Sara Catapano

Sara Catapano employs the use of forms, textures, and compositions found in nature as design elements in her ceramic sculptures to juxtapose against architectural components that exist in materials reminiscent of industry. She fuses an abstracted reference to plants, bacteria, and geological systems with patterns of growth, decay, degradation, erosion, and gestation to create a biomorphic ingredient that both confronts and reacts to the minimal and formalistic component. Skeletonizing the influence of man made structures and materials in relation to natural growth patterns. Her ambiguous forms discuss the complexities of organic life within the imagined environment they are created for; in some cases, Catapano begins with a solid block of clay, carving into and through the material, exposing and leaving only the most essential tendrils for support and structure. Other works bring to life an imagined hybrid of micro/macro organisms with geological and biological flora and fauna from land and sea. Referencing the anatomical and parasitic residents of our natural world as a metaphor for the thoughts and feelings of the human condition, Catapano's bio-expressive forms are, in some ways, reactions and responses to social and personal experiences.

Catapano was born in St. Louis Missouri. She attended UNC - Wilmington for two years before transferring to UNC - Charlotte where she graduated with a BFA in Fine Art, Ceramics in 2012. She received her MFA in Ceramics from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2018. She currently lives and works in Helena Montana.

View images from Sara's 2018 exhibit Ephemeral.