Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Studio Tour - Art at Work Tacoma

'entangled'       Barbara De Pirro
crocheted fiber, acrylic & steel
Exhibiting my interior sculptures, fossilized forms unearthed and unleashed…

November 6 & 7 (Sat. & Sun)
10-4 PM

Location: Court C Studios, 705 Opera Alley (Court C), Tacoma
(studio # 26)

For a map and information about all of the artists, www.ArtAtWorkTacoma.com

'fractured'       Barbara De Pirro
acrylic, styrene & steel

Monday, November 1, 2010

'outsider/insider' - CoCA Seattle


'vine plastica' detail     Barbara De Pirro
(crocheted plastic bags, temporary installation, over 500 tan bags)

November 4 - 30, 2010

CoCA Pioneer Square
310 First Ave. S. Seattle

The former Elliot Bay Bookstore is transformed into an environment of outdoor artworks from the 2010 exhibitions. Outdoor Sculptures from Carkeek Park and Cougar Mountain come indoors to play. http://www.cocaseattle.org/

'vine plastica' detail     Barbara De Pirro
(crocheted plastic bags, temporary installation, over 500 tan bags)

For a glimpse of the outdoor installations of this work:
http://www.depirro.com/installation.html
http://www.depirro.com/press.html
http://depirro.blogspot.com/2010/06/heaven-and-earth-ii.html
http://depirro.blogspot.com/2010/07/overgrowth-and-understory.html

Funding for this project was made possible in part by Artist Trust Grants for Artist Projects (GAP).


Monday, October 18, 2010

'vortex plastica' - Spaceworks Tacoma

'vortex plastica'       Barbara De Pirro

Pulled from a vast resource of materials this sculptural installation was created using ‘hundreds’ of reclaimed plastic bags, bottles and caps,
tirelessly crocheted, woven, wired and tied
to form a series of metaphorical vortexes.

'vortex plastica'      Barbara De Pirro
‘The inspiration behind the piece is a dire one:
it has the power to attract, delight, surprise and repel (when it is discovered what the material is), in short order. No wonder – like a figment from a nightmare, vortex plastica was inspired by the North Pacific Gyre, which carries an enormous and deadly “garbage patch” of plastics and refuse that is perpetually locked in its ocean currents.

The gyre’s huge, floating island of man-made debris, mostly plastics, is an environmental catastrophe for marine and bird
as well as human life.’*

On view at
Spaceworks Tacoma
912 Broadway
(directly across from the Pantages Theatre)

Through February 2011, all hours


Spaceworks Tacoma is a joint initiative of the City of Tacoma, Shunpike, and Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce

Funding for this project was made possible in part by Spaceworks Tacoma and Artist Trust Grants for Artist Projects (GAP).

Special thanks to
 Antonia Xavie De Pirro & Phil Griffen for your assistance
* Lisa Kinoshita - Arts Writer, Spaceworks Tacoma

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Matzke Gallery and Sculpture Park

'flow plastica' detail       Barbara De Pirro
(crocheted plastic packaging temporarily inset into nature
over 200 balls, over 200 bags)

'vine plastica' detail    Barbara De Pirro
(crocheted plastic bags temporarily inset into nature
over 100 ft. long, over 2000 tan bags inside & out)

'Camano Honors Earth'
Environmental Art Exhibition and Event
Exploring our relationship with Nature

Sept. 11 - Oct. 10, 2010
Outdoor Sculptures installed through August 2011

Matzke Fine Art Gallery and Sculpture Park
2345 Blanche Way, Camano Island, WA
360-387-2759

50 Participating Artists: Courteney Bomgardner, Barbara De Pirro, Jack Gunter, Aaron Haba, Steven Heino, Ella Hope, R. Allen Jensen, James Lapp, Karla Matzke, Colin Reedy, Patricia Resseguie, Steve Stushek, Susan Cohen Thompson, Els VandeEnde, Veruska Vagen, Ruth Westra, Hiroshi Yamano
Sponsored by: Camano Action for a Rural Environment

'root plastica' detail       Barbara De Pirro
(crocheted plastic bags temporarily inset into nature, over 500 tan bags)

In the gallery:
'unearth I'
plastic fiber, acrylic & steel
 
 'unearth II'
plastic fiber, acrylic & steel

 For more information & images:
http://www.depirro.com

Funding for this project was made possible in part by Artist Trust Grants for Artist Projects (GAP).

