Eric Serritella
biography |
portfolio | artists listing
b. 1963, Ellenville, NY
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Burchfield Penney Art Center Museum, Buffalo, NY
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Cornell University Plantations Visitors Center, Ithaca, NY
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Jingdezhen Sanbao Ceramic Arts Institute, China
Memorial Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Shui-Li Snake Kiln and Cultural Park, Nantou County, Taiwan
The Kamm Teapot Foundation, Sparta, NC
The Kessler Collection, Asheville, NC
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2011 Hot Tea 2!, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
73rd Regional Exhibition, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
Priority: East Meets West, Donkey Mill Art Center, Holualoa, HI
2009-11 Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Exposition, Chicago, IL
2008-11 Hot Tea!, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2010 Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Exposition WEST, Santa Fe, NM
Fit to Be Bound, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Magic Realism, Exploring Material Illusions, The Wood Turning Center, NCECA,
Philadelphia, PA
The Potter's Council Juried Exhibition, Show of Hands Gallery, NCECA, Philadelphia, PA
2009-10 Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Exposition, Chicago, IL
2009 The Art of Tea, Visarts Metropolitan Center for the Arts, Rockville, MD
Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of
Rochester, Rochester, NY
Beyond Skin Deep, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD
Sculpting Time, Visarts Metropolitan Center for the Arts, Rockville, MD
Regional Exhibition 2009, Elmira College, NY
Beyond the Function-International Contemporary Teapot Exhibition, NCECA, French
Design Jeweler Gallery, AZ
A Decade In Clay, Solo Exhibition, Tompkins County Public Library, NY
2007 Red, Baltimore Clayworks, MD
Kent State University 7th Annual National Juried Cup Show, (Grand Prize), Downtown
Gallery, Kent, OH
History in the Making II, (Third Place), Genesee Pottery, Rochester, NY
Cyberclay: The First International Exhibit of Clayart, NCECA, Gallery Janjobe, Louisville,
KY
Ah Leon & Friends: Taiwan Inspired Ceramic Art, Community School of Music & Arts,
Ithaca, NY
Craft Art Western New York, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, The Museum for Western
Arts, Buffalo, NY
Strictly Functional Pottery National, Lancaster, PA
Feats of Clay XIX, Lincoln Arts & Cultural Foundation, CA
Skin Deep, Francis Marion University, SC
Teapot Invitational, Rochester Folk Art Guild, NY
Art on the Water, Vanishing Point Art Gallery, NY
Opened Earth: The Beauty Within, Solo Exhibition, Cedar Arts Center, Corning, NY
Clay Lover’s Calendar Exhibition, Two Sisters Gallery, NC
It’s Only Clay, Bemidji Arts Council, Region 2 Arts Council, and Bemidji State University
Visual Arts Department, MN
Ceramics 2005-Fifth Biennial Exhibition of North American Clay, Guilford Handcraft
Center, CT
Earth, Wheel & Fire, International Museum of Art & Science, Smithsonian Affiliate, TX
Visions from East Asia, Solo Exhibition, Community School of Music & Arts, Ithaca, NY
Opened Earth: The Beauty Within, Solo Exhibition, Blink Gallery, Andes, NY
Painting with Fire, Solo Exhibition, Wessex-Bristol Gallery, Ithaca, NY
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Ceramics Monthly, Clay Times, AmericanStyle, NICHE, The Craft Report, Pottery Making Illustrated, James Renwick Alliance Quarterly & Ceramic Art (Taiwan).
ARTIST'S BIOGRAPHY
Eric Serritella is a nationally exhibiting ceramic artist specializing in hand-carved trompe l’oeil vessels transformed into birch and weathered logs. Clay found him in 1996 when he took a hobby pottery class to find a new creative outlet and bring more balance to a busy corporate career.
“I expected to simply discover an enjoyable pastime. Instead, clay dug its way into my very core.”
He began a functional pottery production business in effort to follow clay's calling and to bring a new spirit and satisfaction to his work life.
