Happy Birthday to Albert Scaglione
Park West Gallery is pleased to celebrate a happy birthday with its Founder and CEO, Albert Scaglione.
Albert turns 77 years old on July 4. He has reinvented the art collecting experience since 1969 by bringing fine art to everyone, but is just as passionate about people. In the past year alone, the Scagliones and the Park West Foundation have contributed to the Prince’s Trust International, Relay For Life, the Forever Wild Foundation, Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and Best Buddies International.
His mission to bring art to others includes an emphasis on art education. Park West has worked with Turnaround Arts to increase art awareness and education in low-performing schools around the country.
“The idea that I could have this life where I still have the opportunity to work with the artists, educate, bring art to the public…I’m thrilled about that,” he says in a post by T Brand Studio in the New York Times.
The foundation has also helped underwrite museum exhibitions, including:
- Pop artist Peter Max in “Peter Max: 50 Years of Cosmic Dreaming” at the Tampa Museum of Art in Tampa, Florida.
- Kinetic artist Yaacov Agam in “The Magic of Yaacov Agam” at the Museum of Geometric and MADI Art in Dallas.
- Art prodigy Autumn de Forest in “Autumn de Forest: The Tradition Continues” at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio.
From left: Dr. Louis Zona, director of the Butler Institute of American Art; Autumn de Forest; and Park West Founder and CEO Albert Scaglione (Photo credit: Doug de Forest)
Albert’s journey into the art world began at age 16 when he worked at a family art gallery in New Jersey. He saved his money and purchased his parents a work of art, witnessing firsthand the impact art can have on people.
Albert pursued science in school, earning a doctorate in mechanical engineering at Michigan State University while teaching mechanical sciences at Wayne State University in Detroit. Following graduation, he worked for NASA, but felt the pull of the art world, leading to a decision to switch career paths.
“The defining moment was saying that this is my new career and I see blue skies and good things happening and then decided to walk away from my doctorate and 11 years in Academia,” he says in a Huffington Post article. “I did it cold turkey, took a mortgage on my house and it worked!”
Today, Park West Gallery brings fine art to more than 2 millions collectors on more than 80 cruise ships around the globe.
Join us in wishing Albert a very happy birthday!
