Although New York City based sculptor Elisa D’Arrigo always wanted to be a potter, her first introduction to working with clay as a medium was during her college years at the State University at New Paltz, New York. She was immediately drawn to the potential of clay to create spontaneous, eccentric forms, not just symmetrical objects on a wheel. After graduating, D’Arrigo spent the next seven years hand-building ceramics in New York, inspired by artists such as Lynda Benglis, Eva Hesse, and Claes Oldenburg. In 1981, D’Arrigo began a 30-year hiatus from ceramics, turning her attention to drawing and sculpting with materials such as rope, wire, and fabrics, before returning to clay in 2010. Her recent work is inspired by vessels and vases, and marked by D’Arrigo’s attention to surface details, textures, and glazes.
Over the years, D’Arrigo participated in many group and individual exhibitions at venues such as the Elizabeth Harris Gallery in New York, Rhode Island College, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, The Center for Contemporary Art in New Jersey, Asheville Art Museum, Lehman College Art Gallery, and The Drawing Center in New York. Grants and residencies include Fellowships from the Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Italy, NYFA Printmaking/Drawing/Artists’ Books, MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Ariana Foundation for the Arts. D’Arrigo currently lives and works in New York City.
