Artist Statement

How is one transported through a memory? Within the process of remembering, we oscillate between past and present. The space between, through that rumination, creates variance and distortion within the memory itself. Our understanding of the past changes every time we recall it—there is an inherent destruction and fragmentation that occurs through remembering. I am curious about how one reconciles the space between past and present, life and death, permanence and impermanence. This mediation is a result of a search for meaning, an action that is meant to make sense of the past. I construct work that draws upon autobiographical references in order to explore objects and how they connect us, through memory, to the past.

Artist Biography

Gina Pisto (she/her) is an artist currently living in Kansas City, Missouri. She completed her Masters of Fine Arts in Ceramics at Ohio University in 2022 and has exhibited her work nationally in various group and solo exhibitions. She has been awarded recognition from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) and the Michigan Ceramic Art Association (MCAA). Pisto most recently exhibited her work in BLACK OUT BLACK, in Kansas City, MO, Off the Cob, in Kansas City, MO, and Alchemy & Artistry, in Frankfort, MI. Pisto is an adjunct professor of ceramics at Metropolitan Community College-Longview in Lee’s Summit, MO. In 2022, she completed a two-year residency at Belger Crane Yard Studios, where she now maintains a studio and periodically teaches community classes. Pisto’s work explores the transportive potential of objects as they relate to notions of memory and collecting.