Shiloh Gastello

My work is inspired by the fragile and ephemeral nature of the human body. The influence of skin, scrim, and memory are implemented through constructing objects using thin layers of slab-built porcelain.

My explorations focus on the psychology of the anthropomorphized gestures of found furniture and fractured ceramics to incite a dialog between user and object. Exploring the gesture of objects that we interact with daily is implemented to subtly increase awareness of how objects can relate to our own bodies. Objects can also act as conductors for memory to incite exploration of the past.

— Shiloh Gastello

Shiloh Gastello is a ceramicist from Stockton, CA who currently resides in Portland, OR. Using compromised found furniture and his own hand-made fractured ceramics, Gastello seeks to explore the anthropomorphic and bodily gestures of objects to incite a dialog between user and object. Gastello has exhibited nationally at Akar Art in Iowa City, IA, The Charley Cummings Gallery in Gainesville, FL, The Clay Studio of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, PA, The Japanese Garden in Portland, OR, the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco, CA, and the See | Me International Billboard Premier Exhibition in New York, NY among others. Gastello received scholarships to attend residencies at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, ME in 2014, and Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, CO in 2015. He earned his Master of Fine Arts In Craft Degree with an emphasis in Ceramics at the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, OR in 2016, and his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 3D Media with an emphasis in Ceramics and Painting from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA in 2011.