Saturday, July 10, 2010

'sprout plastica' - CoCA Seattle

'sprout plastica'     Barbara De Pirro
(plastic fiber, petals, twigs & steel)

Unassumingly,
from beneath the rubble,
what appears to be….a barren landscape,
a seed trembles on the wind,
landing lightly on the moist surface.
Encouraged and nourished by rain,
its hard shell releases, attaching roots,
tenderly a shoot forms,
slowly reaching upwards
towards the radiant sky.
At first a single sprout
standing alone
and then another,
multiplying into a series of spires,
new life begins again.


'sprout plastica'       Barbara De Pirro
(plastic fiber, petals, twigs & steel)
'sprout plastica' detail      Barbara De Pirro
(plastic fiber, petals, twigs & steel)
'overgrowth & understory'
Sculpture Exhibit
Cougar Mountain Wildlands Park

July 10 - October 2, 2010

Curated by David Frances, CoCA Seattle

In a first-time collaboration with King County Parks, the Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) will present “Overgrowth & Understory” an exhibition of temporary, outdoor sculptures on Cougar Mountain Regional Wildlands Park (Anti-Aircraft Peak & Sky Country Trailheads), from July 10 – October 2, 2010. The site-specific artwork addresses themes of art, nature, and land-use history.
Part of the experience involves short walks of 15 -20 minutes,
or longer hikes of up to 4 hours to connect the show in its entirety.

Fifteen artists from around the region will participate, coming from Vancouver BC, Camano Island, Shelton, Bellingham, Fife, and Oakland CA, as well as locally from Sammamish, Preston, and the Seattle area. Maps can be downloaded for free at CoCA’s website beginning July 10.
A catalog of this year’s exhibit will be released in August. 

ARTISTS: Barbara De Pirro, Shannon Durbin, Miguel Edwards, Kristine Eudey, David Francis, Ray Freeman III, Aaron Haba, Magdalena Hill, David Kitts, Anette Lusher, Meadow Starts with ‘P’ (group), Sarah Savidge, Suzanne Tidwell, Catherine Thompson, Shirley Wiebe.


For more information & images:
http://www.depirro.com/installation.html

Funding for this project was made possible in part by Artist Trust Grants for Artist Projects (GAP).

Special thanks to Antonia Xavie De Pirro for her assistance!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Art of the Garden

'sprig'      Barbara De Pirro

The Arts Council of Snohomish County presents art of the Garden. Over fifty artists will showcase their work as part of this prolific offering of garden art, and art to bring the garden into the home.

July 8 - August 19

Arts Council of Snohomish County
1507 Wall St.
Everett, WA
(425)257-8380


Friday, June 25, 2010

'roots & vines: plastica' - CoCA Seattle

'roots & vines: plastica'      Barbara De Pirro
(plastic fiber, cable & steel)

A mysterious unexpected form,
distant imagery,
familiar in an intimate way.
A web of fiber,
a tangle of forest vine,
exposed and twisted roots,
fibrous tendrils clinging to the surface,
enveloping the decaying wood,
humbly feeding off the unforgotten.
Natures cycle of decay and rebirth,
regeneration, renewal….life.

'roots & vines: plastica' details           Barbara De Pirro
(plastic fiber, cable & steel)

'heaven and earth II'
Carkeek Park
Seattle, WA

June 26 – September 26, 2010

In collaboration with the Carkeek Park Advisory Council, the Associated Recreational Council and Seattle Parks and Recreation, CoCA presents the second annual exhibition of temporary, outdoor sculpture in Carkeek Park, organized around themes of art, nature and sustainability.

ARTISTS: Big Camera Group, Barbara DePirro, Miguel Edwards, Julie Fisco, Anette Lusher, Ingrid Lahti, Julie Lindell, Piper O'Neill, Eden Rivers, Sylwia Tur, Ken Turner, and Johnny Wooten.

Curated by David Francis, CoCA Seattle


Funding for this project was made possible in part by CoCA Seattle and Artist Trust Grants for Artist Projects (GAP).

