Studio U-2
Mixed Media, Installation
Artist Statement
I create mixed media constructions with a range of commonplace objects and materials that people have used and discarded over time. The impetus for my art is to reveal subtle and significant shifts in culturally shared values and practices. I am attracted to the disappearing relics of the past and the process by which they illuminate and inform current social, historical, political, and cultural contexts.
Obsolete hand tools, articles of domesticity, architectural fragments, and discarded children’s clothing are imbued with a deeply physical sense of humanity. Recontextualized as art, they are cultural indicators of a disruption in shared experience and memory. My sculptures, assemblages, and art installations call attention to life’s temporality and mutability.
Recent exhibitions include “Evidence of Life” at Doug Adams Gallery in Berkeley, “By Mainly Unexpected Means” at Meridian Gallery in San Francisco, “Poetics of Disposability” at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, “Changing Context” at Azusa Pacific University, and “Dark Inheritance” at Palos Verdes Art Center.
My artwork is in the collections of the City of Palo Alto, Oracle Corporation, San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, and International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction. I earned the MFA in Spatial Arts from San Jose State University and BFA in Drawing and Printmaking from University of Florida.
During my residency at Cubberley Artist Studio Program, I am continuing my exploration of objects as conveyors of cultural worth and individual identity. Central to my art practice is the studio space that accommodates both the storage of collected accumulations and an area for assemblage and experimentation with a variety of materials and techniques. The CASP community of serious and diverse artists creates opportunities for collaboration, professional networking, and community engagement that further my artistic goals.
Maker Reliquary,2014 mixed media construction - drawers, pulleys, metal shears, wax, photo by Fred English
They Dream and Stare Upon Roving Sky, 2011, mixed media construction - doll pram, photographs, wood, canvas, plaster photo by Fred English
Sisterhood of Biscuit and Pie, 2014, installation - used rolling pins, dish towels, buttons, pegs, photo by Aimee Santos
Contact Info
www.MarianneLettieri.com
Announcements
House/Work, July 19-October 18, at Peninsula Museum of Art in Burlingame, CA. Solo exhibit of six art installations that call attention to overlooked perceptions of the experience of housework. Link: www.peninsulamuseum.org
Metaphors and Memories, August 3-September 27, at Community School of Music and Arts in Mountain View, CA. Two person show with Lisa Ramirez. My ten works look at time through the lens of childhood expectations. Link: www.arts4all.org/attend/mohrgallery.htm
Relics and Ruins, August 3-31, at Telegraph Hill Gallery in San Francisco, CA. This is a two-person show with my CASP colleague, Charles Coates. His wood block prints and my 3D assemblages point to the spiritual in the everyday and in states of mind. Link: http://telegraphhillgallery.com
Reflect+Create: Where Art & History Intersect, May 7-October 4, at Los Altos History Museum in Los Altos, CA. As part of my participation in this group show, I have been invited to give a lecture, "Death and Life of an Object," on August 27, 7PM at the Mountain View Public Library. Link: www.losaltoshistory.org
Bed Rock (detail), 2015, art installation with glass spheres and 200 crocheted stones; Image by Marianne Lettieri
Last Updated: Jul 16, 2015
