images from the Gallery's collection

MAG Homepage

Main menu:

Site search

Categories

Archive

RSS Feeds RSS Feed

Meet the Artist: Mitchell Messina

“The concept that tools have marked stages in human development from primitive existence to current levels of technology continues to drive the force behind my ceramic and mixed media sculpture.”
Mitchell Messina Inspired by Christian Boltanski
Title: Illumination (left)
Materials: Clay and Mixed Media
Inspired by Christian Boltanski, Monument (right)

Bio:
Born in San Jose California in 1961, I began my journey with clay as a high school student in Beaverton, Oregon. I enrolled at Portland State University in Oregon and pursued a degree in ceramic arts. After receiving my B.S. degree in 1984, I moved to Philadelphia to start my MFA Degree at Tyler School of Art. That same year, while in Philadelphia, I developed an interest in the pre-industrial tools collected and preserved by Henry Mercer, an early 1900’s artisan and archeologist in Doylestown, PA. The concept that tools have marked stages in human development from primitive existence to current levels of technology continues to drive the force behind my ceramic and mixed media sculpture. After graduating in 1986, I taught at numerous colleges before moving to Rochester in 1990. Currently, I am in my 22nd year as the head of the Ceramics and Sculpture Departments at Nazareth College. My artwork has been exhibited in many group and one-person shows, including solo exhibitions.

Inspiration:
“I was immediately inspired by the work, Monument, created by Christian Boltanski for its raw power and dialectic conversation between human memory and mankind’s place in a post industrial existence.”

See this work, presented nearby the piece that inspired it. All works created for Art Reflected: The Inspiration of 100 Years will be available for sale in the Gallery Store. Each of the artists will donate 1/2 of the proceeds of the sale to the Gallery Council.

Write a comment