Antonia Pia Gordon – A Spirit on the Move

Antonia Pia Gordon was born as only child of an old-established industrialist family in Hamburg, Germany. Her early youth she spent between Germany and Switzerland, in particular St. Moritz, where she attended the village school during winter seasons. She completed her education at a boarding school in Lausanne. From there she moved straight on to the Sorbonne in Paris, were she spent time studying French, Literature, Art, Design and Psychology. In Paris, she developed a discerning eye for the arts and fashion.

Finally, required to focus her mind on business, she went back to Switzerland, this time to Zurich. There she completed her studies with a diploma of Business Management. Then she expanded her skills with a course of Business Management at INSEAD, European Institute of Business Administration, Fontainebleau, France.

After her studies Antonia started to work as Assistant to the President for a German Producer of Automotive Parts. This job enabled her to develop a progressive and diversified experience in a multi-national milieu. She traveled extensively around the world establishing a network of friends.

In the 90s Antonia decided to resign from business commitments to find time to explore the field of the arts, media and communication.

Antonia Gordon’s curiosity and love for challenging experiments turned her into a multitalented artist. She writes and paints as well as enjoys creating sculptural objects. Her conceptual mind and her desire to experiment with different materials provoke her constantly to involve herself in new projects.

Antonia says of herself: «…I am a nomad by heart – a traveler. I am at home everywhere. Wherever my journey takes me, either on the map of the world or within myself, I am always astonished and delighted to experience that when I dig a little deeper, or move a little further I find new inspiration. I have made «Libertas volandi» the motto of my life. I try to face and tackle all aspects and challenges of life with this spirit.

Art is a wonderful way to explore emotions. At times, I express the lightness and freedom of a bird just with a brush stroke. At other times, I use a darker and deeper colour range to articulate my feelings. It depends on my mood of the moment.

I came to art by chance. During the 80s and 90s, I was successful in business but trapped in a complex personal situation, I did not have the guts to escape from. First, I started to paint out of desperation. Then I discovered that flirting with my artistic side had led me onto my own road to liberation. I started to study the works of great artists like Van Gogh, Chagall, Picasso, Rodin, Hockney, Warhol and many others. The analysis of their concepts and techniques guided me to my own well of inspiration.»

At first Antonia Pia Gordon feared the decision of choice between her accustomed life in the world of business and the uncertainty linked to a life focusing on art. Eventually she discovered that moving between these far apart poles provided her with an enormous source of energy and stimulating challenges.

After her father’s death Antonia was confronted with a long and depressing legal struggle over the share holding in the family’s business. At last she and her mother were forced to give up their shares and move on to a life stripped of dear values.

Antonia lives and works in the United Arab Emirates and the Turks & Caicos Islands, British West Indies. The journeys between these two bases are a challenge to her to explore the unknown presenting itself to her by traveling via ever changing routes. Antonia loves to expand her vision by exchange of ideas with fellow artists. She aims to combine her travels with opportunities to attend interesting workshops and lectures around the globe.

Selection of experiences and contacts enjoyed on a journey to artistic discovery

Antonia Pia Gordon’s diversified interest in the arts has brought her together with renowned people in that field. In 1989, she was invited to Teatr Blik, International Theatre Project, Czluchow, Poland, to take part in an intensive course on the Stanislavski System.

She later studied with John Grinder NLP (Neuro – Linguistic –Programming). Antonia enjoyed Media Training with Dorothy Sarnoff, Lilyan Wilder and Aviva Diamond in New York, USA, with Brian Lidstone in London and Prof. Rupert Lay in Germany. She enjoyed researching Cross-Cultural-Communication with Dorothea Johnson, Washington D.C., USA.

Antonia Gordon explored writing for the theatre and film, with Viki King, UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles, and Richard Walter and Robert McKee in New York, and with Jurgen Wolff, in London. She attended The London Media Workshops with Jocelyn Hay, BBC, London, writing for Radio, Television and the Press. Reading stage plays, Antonia obtained the Certification in Spoken English from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.