Cheryl Capezzuti: June 2023
Cheryl Capezzuti is best known in the city as a maker of giant puppets and a producer of interactive community events, but the pandemic led her back to a solitary studio practice: Sculpting. Non-traditional, donated, and discarded items have always been the materials of choice for her work and are most notable in her current series. Her newest work revisits dryer lint as a sculptural medium and includes over one hundred new works using this dust of everyday life to reflect on what it feels like to be human right now. The Heinz Endowments, The Jane Henson Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Sprout Fund, The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and Awesome Pittsburgh have all recognized and funded her work during her 25 years of making art in Pittsburgh. Selections from her studio are always on view at be Galleries in Lawrenceville.
“I create works that remind us of ancient relics, extinct creatures, and past civilizations but on close inspection are deeply connected to what it feels like to be an American right now. Using dryer lint as the medium, the fibers and debris shed from our lives and typically discarded without thought, my sculptures are archeologically layered and open to personal interpretation. Embedded with tell-tale evidence of daily lives such as ticket stubs, papers clips, pet hair and bandages, I hope the work engages the viewer intellectually, emotionally, and playfully. I am interested in producing installations in non-traditional spaces and strive to connect with an audience of people beyond the gallery system by using materials that almost everyone produces and discards. I sculpt works for galleries from the least glamorous of materials, but also exhibit provocative work in laundromats. I hope my work prompts viewers to reflect on the mass amounts of by-product produced by systems of mechanization. I also hope it brings an unexpected aesthetic pleasure to the mundane task of doing laundry. The push/pull between the beautiful everyday-ness of the material and the overwhelming amount of waste humans produce drives my work.”
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Taking up Space at Space Gallery, the TRAF Juried Exhibition, runs June 2-11
AAP New Members Show at the Brew House Association runs June 29-September 9
BE Galleries in Lawrenceville is featuring my work all summer.
Curators, collectors, and fellow artists are invited to visit my studio in Lawrenceville. Connect with me directly to drop by: cheryl@studiocapezzuti.com
In 2021 Cheryl talked to Roland Ramos, the host of ‘Artifications’, who travels the world documenting inner city art scenes. This interview is from when he visited Pittsburgh and includes a nice visit in Cheryl’s studio and a reflection on why she loves Pittsburgh.
