BIO
Delfina Piretti is a visual artist and expressive arts psychotherapist with a studio in San Francisco. Piretti’s studio work incorporates painting, cyanotypes, photography and interactive installations.. Her artwork is informed by inner world explorations via wilderness vision fasts, body/mind healing, Zen Buddhism and going upside down, aka : yoga practice. Delfina was named after her Italian Nonna.
She holds a BA in Liberal Arts with a concentration in Photography from Empire State College, Rochester NY, and an MA in Clinical Psychology and Expressive Arts Therapy from Antioch University West, San Francisco CA. Delfina also studied in Buffalo University’s Visual Studies Workshop., Adult Education classes at UC Berkeley and San Francisco Art Institute, Larry Robinson’s Oakdale Studios, Anderson Ranch Arts Center and California College of the Arts. She taught Expressive Arts Therapy at the California Institute of Integral Studies for ten years.
ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist, I am driven by an unyielding commitment to pushing the boundaries of my own creativity. My art practice ,as well as my psycho-spiritual inner work ,are a testament to my relentless pursuit of artistic development and self discovery.
In the act of painting, I engage intimately with the materiality of pigments, blending them with mediums, sand, marble dust, pine needles, and other earthly elements. This alchemical fusion serves as a conduit for the unconscious to articulate its voice—a bottom-up approach where the intellect serves the wisdom of the body.
Using paint and photographic processes I delve into dreams, water, tidal rhythms, the spiritual essence of nature, and the transformative rituals that mark our passage through life.
The cyanotypes are a collaborative venture with nature, capturing the fluid motion of the waves and the ocean's innate rhythm and expression. Leaping into the waves with paper in hand, I playfully navigate the inherent unpredictability shaped by the interplay of the ever-shifting elements: the sun, the tides, my timing. Amidst the dynamic energy and vibrancy of Northern California's coastline, the resulting beauty is manifested through an interplay of colors and patterns. I call it shadow work: bringing light into the darkness and darkness into the light. The ocean cyanotypes are subtle, inviting the viewer in for closer observation and contact with their own interiority – like a whisper, a trace.
The profound blue tones in these prints evoke the boundless depths of the sea and the mesmerizing expanse of a star-filled night sky, thereby inspiring the title of this most recent series: the Velvet Universe.
CURRICULUM VITA
Twenty years as a visual artist: painting, mixed media & interactive installations; committed to ongoing artistic growth and expression, as well as community art education and public art-making.
SHOWS
2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Artspan Open Studios at 1890 Bryant Street Studios.
2023 Death & Ritual Group Show , Diptych Image Transfers on Wood Panels, UMA Gallery, Oakland, CA
2023 Pyramid Scheme Group Show , Cyanotype on Fabric, Bass and Reiner Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2023 SKY Group Show , Mixed media Photography, Drawing Room Gallery San Francisco, CA
2019 Solo Show of Paintings : Inside Out, San Francisco Zen Center
2017 Busvan Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Group Show & Benefit "Message in a Bottle" Surfrider Foundation
2016 Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland CA. Group Show "Songs for Women Living with War"
2016 Luggage Store Gallery, SinEater Installation, San Francisco, CA. Group Show: "Welcome to the Left Coast"
2015 Mission Artist United Open Studios/Workspace , San Francisco, CA
2014 Artspan Open Studios, Workspace Art Studios and Somart Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014 Verge Center for the Arts Opening Exhibition, Sin Eater Installation Group Show “Champagne”, Sacramento, CA.
2013 Artspan Open Studios. Workspace , San Francisco, CA.
2013 Solo Exhibition/ New Work / Paintings, Zen Center, San Francisco , CA.
2012 Juried Community Art Exhibit,Painting, Sofia University, Palo Alto, CA.
2012 Art Span Open Studios/ Workspace Art Studios and Somart Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2012 Mission Artist United Spring Open Studios Juried Group Show/ Workspace Limited , San Francisco, CA.
2010 Art Span Open Studios/ Workspace Limited Art Studios, San Francisco, CA.
2010 Dream Play Art & Performance Event, Sin Eater Cafe & Dream Repository, San Francisco, CA.
2010 Art Span Open Studios Paintings and Installation: Sin Eater Cafe, Workspace Limited, San Francisco, CA.
2009 Art Span Open Studios , Paintings and Installation: Dream Repository,Workspace Limited, San Francisco, CA.
2005 Art Span Open Studios, Paintings, Workspace Limited, San Francisco, CA.
2006 Art Span Open Studios, Paintings, Workspace Limited, San Francisco, CA.
2007 Art Span Open Studios, Paintings, Workspace Limited, San Francisco, CA.
2008 Art Span Open Studios, Paintings/ Group Show at Workspace Gallery and Somart Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2004Sacred Prostitute Group Show; Springer-Croke Fine Art , San Francisco, CA.
2003 Poetry and Painting /Group Show, New Langton Arts, San Francisco, CA.
2002 Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA. Community Education Student Group Show.
2001 Group Show of Paintings. The Musical Offering Café, Berkeley, CA.
2000 Cab Top Art Ads: Creation and installation of four posters on top of taxi cabs in San Francisco, CA. A project of the SF Art Commission, in collaboration with women of The SAGE Project and public artist Johanna Poethig.
1999 Influence/Confluence Group Show of seven painters. San Francisco Antique and Design Mall Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
1998 Solo Show of Mixed Media Paintings, Bean There Café, San Francisco, CA.
1996 Public Art Project with incarcerated women: Installation of six kiosk posters in downtown San Francisco. A project of the SF Art Commission.
CONFERENCES / PRESENTATIONS
Guest lecturer, San Francisco Art Institute, S.F., CA. June 2013. Course title: Fresco Painting; Lecture and experiential: Painting on the Cave Wall: Origins of the Creative Process.
Artist Residency : Palazzo Rinaldi. Guest artist: Open Air Children’s Art Workshop ( Title: Dream the World into Being), Pollino National Park, Noepoli, Italy, August 2009
Guest lecturer, California College of the Arts (CCA), San Francisco, CA, October 2007. Course title: The Complete Fresco. Lecture title: Painting on the Cave Wall: Origins of the Creative Process.
EDUCATION & TRAINING
M.A., Clinical Psychology, Concentration in Creative Art Therapies, Antioch University, San Francisco, CA, 1982
B.A., Liberal Arts/Photography, SUNY Empire State College and The Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY, 1977
Anderson Art Ranch Painting Workshop : Abstraction, Surface & Meaning/ Leslie Shows 2019.
California College of Art , San Francisco, CA. : Abstract Painting with Patrick Dintino 2017 - 2018.
Study with professional artist Larry Robinson, Oakdale Painting Studios, San Francisco, CA, 1996-present.
SF Art InstituteGlenn Hirsch; Thekla Hammond
Painting Critique with Eugene Rodriguez 2005-2010
AFFILIATIONS
Art Span, San Francisco, CA.
1890 Bryant Street Studios, San Francisco, CA
Mission Artist United, San Francisco