Serritella has a BA in Communication from Ithaca College. He also studied art history there and in London. His primary applied art training came in the form of two artist residencies studying with Ah Leon and clay masters in Taiwan. It was there that he was taken with the historic Yixing teapots, introduced to the Japanese wabi philosophy, and began his trompe l’oeil explorations.
The result, Serritella’s one-of-a-kind tromp l’oeil ceramic sculptures have been awarded and exhibited in galleries and museums from coast to coast and in Asia. His work is included in permanent museum collections, including Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum and The Everson Museum of Art’s world class ceramics collection in Syracuse, NY. Many other esteemed collections contain his work, including the Kamm Teapot Foundation – the world’s largest private teapot collection.
Serritella has contributed to nearly 60 exhibitions and his work has appeared on the covers of AmericanStyle and Pottery Making Illustrated, and in the pages of Ceramics Monthly, NICHE, Clay Times, The Crafts, Report, and Ceramic Art (Taiwan), as well as in several books and calendars on ceramic art. He has participated in SOFA Chicago and Santa Fe and in The Smithsonian Craft Show. He has given workshops and presentations in the USA, Canada and Taiwan.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
The purity of nature and the Asian art aesthetic have always inspired me and I find clay the ideal medium for reflecting both.
Through my trompe l’oeil ceramic sculptures I challenge the viewer with both the nature of the material and the messages within. Whether wheel-thrown or hand-built, these forms are completely hand-carved and transformed to mimic weathered logs and birch trees—the angels of the forest.
I strive to show how nature maintains its splendors through tenacity and triumph of existence despite the disregard we humans show her. I appreciate how ceramic mirrors the environment’s fragility and durability—easily damaged if disrespected and yet invincible in its inherent beauty.
Each piece I create is a relationship—the story of shared discovery. The clay and I make the journey together through the tension of disagreement and the harmony of accord. The final form—the result of our conversation—has a life all its own.
I strive for the life in each creation to foster awareness and influence viewer behavior toward the environment. My hope is that at least some will acquire new appreciations and ways of seeing and thus choose to walk with softer steps.
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Burchfield Penney Art Center Museum, Buffalo, NY
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Cornell University Plantations Visitors Center, Ithaca, NY
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Jingdezhen Sanbao Ceramic Arts Institute, China
Memorial Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
Shui-Li Snake Kiln and Cultural Park, Nantou County, Taiwan
The Kamm Teapot Foundation, Sparta, NC
The Kessler Collection, Asheville, NC
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2011 Hot Tea 2!, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
73rd Regional Exhibition, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
Priority: East Meets West, Donkey Mill Art Center, Holualoa, HI
2009-11 Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Exposition, Chicago, IL
2008-11 Hot Tea!, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2010 Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Exposition WEST, Santa Fe, NM
Fit to Be Bound, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Magic Realism, Exploring Material Illusions, The Wood Turning Center, NCECA,
Philadelphia, PA
The Potter's Council Juried Exhibition, Show of Hands Gallery, NCECA, Philadelphia, PA
2009-10 Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Exposition, Chicago, IL
2009 The Art of Tea, Visarts Metropolitan Center for the Arts, Rockville, MD
Rochester-Finger Lakes Exhibition, Memorial Art Gallery of the University of
Rochester, Rochester, NY
Beyond Skin Deep, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD
Sculpting Time, Visarts Metropolitan Center for the Arts, Rockville, MD
Regional Exhibition 2009, Elmira College, NY
Beyond the Function-International Contemporary Teapot Exhibition, NCECA, French
Design Jeweler Gallery, AZ
A Decade In Clay, Solo Exhibition, Tompkins County Public Library, NY
2007 Red, Baltimore Clayworks, MD
Kent State University 7th Annual National Juried Cup Show, (Grand Prize), Downtown
Gallery, Kent, OH
