By Melanie Brozek –
Media Credit: Meanie Brozek - Deana Marzocci instructs a student on a Mac.
In a dimly lit room, 12 students stare intently at the glowing silver Macs sitting in front of them.
While waiting for class to start, students finish up research, work on their projects, or surf Facebook to pass the time. The instructor stands at the front of the room, her brown curly hair twisted into a clip and sunglasses placed atop her head. “Everybody goes on Facebook right away. I pretend not to notice, but I notice,” she whispers with a giggle.
Her ICT 100 class, a beginner course that focuses on how to use different software to create visually appealing artwork, will begin working on their next project, expressive typography.
It is 2:30 p.m. and the two and a half hour studio class has begun. Deana Marzocchi calls her class’s attention with a big smile that lights up the dim room. All of her students look up from their computers to focus on her as she motions her hands towards the previous art projects the class has worked on. She notes a few errors made, yet acknowledges them in a calm, sincere tone.
Marzocchi comes across as someone who is very knowledgeable in the subject of design and has the background to prove it. She is not only an instructor, but also a freelancer, with clients that range from salons to fashion designers. Along with both jobs, she manages to spend time with her family and provide assistance at her family-owned restaurant. Marzocchi describes
her life as “lunacy,” but somehow finds a way to make it all work.
Growing up, Marzocchi was surrounded by art, because most of her family members were artists. She remembers taking art lessons at 4 years old with her brother, from a man called Mr. Conti. “He had a monkey, and he taught us how to make mosaics and we worked a lot with clay,” she said enthusiastically, recalling her earliest memory of roasting marshmallows over his house. She picked up her drawing skills from her father, an architectural draftsman, at an early age. “He taught us how to draw mechanically,” she said.
Surprisingly, with all of her background in art, Marzocchi decided to major in Financial Management at Salve Regina University, which she said was known as “Salve Regina College” at the time. She recalls that one of her former roommates majored in Graphic Design. “I did all of her homework, which is not probably a good thing to say,” she admits laughing.
Marzocchi did take a few art electives during her time at Salve, but decided to major in Financial Management, because she thought it would be a more practical career path. She has also received her Master’s in Information System Science.
During her time at Salve, Marzocchi was a work study student and helped fix computers within the computer labs. She was then recruited into a publishing department on campus. “We were using this program called VM Publish, which was more coding and we could create all the handbooks and booklets for the university, as nothing was design-oriented at the time,” she said. After graduating Salve, Marzocchi was hired by the university’s publishing department, which was then transformed into a design department, to teach the software Adobe Pagemaker. She would help set up the labs and actually design work for the university.
Along with her work study, Marzocchi also worked at The Parkside, a restaurant owned by her mother, and she still has a big involvement in it today. She considers it to be a fun pastime and takes care of all the restaurant’s marketing. Marzocchi admits being behind the name and concepts of the restaurant, as well as providing a helping hand with managing and hosting.
Marzocchi’s other fun pastimes involve her 6-year-old daughter, Emma, and her 4-year-old son, Ben. “They keep me very busy,” she says. Her eyes light up as she talks about her two children. She praises her son Ben for being a “phenomenal artist,” and her daughter Emma for having “amazing organizational skills” despite their young ages. “She [Emma] will look up at the cupboard and say, ‘I know how you can fix that, Mommy,’ and she will tell me to ‘move those cups over there’ without actually doing it, just conception.” As for her son, “I can’t even describe how amazing he is,” she says. She talks about how he draws very clear and recognizable symbols, such as the face of Harry Potter with the big lightning bolt scar. “His favorite artist is Tim Burton, so he draws all the characters from the movie [The Nightmare Before Christmas] and it’s pretty amazing,” she says.
When she has more free time, which Marzocchi admits doesn’t happen too often, she will paint, but mostly enjoys doing fun activities with her children. She also quickly adds, “oh and exercising!” with a laugh.
When asked what a typical day for her is like, Marzocchi quietly says, “oh my gosh,” to herself with a sigh, but still uses her same trademark bubbly energy to answer the question. “So I get up in the morning, get my kids ready for school, and that’s a very hectic time,” she said. “I am a single mom, so I have a lot of responsibility.”
Along with her children, Marzocchi also has a pet bunny named Flip-flop. “I have a good story with Flip-flop,” she said with a smile. “I’ve had Flip-flop for about 10 years. I found him running loose in a road around Pawtucket.” Marzocchi, a rabbit lover, knew that this wasn’t a wild rabbit, so she made her friend turn the car around to locate her future pet. “We actually ended up finding the bunny and then I picked him up and put him in my car,” she said. Just to make sure Flip-flop wasn’t lost, Marzocchi put up signs all over Pawtucket. “No one ever claimed him so he’s been my bunny ever since, and he’s cute. He runs around the house and he’s litter box trained,” she says with a laugh.
Marzocchi explained that the bunny was named Flip-flop because “one ear is up and one’s down,” she says motioning with both hands.
As for Marzocchi’s freelance business, she has many different clients. “I have a hair salon and spa, a musician, and many restaurants,” she says and adds, “I’ve worked with a cleaning company, a car sales company, an accounting firm, and a fashion designer.” She explains how, as a graphic designer, she has to pull her creativity no matter what kind of client it is. She typically designs business cards and ads for her clients. “For a startup, it could be a sign, business cards, logo, t-shirts, banners, it spans.” Kristen Marrah, the owner of a salon called Gloss & Glamour, is one of Marzocchi’s clients. Marrah says Marzocchi designs everything from business cards to logos and flyers. “She is my ‘go-to girl,’” says Marrah. Marrah met Marzocchi when she worked at another salon, “We became very chummy and I saw other stuff she has done.” Marrah chose Marzocchi to design because “she is very amazing at what she does.”
