Paula Metallo

My work has always taken inspiration from the wish to decipher and "fix" complicated situations by searching for the underlying symmetry, harmony, and natural beauty in things. It was inevitable that environmental issues, having now become the most pressing of situations for all life on the planet, would eek their way into my research. I have lived around geologists and geology for most of my life. I am an American artist living in Italy. In 1993 I co-founded a geological observatory that has become, over the years, an international center for teaching and research. I teach visual perception to geology students.
I have been experimenting with the plastic material called Shrinky Dink for a few years now. It is a versatile material that after being put into the oven it shrinks, thickens and hardens.
I started out making mock thin sections like those scientists utilize for microscopic analysis. Then collaged the thin section images to other objects like the tree pies and the copper sieves.
The Mimbres Bowls; Man Made Holes series came about when I read about the Mimbres culture, which was centered near the southwest region of New Mexico. Their pottery was produced between 1000-1150 A.D.
A hole punctured in the center indicates...

EDUCATION
1978 Studies towards M.F.A., Accademia delle Belle Arti , Urbino, Italy
1975 B.F.A., Painting, SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, New York
1970 A.A., Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, New York

PAULA METALLO
born Syracuse, New York
EXHIBITIONS
2011 Waiting For The next One, Gibellina Sicily, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva
2010 Devoted Attention, Gallery Il Gioco, Macerata Italy
2010 Impact Art, Reiskrater-Museum Nördlingen, Germany
2009 (UN)Measuring The World, Humboldt Museum of Natural History, Berlin
2009 25thinternational Biennial of humour in Art, Tolentino
2008 No Place Lke Home, Teatro G. Mestico, Apiro
2007 Rimanere Colpiti, (Awestruck) Penrose Conference on climate and impacts, Ancona, Italy
2007 Rorschach Italians, Museo Italo Americano, San Francisco
2006 Drunkards Path, Paula and Tim Metallo, 19 & Union gallery, Oakland, Ca.
2005 Cover, fuorizona artecontemporanea, Macerata Italy
2004 ABC Treehouse Gallery, Amsterdam
2003 American Holidays, solo show, Sesto Senso Gallery, Bologna
2002 Tra Cielo e Terra, group show, Pio Monti, Roma
2000 Luc Tuais, two artists show, Galleria Mari e Monti, Macerata
2000 Il Diluvio Universale, Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali, Trento
1996 Selezione Premio Trevi Flash Art, Galleria Bianca Pilat, Milano
1993 New Langton Arts, The Swig Watkins Award, San Francisco