Christina Lucia Giuffrida

Christina is a visual artist specializing in sculptural installations that incorporate hand built Southern Ice porcelain ceramics, metal and glass.

Christina was offered the chance to undertake a six-month Artist in Residence Program with practicing ceramists Magda Dejose and Andrew Kennedy at Sculpture Space NYC. Sculpture Space is unique in that it provides workspaces within a studio, creating a collective environment in which artists can actively experiment with ceramics. This ethos was perfectly suited to Christina’s experimental methodology.

The residency enabled Christina to extend her knowledge of hand building with porcelain, and develop her material repertoire by working with clays unique to the USA and South America. She also had the opportunity to expand on her surface techniques, especially ceramic glazing, by experimenting with her own recipes in the studio’s fully equipped glaze laboratory.

During the residency Christina’s aesthetic evolved radically, as she began to introduce colour into her work, and created experimental pieces, such as an amalgamation of a Bas relief and mosaic mounted on stretched silk. She was exposed to a variety of new artistic practices and techniques, and had the chance to study mid-range glaze technology with Chris Neil, learning about the chemical composition, as well as how to amend her own glazes.

As an Artist in Residence at Sculpture Space, Christina joined a community of practicing artists, designers and industry professionals, all of whom were generous with their time and expertise. The development of Christina’s professional networks as well as her artistic practice culminated in the opening night of her new body of work, titled ‘Querencia’, and was a highlight of her residency, as she explained in her final report.

"It was a positive and strong turn out from both the studio and the public. I was able to engage with many viewers and hear their response to the work. The lead up to the opening was incredibly pressurised and having to organise an opening in a foreign city was extremely challenging. Yet the end result was incredibly satisfying and certainly a career milestone; to have a solo presentation of work in New York City."

Following her residency at Sculpture Space, Christina was offered a position working for the ceramic artist Beth Katleman at her Brooklyn studio. She also took up a role as ceramic technician at the Brickhouse Ceramic Centre in Long Island City. In April 2016, she was awarded an Academy Scholarship to undertake a Master of Fine Arts (Sculpture) at the New York Academy of Art.