Matteo Ricciardi
Updated 12/12/2024
Writing for Student Juried Show: Sense of Place
To make my life easier, I'm going to list and write about all the aspect of the piece. It all definitely needs to be rewritten to be more concise
Bug on the Wall -
Hand positions -
Defensive mimicry -
Family Cradle
(still brainstorming a title)
I'm hoping to have this project done and ready to submit for the juried show. The only things i need to do is fabricate the stand and hang the bronze.
Images of prints I could potentially submit: (Temporary pictures)
These are just some prints I made over the semester that could potentially round out my submission for the student show.
Hermit's Volkswagen
This piece is a screen print for the assignment where we had to take a small subject and make it big or vice versa. I decided to make a small hermit crab big, while to represent his size his "shell/home" would be something big. I chose to do an older Volkswagen beetle for a couple reasons. I wanted an object that would make the crab look large but not colossal. I wanted to be easy to imagine the crab at the size and a car made the most sense, since people already use cars as a measurement for size and interact with them everyday. When I decided to use a vehicle I immediately jumped to the Volkswagen Beetle since its one of my favorites. Old models of Beetles are very round and compliment the organic shape of the hermit crab. It also worked well since the trunks of beetles are located in the front of the car, so it gives a good place for the hermit crab to fit.
I think this piece goes well with the prompt, due to hermit crabs living in shells left behind and created by other creatures. This piece is a great representation of the living situation of students. I dream of owning my home and having a permanent place to exist. I cant fully feeling comfortable in my apartment with knowing I can't live/exist here forever. This art work represents that feeling of not having a proper sense of home. The hermit crab needs a shell to protect his soft lower body from the outside world. Same goes for us, we need somewhere to exist and rest safely. For student though it's almost like living out of your car. Student have to live light knowing they may not be living in the same place the next year. Its un-wise to have more then your car can hold. The piece represents that idea by showing the crab living in the trunk of the beetle. Half of the storage space of the entire car being taken up by the crab itself.
(I really like this piece a lot but I worry that it doesn't match my other work. Also I need to be more concise about the idea, but I feel more strongly about it then the Owl boy print)
Updated 10/2/2024
Sketch of Newtons Head Cradle
(Added Writing) * Updated 9/7/2024
Ideas from the Summer:
Idea #1: I'm Just Carapace with a Face
This is an idea that is being expanded upon from last semester. I already started this piece to get a head start on projects for the semester.
The theme/design philosophy of this piece is to personify the feeling of being a wallflower at social events. Similar to a lot of other people, I grew up struggling to socially insert myself into groups and events. So I spent most of my time on the wall observing every one else. However it never felt like being a "wall flower" like some other romanticized stories. It felt more like being a bug just minding my own business watching every one else. I grew comfortable with my little spot on the wall. Like a spider making a home. Eventually I grew up and matured like every one else but these feeling can still appear and every so often find my self back on the wall. So want this piece to physically manifests those feeling I had as a angsty teen, the ones that still bubble up more often then I would like. (Note I'm not totally committed to this theme, almost feels to corny. Still brainstorming other ideas)
My previous sculptures:
Sense Of Place Artist Statements
My sculptures evoke a sense of
place by asking about what it means to have a place in society. We are raised
from a young age to fit into a designated spot in the social hierarchy. So many
outside factors like gender, race, and sexuality affect our ability to be
accepted by society. If someone doesn’t fit within their box or wants to find a
different place, they are often shunned for going against the norm. My pieces
talk about how it feels not knowing one’s place in society and what it is like
to go against the norm.
My first piece “On the Outside” has
a vulnerable but strong feeling. It is inspired by a sea turtle shell where the
internal skeleton of the shell is exposed to the viewer. A turtle’s shell is important
for the creature’s protection so having the internal structure of the body
exposed creates a sense of venerability. The skeleton is cast iron with a steel
perimeter which are materials traditionally associated with strength. The spine
of the shell is exposed in a way that openly presents itself to the viewer, rather
than hides it. The juxtaposition between these themes relates to how people are
expected to hide their vulnerability in society to fit in with everyone.
However, I find that when someone wears their heart on their sleeve and isn't
afraid to show their vulnerability and feelings, they are much stronger because
they face societal expectations head-on. Not everyone wants to fit in the
box society made for them so finding the strength to make their place within our
harsh world is admirable.
My dragonfly evokes a sense of
place through the inability to find one's place in society because of factors
outside of their control. Many people are discriminated against for reasons not
of their own making, so I wanted to show what this helplessness feels like
through the imagery of an animal. I chose a dragonfly to represent these feelings
because they are rather small, unassuming creatures we tend to take for
granted. The combination of paper and metal wings is meant to represent the uncontrollable
factors that make the back wings too heavy to move. I created a sense of
movement and attempted to fly by making two sets of three paper wings. The
combination of multiple wings makes it look like the dragonfly is trying to
take off, but nothing is happening without the help of the back wings. The
dragonfly’s inability to fly relates to how rules and people's attitudes can
alienate people despite someone's best efforts to find a place in society. Not
everyone has our best interests at heart, so we must try our all to find a way
to make a place for ourselves.
