Today we’d like to introduce you to Marina Bosetti.
Hi Marina, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I met “clay” in kindergarten, but we didn’t fall in love until college. I was lucky in that I grew up in a time when art was taught at every grade level. During high school, the art teacher would break the class into intensives where we would spend a month working with one medium to really explore it. It was during one of these in clay that I got to use a potter’s wheel and really get my hands dirty building some awful sculptures that my father kept until his death.
My mother lost her battle with cancer when I was sixteen, and my father dove into a vodka bottle. When I started hanging out in home ec during home room, my home room teacher let me. Suddenly, I had a new family of supportive home ec and art teachers guiding me towards college. That’s how I learned about Pratt. There was no way I had the skills to enter their ceramic program, but I could sew. One of the teachers, a Pratt alumnus, said that once you get in, they won’t give your money back. I applied to the school of fashion design and was accepted. And took all my electives in clay. Two years later, I switched majors and graduated with a BFA in Sculpture. I loved my time in fashion design; the skills I gained in elongated figure drawing and patternmaking have served me well.
I’ve spent time as a sailor, sailing gaff-rigged schooners. That’s how I settled in North Carolina from New York City, I sailed in and never left.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My romance with clay has been smooth; I easily glide from throwing to handbuilding, and frequently do both on the same piece. I excel at what I do, and my work is beautiful. However, I’m uncomfortable promoting myself, and I find social media to be unsatisfying. But I keep trying to find a way.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’d rather be in the studio or maybe the garden; I do love soil and being dirty. I love touching it. Amazingly, clay, a type of soil, can be elastic, molded into almost any shape, then heated and turned into stone. And soil grows food. That is magic. We don’t think of it as that because we’ve been doing it for so long. But when I open the kiln, I feel like a sorceress transported into a Harry Potter film. As I write this, I wish I were in the studio instead.
I’m heavily influenced by the Art Nouveau Movement, and I find its twisting and winding florals lyrical. I have five brothers and sisters, three of whom played and practiced musical instruments. There wasn’t much time for listening in my house unless you were listening to scales. I like to think of the imagery I use as a garden dancing, like sheet music notes. I’m also influenced by what I see daily; my personal work tends to focus on Raleigh’s flora and fauna. But I’m happy to explore nature in whatever neck of the woods a customer is from.
What matters most to you?
I no longer need to constantly be making like I did when younger, I want bigger projects that I can sink my skills into. I’m currently building 18″ x 8″ x 8″ bricks that I’ll stack to make columns for an entrance way to a garden, or for now, my booth at the Mint’s Potter’s Market in September. Seeing this project finished fills me with excitement and anticipation, while it propels me to work each day.
I have images in my head of sculptural vases that resemble the figure. I made some in a series I called Grounded, not Centered, some years ago, and I’m longing to get back to them.
-I want to turn my birdhouses into lamps and mailboxes.
-Create circular tiles for a garden path.
-Build a clay house.
I’m not done with this medium, but I’m also adjusting to living alone again and fostering dogs.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bosettiarttile.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/bosetti_art_tile
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/BosettiArtTile
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/bosettiarttile
- Other: https://pinterest.com/bosettiarttile
