Life & Work with Carla Ciuffo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carla Ciuffo.

Hi Carla, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I can’t remember a time I wasn’t involved in making art. As a toddler, I began ripping up paper to make collage on oaktag, graduating to covering our basement walls with the stuff I made. My teenage obsession with Aubrey Beardsley was intense, and somehow I managed to take double period in art in high school while ditching math. The art never stopped being made, but I wound my way through adulthood living mostly in New York City and working in various jobs – the last in my thirty’s as Creative Manager for the publishing department of the AICPA – not a terribly creative place to be. I left, and worked for myself, owned a few non-art related businesses. Nearly 15 years ago, I moved to Sedona with my (now wife) and then partner Angela and my mom. Mom wasn’t well and ended up in hospice in our home, where she died. We were close and it was a very hard time for me. She was an amateur photographer and when I found her camera I starting taking photos. Angela likes to tease me that it was my “bees and flowers” stage ha. Anyway, that started the new obsession with seriously pursuing a creative path. When I moved to Tennessee 13 years ago, I was a self-taught photographer already deviating from straight photography to digital manipulation.

My series “Thrill” was accepted to the Nashville Arts at the Airport program and five large format pieces hung in Nashville’s International Airport for several months. It was my first exhibit. When I challenged myself to strip all the color and noise (which BTW I still love) away from my imagery, I created the series “Stasis” and my (beloved) Tinney Contemporary, a gallery in Nashville, began repping me. And that was really the beginning. I’ve been creating and selling to collectors and corporate clients around the world since then. My ties in Nashville include photographing some musical icons (Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Buddy Miller, Elton John) that all are part of Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame’s permanent collection. My 2D art has morphed into 3D video art and augmented reality. I love making things move and have completed a few short animated films. As a child growing up on Long Island, my parents took all of us into NY regularly to museums and shows. The Holographic Museum thrilled me – imagine being able to walk into a 3D piece of art. So my art has changed and integrates the things that pique my imagination. After spending so much time creating videos, I was looking to create tangible hand-made things during the last year of lockdown. New work includes silk prints that I’ve hand stitched using gold and silver covered silk vintage embroidery threads. There is always something new to be made…

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Of course not! First, it was taking myself seriously as an artist. I think that’s the hardest thing to do. Next, it was gaining recognition and representation. I had to prove myself. When I first presented my work to Susan Tinney (owner of Tinney Contemporary) she rejected me. The work just wasn’t a fit. When I began my Stasis series – the best email I’ve ever received was from Susan who spied a piece I had posted from the series on social media – and she said “let’s talk” and a relationship that has been prosperous in so many ways began. Even Arts at the Airport rejected the first series I proposed – but I submitted again and was accepted. You need to get used to accepting that there are wins and losses. What I do know is that I can’t stop creating – whether a piece sells or not.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I make stuff. I love creating space in the real world from the things that come out of years of imaginary flotsam that passes through my brain. That there’s room for all of it in real life is just amazing to me. My work from Stasis is I guess the most recognized and the work I’m proudest of. It keeps going. I guess what I’m most proud of is my work as a visiting artist with Harvard’s Disease and Biophysics Group. I’m just going to cut and paste the info about this from my website:

Nano.Stasis Cosmic Garden is a continuation of Carla Ciuffo’s exploration of Stasis and the culmination of her two years odyssey as a visiting artist at Harvard. Blending art with science, Carla’s unique collaboration with Harvard’s Disease and Biophysics Group examined the cosmic world of nanofiber. Using this intriguing medium to bridge the divide between art and science, her endeavor is to show how artists use science to make their fantasies real and palpable; and how science uses the arts in the same way.

Carla’s work was sparked by Harvard’s Tarr Family Professor of Bioengineering and Applied Physics, Kit Parker and his invention of a rotary jet spinning technology. Professor Parker’s groundbreaking work has created a textile that is evolving for a spectrum of futuristic uses – from wound healing, tissue and organ growth to “smart” sports-related products and high couture. Now, it is being made into art.

After two years of working closely with the nanofiber technology at Harvard, Carla developed tiny nanofiber “canvases.” Using small swatches from the canvases, SEM photos were taken utilizing Harvard’s electron microscope. Carla expanded these images into an enormous cosmic garden.

The work turned into a solo exhibit at Tinney. The experience is something I cherish.

The last few years, I am known for my foray into video and augmented reality. Many commissions now require I create an augmented backstory – that can be viewed through an app when looking at the 2D art.

I also spent a few years working with a group of female artists – composer, poet, singer, pianist, dancers to create a social justice piece entitles “A Thousand Hands, A Million Stars” (https://www.athousandhandsamillionstars.com). I did all the visuals, photography, filming, animation and video art. I is “a performance piece of survivor stories that tell of their journeys in, through, and out of human trafficking that premiered at The Toledo Museum / Center for Visual Arts. It was created as a live performance/art exhibit and got a lot of traction, and then the pandemic hit and was stopped right in our tracks. I’m hoping to revive the piece and get it back on the road now that we seem to be opening up.

What matters most to you?
Staying relevant. That matters the most. It matters for personal growth, connections to the world at large, learning new methods, and ways of presenting ideas. It is the way (for me) to feel like I’m still contributing.

Contact Info:

• Email: ciuffophotography@gmail.com
• Website: carlaciuffo.art
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carlaciuffoworks/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarlaCiuffo

Image Credits
Carla’s bio image – photographer: John Jackson Carla in front of Skybound – photographer Glynn Griggs