History in the Making II, (Third Place), Genesee Pottery, Rochester, NY
Cyberclay: The First International Exhibit of Clayart, NCECA, Gallery Janjobe, Louisville,
KY
Ah Leon & Friends: Taiwan Inspired Ceramic Art, Community School of Music & Arts,
Ithaca, NY
Craft Art Western New York, Burchfield-Penney Art Center, The Museum for Western
Arts, Buffalo, NY
Strictly Functional Pottery National, Lancaster, PA
Feats of Clay XIX, Lincoln Arts & Cultural Foundation, CA
Skin Deep, Francis Marion University, SC
Teapot Invitational, Rochester Folk Art Guild, NY
Art on the Water, Vanishing Point Art Gallery, NY
Opened Earth: The Beauty Within, Solo Exhibition, Cedar Arts Center, Corning, NY
Clay Lover’s Calendar Exhibition, Two Sisters Gallery, NC
It’s Only Clay, Bemidji Arts Council, Region 2 Arts Council, and Bemidji State University
Visual Arts Department, MN
Ceramics 2005-Fifth Biennial Exhibition of North American Clay, Guilford Handcraft
Center, CT
Earth, Wheel & Fire, International Museum of Art & Science, Smithsonian Affiliate, TX
Visions from East Asia, Solo Exhibition, Community School of Music & Arts, Ithaca, NY
Opened Earth: The Beauty Within, Solo Exhibition, Blink Gallery, Andes, NY
Painting with Fire, Solo Exhibition, Wessex-Bristol Gallery, Ithaca, NY
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Ceramics Monthly, Clay Times, AmericanStyle, NICHE, The Craft Report, Pottery Making Illustrated, James Renwick Alliance Quarterly & Ceramic Art (Taiwan).
ARTIST'S BIOGRAPHY
Eric Serritella is a nationally exhibiting ceramic artist specializing in hand-carved trompe l’oeil vessels transformed into birch and weathered logs. Clay found him in 1996 when he took a hobby pottery class to find a new creative outlet and bring more balance to a busy corporate career.
“I expected to simply discover an enjoyable pastime. Instead, clay dug its way into my very core.”
He began a functional pottery production business in effort to follow clay's calling and to bring a new spirit and satisfaction to his work life.
Serritella has a BA in Communication from Ithaca College. He also studied art history there and in London. His primary applied art training came in the form of two artist residencies studying with Ah Leon and clay masters in Taiwan. It was there that he was taken with the historic Yixing teapots, introduced to the Japanese wabi philosophy, and began his trompe l’oeil explorations.
The result, Serritella’s one-of-a-kind tromp l’oeil ceramic sculptures have been awarded and exhibited in galleries and museums from coast to coast and in Asia. His work is included in permanent museum collections, including Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum and The Everson Museum of Art’s world class ceramics collection in Syracuse, NY. Many other esteemed collections contain his work, including the Kamm Teapot Foundation – the world’s largest private teapot collection.
Serritella has contributed to nearly 60 exhibitions and his work has appeared on the covers of AmericanStyle and Pottery Making Illustrated, and in the pages of Ceramics Monthly, NICHE, Clay Times, The Crafts, Report, and Ceramic Art (Taiwan), as well as in several books and calendars on ceramic art. He has participated in SOFA Chicago and Santa Fe and in The Smithsonian Craft Show. He has given workshops and presentations in the USA, Canada and Taiwan.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
The purity of nature and the Asian art aesthetic have always inspired me and I find clay the ideal medium for reflecting both.
Through my trompe l’oeil ceramic sculptures I challenge the viewer with both the nature of the material and the messages within. Whether wheel-thrown or hand-built, these forms are completely hand-carved and transformed to mimic weathered logs and birch trees—the angels of the forest.
I strive to show how nature maintains its splendors through tenacity and triumph of existence despite the disregard we humans show her. I appreciate how ceramic mirrors the environment’s fragility and durability—easily damaged if disrespected and yet invincible in its inherent beauty.
Each piece I create is a relationship—the story of shared discovery. The clay and I make the journey together through the tension of disagreement and the harmony of accord. The final form—the result of our conversation—has a life all its own.
I strive for the life in each creation to foster awareness and influence viewer behavior toward the environment. My hope is that at least some will acquire new appreciations and ways of seeing and thus choose to walk with softer steps.