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Maria G. Pisano

Memory Press

www.mariagpisano.com
mgpstudio252@gmail.com


BIOGRAPHY

Maria G. Pisano is a book artist, curator and educator. Her oeuvre, encompassing prints, handmade paper and artists' books, are published under the Memory Press imprint. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, in museums and galleries. Her book Hècatombe 9-11 and the three accompanying prints from the deluxe edition - Night Before the Day, Skeletal Remains and Waiting Urns, have been selected by The National September 11 Memorial Museum and the book is on permanent exhibit. In April 2016 she delivered the illustrated lecture Hidden Voice of Making Books at the Library of Congress.

Memory Press works are represented in private and public collections including the Library of Congress, AAPG Library –Smithsonian Institution, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Carnegie Mellon University, Columbia University, Lafayette College, MoMa, New York Public Library, Swarthmore College, University of Delaware, Virginia Commonwealth University, Wesleyan University, Whitney Museum of Art, and many more.

She exhibits widely and in 2017 her work can be seen in the solo show Reflections, at the Italian Education and Cultural Center for the Arts at Casa Colombo In Jersey City, NJ. Group shows in 2017: NYU Casa Italiana- Lavori su Carta, Therese Maloney Art Gallery in Morristown NJ, The Sculpted Book, Color Me – Carnegie Mellon Univ., PA, Macro to Micro – Archivio Libri D’Artista – Milan, Italy and more.

Over the years she has curated a number of exhibits, the most recent “Book as Witness: The Artist’s Response” at the Center for Book Arts in NY. Ms. Pisano is a contributor to many book arts publications, and has delivered lectures for the CBAA, ARLIS and other conferences. 

Ms. Pisano, an adjunct professor, teaches papermaking, printing, book arts and conservation. Additionally she continuously gives workshops nationally and internationally, such as The Center for Book Arts in New York, Morgan Conservatory, Cleveland, OH, Professione Libro in Italy, at Bridwell Library, TX in 2018, other libraries and at her studio.


STATEMENT

Visual and structural patterns found in architecture, within nature and one's culture, are recurring themes in my work. We build structures to protect that which is within, to hide, conceal and transform.

I assemble objects, memories, and realities in a physical, concrete and tactile object called a book, to resonate and create the link between the constant personal journey as an artist and as a traveler. This is not to record a linear destination, but a search that evokes the gathering of layers of experiences. The resulting landscape is one of continual flux where the colors, the patterns, the wear and tear, all speak of time, memory and history.

In working with artist's books, I orchestrate a theme, incorporating both the visual and structural elements. Each book contains its own individual form, creating patterns that speak of personal and communal identities, making a link between form and meaning, viewer and artist, past and present, memories and dreams, and the multiple polarities that fuse, enact and display multiple selves. Integral in all this is expressive language.

These artifacts are interwoven with personal experiences and memories, evoking a sympathetic echo, shadows of reminiscence in unpredictable moments and sharing a figurative space that is no longer divided. The experiences are incorporated in our memory palace to revisit it, in our visual, symbolic and experiential memory. 


ARTIST'S WORK

Book Descriptions

Caudex Folium, 2016




Viva Voce-libretti, 2011



Viva Voce-Love Poems, 2011


Colors of Memory, 2014




Breathe, 2010


Tunnel Vision, 2004



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