulder, Colorado, Long Island, New Jersey and elsewhere around the country. She taught a sabbatical semester at Scripps College, Claremont, California and four months in the University of Georgia Studies
In an abroad program in Cortona, Italy, she taught two semesters at The
School for American Craftsmen and one at Miami University in Athens,
Ohio. She was on the Board of the National Council on Education for the
Ceramic Arts (NCECA) for 11 years and was made a lifetime Fellow in
1984.
Angela was a contributing author to many ceramics technical and art journals, artists’ retrospectives, and coedited two books on contemporary ceramics.
Angela’s avocation was her garden. Visitors were awed by spectacular floral displays that evolved throughout the seasons. Her vegetable garden provided both beauty and bounty.
Angela is survived by three sisters and a brother, Mary Jane Kinosian of
Rexford, Gloria and her husband Dennis O'Connell of Suffern, Doris Fina of Natick, Massachusetts, and Fil Fina, Jr. and his wife, Joan Fina, of Saratoga Springs.
She was pre-deceased by a brother, James Fina. She is also survived by 12 nieces and nephews and their spouses; 23 grandnieces and grandnephews, many cousins and countless wonderful and devoted friends who will treasure their memories of her.
Relatives and friends may call from 4–7 p.m. Wednesday, November 13, at the William J. Burke & Sons/Bussing & Cunniff Funeral Homes, 628 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs (515) 584-5373.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Clement’s Church, 231 Lake Ave. by the Rev. Neil Draves-Arpaia. Burial will follow in the family plot at St. Peter’s Cemetery, West Ave.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Dakin Animal Shelter, Leverett, Massachusetts, to WFCR Amherst, Massachusetts or to the Craftsmen’s Emergency Relief Fund, Montpelier, Vermont.
Online remembrances may be made at www.burkefuneralhome.com.