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

'fungo plastica' - Port Angeles Fine Art Center

'fungo plastica'      Barbara De Pirro
(plastic fiber & steel)

'Petroleum-based nature blossoms in a grand old tree in the form of Barbara De Pirro’s  Fungo Plastica. Made from recycled plastic grocery bags, stretched into beige yarns then crocheted into spheres of many sizes, ranging from a marble to a softball, they are arranged in cloned progressions and clusters like a parasitic invading life form, nestled into cavities and fissures in the gnarled and ruptured bark. '  *

Art Outside IX
Webster’s Woods Art Park
at
Port Angeles Fine Arts Center
1203 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Port Angeles, WA
(360) 457-3532

Curated by Jake Senuik *

Art Outside is the program that has brought a singular open-air art collection to the former Webster Estate. The total number of artworks that have accumulated in Webster’s Woods Art Park since the inaugural 2000 season has crested at more than one hundred and twenty-five. While over the years many pieces have been returned to their creators or succumbed to the elements, the net presence of art in the park has grown steadily through gift,
entrenchment and extended loan.

One of the hallmarks of Art Outside has always been to strive for a balance between sculptural objects and site interventions, with both approaches highly sensitive to the natural environment. The five and a half acres of second-growth forest has been a friendly host to artists’ imaginations.

For more information & images:
http://www.depirro.com/installation.html

Funding for this project was made possible in part by Port Angeles Fine Art Center.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Museum of Northwest Art

'strand'      Barbara De Pirro

18th ANNUAL ART AUCTION
June 19, 2010
5-10 PM

Over 300 Donated Works of Art!

Join us for the Museum's largest annual fundraiser.....
The perfect event for both seasoned
and novice art Collectors!!!

Public Preview Hours: Friday, June 18, noon to 5 pm and Saturday, June 19, 11 am to 3 pm. Preview is free and open to the public.

121 South First Street La Conner, WA
Tickets may be purchased by calling: 360.466.4446, ext. 109

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

'looped'

'looped'      Barbara De Pirro
(plastic fiber, acrylic & steel)

This sculpture along with four paintings will be a part of the Spring
exhibit, overlapping with the Camano studio tour.

May 1-June 5

Matzke Gallery & Sculpture Park 
2345 Blanche Way
Camano Island, WA

360-387-1239 or 360-387-2759

for more information about the Camano Studio Tour

Thursday, April 8, 2010

in the studio: 'fractured'

'fractured' detail    Barbara De Pirro
'fractured'       Barbara De Pirro
(fiber, marble dust, pigment, acrylic polymer, styrene & steel)

What will future generations find when they unearth our civilization?



Sunday, March 14, 2010

in the studio: 'fragments'

'fragments'      Barbara De Pirro

Printmaking and collage are two techniques used in my current paintings. No found papers are used. I hand paint, block print, collograph & monotype textures & patterns onto the surface of both opaque and translucent papers, cutting and embedding imagery into multiple, transparent layers of acrylic. Achieving an effect very much like wax encaustic or fused glass.
Looking into my paintings is much like peering into a pool of water.

'fragments' detail      Barbara De Pirro

Monday, February 22, 2010

'bloom' - Museum of Glass

'bloom'   Barbara De Pirro

a space to float, to daydream
an umbrella of whimsy
radiating light & a flush of color
pollinating creativity and ingenuity
awakening a childlike sense
of wonder, awareness
and awe

Museum of Glass
Art Studio
Tacoma, WA

This sculptural installation and its companion window pieces are created using recycled & re-imagined plastics.

For more information & images:
http://www.depirro.com/installation.html

Thursday, January 7, 2010

H'Arts Benefit Auction


'balance'          Barbara De Pirro
The H’Arts “Helping the Arts” Benefit Auction is the Arts Council of Snohomish County’s primary fundraiser, providing nearly a third of the annual operating budget. H’Arts proceeds are crucial to the Arts Council’s ability to continue its mission of celebrating and promoting the arts for the enhancement of community life.

This premier Snohomish County art auction delivers an unforgettable evening of art, artists and animated auctioneering. More than 400 works of art donated by new artists and familiar favorites, as well as, a variety of art experiences, services and products will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Artwork includes paintings, sculptures, prints, photography, mixed media pieces, Japanese tansu design furniture, glass, pottery, jewelry and wearable art by noted regional artists.

February 27,  5-10 PM 

Location:
Everett Events Center, 2000 Hewitt Avenue (corner of Hewitt & Broadway)

For more info: 425-257-8380, http://www.artscouncilofsnoco.org/events/harts.html