Being a potter is the giving and receiving of thanks. My pottery is about food presentation. It is made to bring foods to light. While function is a primary consideration, mood is of greater importance. I try to create atmosphere with my tableware. Considerations about mood or atmosphere contribute to the overall look and feel of my pieces. Ideas come easily, but meaning seems to come iimage of silvien layers over decades of time. It is meaning that gives strength to good ideas. I hope that my ideas have grown with my skills.

I am concerned with ritual as well. Rituals uncover the basic values, aims and attitudes of a people. I am half Sicilian and half Cajun, whose cultures are wrought with superstitions. Throw in a Catholic upbringing and I have rituals dancing all about me. Cooking has given me an avenue to explore and create my personal rituals. I began to cook when I was a teenager, and it has been a strong, sustaining interest in my life.

Currently I am interested in the notions of hospitality. Hospitality, which means to give and to receive. I view pottery as a vehicle of hospitality, because a pot gives and receives simultaneously; it is both host and guest.

I think about things like:

Food- which foods are chosen from those available; how they are prepared; with whom, and when they are eaten; and how much time is allotted to cooking and eating. Food is one of the means by which society creates itself, and acts out its aims and functions.

How do I, as a maker of tableware, direct the theater of dining? This is where I believe I have some ability to give something to society. Here I become the host and the guest. By thinking about foods as identity, as our physical selves, as a way of thought, as sex, as power, as friendship, as a medium of magic and witchcraft, as our time controller, I see food as the root culture: that which gives meaning to our lives.

I hope my ideas about dining will shape and dramatize the rituals surrounding food. I want my tableware to embody the unspoken assumptions of my heritage and culture.


-- Silive Granatelli, 2007

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Resume

Education

1971   BFA, Kansas City Art Institute
1975   MFA, Montana State University


Professional Experience

1982-present   Studio Potter, Floyd, VA
1987-99          Adjunct Professor Instructor, Virginia Tech., Blacksburg, VA
1982-83          Instructor of Ceramics & Director of Ceramics Apprenticeship Program, Berea College,                       Berea, KY
1979-82          Resident Potter, Berea College, Berea, KY
1976-79          Studio Potter, Athens, GA
1975               Instructor of Ceramics, Extension Program, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL
1975               Instructor of Ceramics, Extension Program, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL


Grants

1995   Virginia Museum Fellowship


Collections

In the Collections of...
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, MN
Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred University, Alfred, NY
Art Museum of Western Virginia, Roanoke, VA


Workshops

2012   Workshop with Silvie Granatelli and Bill Van Guilder, Charlotte, NC                                   2011   Women Working with Clay Symposium, Hollins University, Roanoke, VA                   2008   City of Orlando Families, Parks, and Recreation Department
2008   Red Lodge Clay Center Red Lodge, MT
2007   North Country Studio Workshop, Bennington College, Bennington, VT
2007   Shakerag Workshop, Sewanee, TN
2007   Arrowmont School for Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
2007   La Meridiana, Certaldo, Italy
2006   Jacksonville Center for the Arts, w/ Ellen Shankin, Floyd, VA
2006   MudFire Pottery Center, Atlanta, GA
2006   Pocosin Arts, Columbia, NC
2006   "Pottery and the Foods of France", Cordes sur Ciel, France
2006   Mudfire Clayworks and Pottery Center, Decatur, GA
2005   Hambage Center, GA
2005   Julie Olson Workshop, Cary, NC
2005   Presenter at NCECA Conference, Baltimore, MD
2005   "The Italian Table" Workshop, La Meridiaba, Italy
2004   Lee Art Center, Arlington, VA
2004   Watershed Workshop, Conference on the Business of Crafts
2004   Old Church Cultural Center, Demerest, NJ
2004   Anderson Ranch, Snowmass, CO
2004   Carolina Clay Workshop, Greensboro, NC
2004   Terra Incognito Workshop, Chicago, IL
2003   Penland School for Crafts, Penland, NC
2003   Worcester Center for Crafts, Worcester, MA
2003   St Louis Community College, St Louis, MO
2002   University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE
2002   Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, MT
2002   Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
2001   Wichita State University, KS
2001   Sertoma Art Center, Raleigh92nd Street Y, New York, NY


