Nancy Pirri
Vera, ceramic, stain, and oils, 16″ x 4″
Vera (detail)
Vera 2
Iris, ceramic, stain, and oils, 14.5″ x 4″ (detail)
Iris (detail)
Iris 2
Kika, ceramic, stain, and oils, 18″ x 4″ (detail)
Kika (detail 2)
Kika (detail 3)
My Choice 1, bclay, mason stains, slips, and oils, 21″ x 7.5″ x 9″
My Choice (Non-Pregnant Side)
My Choice 2
My Choice 3
Francoise, soda, sip, glaze, stain, c. 10 reduct
Francoise (detail)
Francoise (front)
Francoise (back)
The Resting Huntress, bclay, mason stains, glaze, c. 10, 10.5″ x 11″ x 9″
The Resting Huntress (back)
The Resting Huntress (detail)
Artist Statement
If we could see the depth and complexity of a woman plainly on her surface, would we see beauty? Would we see her scars, if we looked closely enough?
I let each woman tell her story through my hands.
My work is about women’s struggle to find emotional balance, which I depict using texture, expression, attitude, and gesture. While every woman has strength, compassion, and an incalculable ability to endure, as the arguably weaker sex who also functions in the complex role of Mother, Sister, Friend, or Wife, she is continually called upon to put others before herself.
About the Artist
Nancy Pirri has dabbled in every art form since childhood, discovering her true passion — for clay — in 1996.
In 2010, Nancy Pirri received an “Honorable Mention Award” from Rockford (Illinois) Art Museum for her printmaking-on-clay technique. Her Tamara Stain was published in 500 Figures in Clay (Volume 2) in 2014; the following year, her piece Ain’t I a Woman received a “Best in 3D Award” from Beverly Arts Center.
Represented from 2004 to 2019 by Just B. Gallery in Three Oaks, Michigan, Nancy Pirri exhibits in many different venues, including solo shows, galleries, charity auctions, private homes, and numerous group shows. One of 21 female artists showcased in SOFA EXPO 2019’s “Women’s Rights Anniversaries,” Nancy Pirri exhibited My Choice, representing the Roe v Wade decision affirming women’s constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy; the ceramic work, which can be seen above, was commissioned and chosen by Inspired Interiors, a Chicago design firm.
Currently a resident of Chicago, Illinois, where she maintains her studio, Nancy Pirro was born in Brooklyn, New York.
Inspired Interiors at SOFA EXPO 2019
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