NIAGARA FALLS — A small Tuscan town has provided a pallet of inspiration for an aspiring young Niagara Falls artist who will have her work on display this weekend during the 44th annual Lewiston Art Festival.

In the small hillside village of San Gusme, Italy, 20-year-old Sarah Marrone — through a study abroad program — aided in the restoration of a 16th century church, chipping away at centuries of wear, all while reinventing her passion for art along the way.

“The people who lived in San Gusme, they were so appreciative when we were finished. They were so just thankful. It was like we changed their lives, we made their lives better by fixing the church and bringing it back to how it was and that really made you feel good,” Marrone said. “Those kind of things, those experiences gave me the motivation, that when I came home, I said this is the year I am going to enter the art festival.”

Marrone — a Buffalo State College art history major — said after studying in Italy and seeing the artistic history that constantly surrounded her, she had a newfound appreciation for art and hopes that shows in the work she has created for this weekend’s festival.

Marrone’s work will be featured in the College Alley section of the festival, which is a section that features the work of high school and college artists in the categories of painting, photography, graphic arts, sculpture, artistic crafts and jewelry. Modern Corp. sponsors the competitive “Modern” Art awards, which hand out more than $5,000 to winners in each of the categories. The competition is judges by Marian Granfield and Carla Castellani of the Castellani Art Museum at Niagara University.

The event has a unique focus solely on the arts and is aggressively working toward inspiring the artists of tomorrow, said event organizer Eva Nicklas of the Lewiston Council on the Arts.

“One very important aspect of the Lewiston Art Festival, is we very aggressively encouraging young kids and students to learn or experience art,” Nicklas said. “We are most proud of the opportunity we give in college students to showcase and sell their art sell their art. This is a chance for them to look around be inspired by other artists work and see the process of what it takes to be an artist making money to see what it’s like to be in a show like this.”

As much as Marrone said the competitiveness factor plays a role in her entering the festival, she is more excited about just giving people an opportunity to view her work.

“At this point, it’s more to show my work off to my friends and family, I am definitely interested in the competitiveness factor, I am curious as to where mine stacks up against everyone else’s,” She said. “But the really big exciting thing for me is showing it to people, just letting everyone see it.”

On Thursday, Marrone was putting the finishing touches on a recreation of a photo she took of the Tuscan landscape. She said she was unsure on what the prices of her artwork will be but joked they are all negotiable.

“It’s really not about how much I make on a painting or how many I sell, it’s really about sharing my work with others,” Marrone said. “It’s about finding a way to touch another person through my artwork, I don’t paint to get rich, I paint because I love it.”

The festival will also feature the Chalk Walk, which is teams of student artists from nine different schools from across the region creating grafitti-like murals based on this year’s theme “Unity in Diversity.” Also the artists in residency, which is possible due to a grant from Arts Niagara Decentralization Program and will feature nationally renowned artist demonstrations.

“One of the things that makes our festival so unique, we roll out the red carpet for the artists. We do everything that we can to make it a good show for them, because without them we ‘aint got nothing,” Nicklas said.

It is expected that 175 professional and student artists from more than 13 states as far away as Alaska will be in attendance at the festival.

Contact reporter Nick Mattera at 282-2311, ext. 2251.