Publications

2008   “The Potter’s Life: Deeply Invested,” Ceramics Monthly, June/July/August
2007   “Sharing My Studio,” The Studio Potter, Winter 2007-08
2007   NCECA Demonstration Artist Series DVD
2007   Lark Books: Ceramic Surface Design, Maureen E. Mills.
2007   Lark Books: The Masters: Porcelain. Richard Burkett
2007   Lark Books: 500 Animals in Clay
2006   The Reach of 16 Hands”, March 2006 Ceramics Monthly
1990   University of Tennessee, Clay Times, December, Excerpts from a workshop


Exhibitions

2011   "Many Paths, A Legacy of Karen Karnes" Penland Gallery, Penland, NC                         2011   "Recent Work: 16 Hands" AKAR, Iowa City, IA                                                                 2011   "American Pottery Festival"  Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN                                2011  "Minnesota Pottery Tour"  St. Crox, MN                                                                                 2010  "Soda Chicks & Chet"  Bakersville, NC                                                                           2010   "Hand in Hand:  Celebrating Community in Clay"  Clay Art Center, Chester, NY                2010   "American Pottery Festival"  Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, MN                                2010   "Minnesota Pottery Tour"  St. Croix, MN                                                                        2009   “The Animal Within” Brenau University, Gainesville GA
2009   “Interpreting Nature in Porcelain” Nature Art Gallery, Raleigh NC
2009   "Ron Myers' 75th Birthday Exhibition"  Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge, MT                2009   "Pottery Not Plastic"  Ferrin Gallery, Pittsfield, MA                                                         2009   “Ceramic Art of the Artist’s Choice” The Clay Art Center of The Hamptons, Sag Harbor NY
2009   “Infinite Teapot” Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus Ohio
2008   “Shared Journeys” American Art in China, NCECA
2008   “Just Desserts” The Clay Studio, Philadelphia PA
2008   “Members of 16 Hands,” Carbondale Clay Center, Carbondale CO
2008   “16 Hands,” Red Lodge Clay Center, Red Lodge MT
2007   “Botanical” Santa Fe Clay, Santa FE NM
2007   “Eat With Your Eyes” Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis MN
2007   “Table Tops”, Long Beach Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Love Ladies, NJ
2007   “Plates and Platters: Salon Style”, Harrison Gallery, Philadelphia PA
2007   “Dinnerworks”, Louisville Visual Art Association, Louisville, KY
2006   “Style and Function”, Blue Spiral, Asheville, NC
2006   “Craft: Tradition and Use”, SECCA, Winston-Salem, NC
2006   “Potluck”, Penland Design Gallery, Burnsville, NC
2007   “Minnesota Pottery Tour, St. Croix Valley, MN
2007   “From the Earth”, University of Kentucky Museum of Art, Lexington, KY
2007   “Ladies in White”, NCECA Exhibition, Louisville, KY
2006   “100 Tea Pots” , The Signature Shop & Gallery, Atlanta GA
2006   Two person show with Ron Myers, Cedar Creek Gallery, Creedmore, NC
2005   Watkins Gallery, Northampton, MA. "Soup to Nuts"
2005   John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan WI. "Fill it to the Rim"
2005   Red Star Studios, Kansas City, MO. Potters of the Southern Mountains"
2005   Blue Spiral 1, Asheville, NC. "Hot/Ice"
2005   Setting the Table, Lill Street Gallery, Chicago, IL
2004   Solo Show, Terra Incognito, Chicago, IL
2004   Preserve Penland Show, Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, NC
2001   American Pottery Festival, Northern Clay Cent
2001   Strictly Functional, Market House Craft Center, PA
2000   Couplets: Duality in Clay, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
2000   William King Regional Arts Center, "Community in Clay: Four Floyd County Potters."
2000   Instructors' Exhibition, Greenwich House Pottery, New York