Lisa Nocentini

..I am interested in the processes of growing and changing, and how connections with other people influence our growth. My work attempts to investigate our relationship with our own body form and how we come to terms with its transformations through time...The hard fired clay form is an attempt to create a real physical definition of the abstract inner image...

...The figures I make tend to convey a certain ambiguity between the concepts of childhood and maturity, gracefulness and obesity and also about the issue: “to show or not to show”: the need to expose but also fear that forces one to hide away and be preserved from the viewer’s cruel gaze.

The need to expose is the need to communicate inner landscapes, light and soft coloured emotions that inhabit our souls through the juxtaposition of varied elements, elements that sometimes seem to have no obvious connection. Thanks to their being brought together, these images resonate and create a visual dialogue…

...I like to think of my work as 3-dimensional illustrations of stories that each viewer can make up on his or her own: a patchwork story or a 3-D puzzle to be completed by the viewer. In this sense I still consider my work utilitarian...

... In traditional folk tales, animals have magical qualities, they talk and are often the driving force of the story. Animal figures also appear as metaphors of particular traits of human character. In folk art, which is a strong visual reference for my work, often the lines between man and animal are lines of fusion...nothing has a single invariable shape...

Lisa Nocentini was born in Florence, Italy,  in 1955.

She studied at the Istituto Statale d’Arte di Firenze where she obtained a Diploma in Applied Art and later she studied painting and ceramics at the Ecole des Beaux Arts of Aix-en Provence, France, and at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Florence.

During her training as a ceramicist she participated in workshops held by potters David Leach, John Colbeck, Sebastian Blackie, Ruth Ann Tudball, Takeshi Yasuda, Giovanni Cimatti, Walter Keeler, Ian Gregory.

From 1978 to 1981 she apprenticed with italian ceramicist Bruno Gambone and at the end of 1981 she set up her own studio in Florence and began producing functional stoneware pottery that she sold to shops and galleries in Italy, Europe and the U.S.A.

Starting from 1993 her work began to evolve towards sculptural ceramics.

As a potter and then as a sculptor, she has participated in exhibitions and competitions throughout Italy, in Germany, Switzerland, Greece and in the U.S.A.

Her pieces can be found in important private collections in Italy and in other countries  (M. Theodorakis, Athens, Greece; Jane Fortune and Bob Hesse, Indianapolis, USA; Mary Beckinsale and Jules Maidoff, Firenze; Cinzia TH Torrini, Roma; Raffaello Monteverde, Roma; Alessandra Borsetti Venier;  etc.)

She collaborates regularly with  important specialized galleries such as Galleria Zerotre, Orvieto, Galleria Gulliver, Marciana Marina (LI), Galleria Techne Contemporanea, Montelupo Fiorentino (Florence), Galleria L’Albero Celeste, S. Gimignano (SI), La Barbagianna, una casa per l’arte contemporanea, Pontassieve (Florence), Galleria Il Fischio, Torino, Galleria Amphisbaena, Modena, Galleria Archivio, Mantova, Galleria Davico, Torino.