I am investigating notions of preservation, time, mortality, and memory through the iconography of the flower. Memories are inherently unreliable and shift each time they are recalled. Despite our best efforts, they will inevitably break down and disintegrate over time. The flower becomes the symbol for the fragility of ourselves—our bodies, our minds. In this work the flowers existence is multiple: in its most ideal form, as it has wilted, and methodically encapsulated through porcelain or wax and plastic. The multiplicity of memories, our best attempts at preserving them, and their predictable collapse are all present throughout this work. Time becomes both passive and active—unrelenting in its affect on the organic material and perpetually suspended in each sculpted bloom.

Gina Pisto is a ceramic artist currently pursuing her Master's of Fine Arts in Ceramics at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. She completed a post-baccalaureate in ceramics at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2018 and received her Bachelor's of Fine Arts in Studio Art with an emphasis in ceramics from Grand Valley State University in 2016. She works primarily with clay, flowers, wax, plastic, and resin, and her current work explores loss, memory, mourning, and permanence.