2014, Earth from the grave of the artist’s father (fired), earth from the home of the artist’s mother (fired), earth from the town of the artist’s birth (fired), earth from two New Orleans’ cemeteries (fired), clay (unfired talc, ball clay, and frit 3124), sodium silicate, HWD 8.5’’ x 25’’ x 15’’ each
2015, Plexiglass, ash (burned childhood toys belonging to the artist), ceramic gourds (glaze, cement, corks, mementos from the artist’s deceased relatives, foodstuffs, libations), 6.5’’x 15’’x 6.5’’
2015, Plexiglass, fired earth from the grave of the artist’s father, topsoil from the garden of the artist’s mother, ceramic gourds (glaze, cement, corks, mementos from the artist’s deceased relatives, foodstuffs, libations), 6.5’’x 15’’x 6.5’’
2015, Plexiglass, red earthenware (unfired), porcelain (unfired), charred tools belonging to the artist’s father, 6.5’’x 15’’x 6.5’’
2014, Clay, lead glaze, cement, correspondences (ash and fragments), human teeth, blood from the artist, HWD 17.5” x 14.5” x 9.5 ''
2014, Clay, lead glaze, cement, Historical Introduction to Philosophy by Albert Hakim (ash), axe, goat’s heart (ash), HWD 40’’ x 17.5’’ 13’’
2014, Clay, lead glaze, earth from the town of the artist’s birth, earth from Lithuania, skull, ink, text (originally written by the artist’s father to the artist’s grandparents), rope, HWD 21’’ x 22’’ x 7.5’’
2014, Clay, fritted underglaze, sugar, HWD 4.5’’ x 21’’ x 21’’
2014, Earth from the grave of the artist’s father (fired), earth from the home of the artist’s mother (fired), earth from the town of the artist’s birth (fired), earth from two New Orleans’ cemeteries (fired), clay (unfired talc, ball clay, and frit 3124), sodium silicate, HWD 9’’ x 7’’ x 16’’ each
Artist Statement
I must, to begin, accept that my life will always be haunted by the specters of loss. And so the objects I create begin at sites of memory and of mourning - a cemetery, the home of a loved one, a childhood playground, or a historical site with emotional or spiritual resonance. I collect earth and objects from these spaces, sometimes leaving what I can in their place and sometimes incorporating the sacrifice of irreplaceable objects into my work. Theses rituals constitute my creative process, they are confrontational and cathartic, and the creation of beauty and art is mostly incidental.
-- Anthony Stellaccio
Bio
Anthony Stellaccio is a freelance artist and scholar educated in both fine art and folklore. A member of the American Folklore Society, the American Ceramic Circle, and the International Academy of Ceramics, Stellaccio works around the world as an artist, writer, researcher, film maker, curator, and educator. Most notable among his professional accomplishments are two US Fulbright grants, a book on Lithuanian folk pottery, more than thirty articles on contemporary and historic ceramics, three years spent serving the Smithsonian, National Museum of African Art, and several years spent as a consultant for the Lithuanian Art Museum. Stellaccio was born in Muncie, Indiana in 1978, lived in Eastern Europe for more than seven years, and is based in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.