My iron Jackelope is a memento to
my home state of Wyoming. I have lived here for as long as I can remember, and it
has become a significant part of who I am. I appreciate the quiet openness of
the country that I may not have been able to experience if I had been raised
somewhere else. This piece relates to the physical place of the West and how
important it is to me. The jackelope is a legend of the west that originated in
Wyoming which is why I chose it to represent my home. My jackalope sculpture is
made of iron so I knew I wanted to make it shiny to show off the metal. The
process of casting gives objects a sense of preciousness so coupling it with a
purple represents the significance and how dear my home is to me.
My ceramic sculpture, “Emergence,”
talks about the sense of place through its oceanic imagery. The forms of the
three matching sculptures are rather ambiguous, with no design focusing on only
one ocean-inspired element. These pieces were made to evoke the sense of the
ocean and its ability to sustain life. The base of the sculpture is made of bubble-like
spheres that climb up the sides of the piece. The main form of the pieces is
inspired by the movement of waves as well as carvings on the inside that are
similar to the surfaces of table coral. The way the two halves of the wave-like
forms are connected makes them look like clam shells. I wanted to have this somewhat
representational imagery with an abstract nature to truly represent the oceans and
their vast unknown expanse. Nature is an important part of my style, and I find
the ocean to be one of the most beautiful and impressive places on the planet. This
is why I tried to focus on evoking the feelings of the ocean and what this
place means to me.
My piece, “Family Tree,” talks
about one’s place in the family unit. Family is very important to me,
especially on my dad’s side. We have a very tight bond with my dad’s side of
the family because everyone lives relatively close to one another, so it makes
visiting each other easier and happens more often. I used watercolor paper to
make leaves to represent each member of my extended family on my dad’s side and
made paper owls to represent myself, and my immediate family. We are all
connected through family so hopefully if we have no one else we have our place
with each other. One of the birds is flying away to represent the process of
growing up and making a place for yourself. Eventually, we all must leave our
families but our place within them will usually remain.
My last piece, “Home” is another
piece about family and my home in Wyoming. I use imagery from both my Native American
heritage as well as scenery from my home near Heart Mountain in northern
Wyoming to represent how special one’s family and home can be. The form of the
Moccasin and Indian paintbrush flowers ties back to Wyoming as well as the
Western plains where my ancestors would reside. The images of Tipis and the
landscape of Heart Mountain connect the physical homes of my ancestors to my
home growing up. The representation of these places highlights their importance
to me and where I reside within them.
For my artist statement I tried to
In our lives we meet and interact with many people. Some are family, others are friends, some become more like partners while
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| My Crows |
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| Idea 1 |
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| Idea 2 |
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| Idea 3 |
I have
Currently, I'm considering morphing animals together into hybrids. Something like this bird (it's a black-capped chickadee) with antlers I molded in clay. Birds are delicate, petite creatures, but by giving them antlers/horns they become different, stronger.
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| Accompany Me to the Beyond 2024 |
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| Spiral of Life |
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| Healing River 2023 This became very cathartic for me. I have always been drawn in by rivers, their sound, feel, and movement. This piece gave me the ability to work with ephemeral materials, like the red tissue paper, sticks, and jute twine. |
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| Lift and Help Me to Soar 2024 |
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| Untitled 2024 |
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Skull, Candle, and Book Distort with Sparrows Wood, canvas, wire, air-dry clay, foil, epoxy, plastic, acrylics 31”h x 31”w x 8.25”d 2024 |
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Wine Glass, Grapes and Peach Distort with Sparrow Wood, canvas, wire, air-dry clay, foil, epoxy, plastic, acrylics 19.5”h x 17”w x 7”d 2024 |
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Death Mask with Sparrow Wood, canvas, wire, air-dry clay, foil, tape, epoxy, acrylics 14”h x 14”w x 2.75” d 2024 |
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| Vulpes anima (soul fox/kitsune) Air drying polymer, polymer, cold porcelain, no VOC acrylic, mineral powder, metal, nylon fiber 16x12x19.5" 2024 |
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| Ouroboros 2024 |
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| Casualty Hand built porcelain, cone 6 glaze 15"x9"x3" 2/2009 |
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| Feather trade: Carolina parakeets, Wall installation roughly 6-6 ½'x4’, feather bunches 3-4"x4-4 ½"x ½", solo bird 10"x12"x3 ½", hand build porcelain and glaze 7/2016 |
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| Panhandlers: house sparrow Hand built porcelain, cone 6 glaze 5"x5 ½"x3 ½" 10/2013 |
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Tell me all your secrets...  |
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| Sad Rabbit |
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| Memories of the Sky Iron, urethane paint, acrylic paint 1920x600x110 2021 |
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| Footsteps of the Stars Iron, urethane paint, acrylic paint 960x1000x400 2021 |
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| If I could get there tonight Iron, urethane paint, acrylic paint 1200x480x1830 2021 |
For project one I am still working on constructing the individual parts to piece together. I created my base and have started covering it w...
