NCECA 2013 Houston TX! The Biennial and The Bray Show

Lori-Ann Touchette & Paolo Porelli, c.r.e.t.a. rome

First time at the NCECA Conference! This year, I participated in the annual conference of NCECA as an exhibiting artist in the Biennial and the Residents' exhibition of The Archie Bray Foundation. Plus we had a non-profit table in the Resource Hall to promote c.r.e.t.a. rome.





Biennial opening at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft!

Richard Notkin & Paolo Porelli

Paolo Porelli & Andy Casto

Chris Riccado, Paolo Porelli & Lauren Mabry

Meeting with Patsy Cox and international participants

Paolo Porelli & Patsy Cox

Tinma Byrne & Paolo Porelli

 The opening of the Residents' show at 18 Hands Gallery

Bray residents 2012

Paolo Porelli, Amanda Salov & Steven Lee

Jason Walker & Paolo Porelli

Summer 2012: The Archie Bray Foundation for a 3 month summer residency as the Eric Meyhle Scholar

Amazing place, amazing artists, amazing friends!

        

Being at The Bray is an experience that it life-changing. I am so appreciative of the opportunity to spend the summer here. So many good memories of my fellow resident artists, visiting artists and the Helena-based artists and gallerists.

      

 

that's me behind the shell sculpture with my trusty bike

my pieces in the 'Resident Artist Exhibition 2012

Paolo Porelli, Steven Lee and Chris Riccardo, Bray Bash 2012

Sell! Sell! Sell! Six deities of sales

Paolo Porelli Installation of deities of sales 2012

These sculptures represent my latest work since I returned from The Clay Studio. I wanted to negate every seductive possibility that colored glazes offer to emphasise instead their sculptural quality. A semi-metallic black was obtained using engobes with copper oxide and oxide extracted from used batteries on terracotta was single fired at 920° C. This is my first experience of single firing, inspired by my recent meetings with Nino Caruso. I am looking forward to experimenting more with this technique.

Paolo Porelli 'Woman of Babel' 2012,  61,5 cm x 20 cm x 14 cm

Paolo Porelli 'Best Buys' 2012, 62 x 26 x 15 cm

Paolo Porelli  'Cut-rate energy' 2012, 58,5 x 20 x 13 cm

Paolo Porelli 'Deals' 2012 61 x 23 x 13 cm

Paolo Porelli, Transformer 2012, 65 cm x 24 cm x 10 cm

Paolo Porelli 'Overwhelmed' 2012, 63 cm x 23 cm x 15 cm

Review of the 'Figuration' Show at The Clay Studio, March 2011

Figuration Show at The Clay Studio. Paolo Porelli 'Electra' and 'Pomona', from the street

When Jeff Guido wrote to inform me of my invitation to be a Guest Artist in Residence at The Clay Studio, he also included me in an up-coming group show, entitled 'Figuration'. The other artists included Christina West, Lee Stoliar, Pattie Chalmers, Clayton Keyes and Melissa Mencini. My first exhibition in the States, it was reviewed almost a year later by Colette Copeland in Ceramics: Art & Perception n. 87, which I cite below.

Figuration Show at The Clay Studio. Paolo Porelli 'Electra' and 'Pomona' in the background

'Italian ceramicist Paolo Porelli's work adds some humour to the exhibition. Writer Lori-Ann Touchette dubbed Porelli's sculptures "ultra-pop idols". Inspired by Greek and Roman mythology and contemporary culture, Porelli's glazed, white porcelain figures infuse the archetypal with surrealist kitsch. In Pomona, the figure's head is a circular mass of spoons. She holds a donut in one hand while two small pigs graze at her feet. In Roman mythology, Pomona was the goddess of fruitful abundance. Porelli's goddess is the goddess of over-consumption, proffering sugary, gluttonous indulgence. The artist's other sculpture Electra is a white nurse-like or shaman-like figure holding a box with a long tube/cord. On the box is a carved 'E'. There are two Electras in Greek mythology: Electra who was raped by Zeus and Electra, the daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra. It is unclear whether Porelli's Electra is there to use electricity to save or to kill.' 

Paolo Porelli back view of 'Electra' and 'Pomona', Figuration Show at The Clay Studio

Group show at Brenda Taylor Gallery, NYC

Paolo Porelli, 'Pomona' at the Brenda Taylor Gallery, NYC

Brenda Taylor is a gallerist in Chelsea in New York City whom I met during my residency in Philadelphia when I applied to a juried exhibition. She fell in love with my statue 'Pomona' and thus I had my first group show in a gallery in 'the City'.

Sculptures produced at The Clay Studio

Paolo Porelli, 'Bottle Lady'  2011, glazed stoneware, 79x25.5cm (The Clay Studio coll.)

Paolo Porelli, 'Excess' 2011, porcelain slipped stoneware, 66x30.5cm

Paolo Porelli, 'Glove Lady'  2011, glazed stoneware,61x20.5cm

Paolo Porelli, 'Hypnotizer'  2011, glazed stoneware, 58,5x28cm

Paolo Porelli, 'Material Man'  2011 (detail), glazed stoneware, 54.5x25,5cm

Residency at The Clay Studio Nov.-Dec. 2011, Philadelphia, PA

Paolo Porelli: announcement for my work talk at The Clay Studio

Whoever happens to visit The Clay Studio in Philadelphia immediately understands that they are in the midst of an organisation in which ceramic knowledge and experience is concentrated.and how it is possible to invest in its creation, promotion and sales. For an Italian, it is a completely new and extraordinary experience to come into contact with a structure such as this. Ceramics in the States means either pottery, functional ceramics, which the artists personalize according to their sensibility and vision, or sculpture/installation, the most valued form of artistic research in the global world of contemporary art. 

Paolo Porelli, work in progress at The Clay Studio

Paolo Porelli, 'Glove Lady' 2011, glazed stoneware, 61x20.5cm

The two months that I spent as a guest artist in residence at The Clay Studio were unforgettable on both a personal and professional level. And even better in the splendid historic downtown of Philadelphia, where there are still examples of buildings of the 18th cent. on the architectural model of London of the same period. It was a great pleasure to get to know Jeff Guido, Kimberly Shelton, Naomi Cleary and the many talented artists in residence there, Hiroe Hanazono, Peter Morgan, Linda Lopez, Rebecca Chappell, Matthew Ziemke, Giselle Hicks and many others. At the end of my term, I organized a Italian dinner for everyone as a small token of my appreciation.

I will do a separate post for the sculpture which I produced there.