Siena Gillann Porta

Website: www.sienaporta.com or www.sienaporta.art

Social Media: FB, Instagram, LinkedIn. Email: sienaporta@gmail.com

1__Porta Siena Gillann_Portrait of Robert_2021_Acrylic on canvas_30 h x 28 w-web.jpg

2_Porta Siena Gillann_JOKO Charlotte Beck -American Zen teacher_Media Mirrored acrylic sheet, acrylic pigment_30”h x 24”w-web.jpg

3_Porta Siena Gillann_The Mermaid and the Pirate_Acrylic pigment,cotton duck, gold leaf_20 x16 x 3 4 -web.jpg

4_Porta Siena Gillann_Sensei Jana Siperstien-Szucs__Acrylic, canvas, maple box frame_32 x26 x26 -web.jpg

5_Porta Siena Gillann_Sensei Christina Ioannides, Teaching_Acrylic,canvas,maple box frame_32_x26_x26-web.jpg

6_Sensei Bill Bressaw_Gateless Gate_ Acrylic pigment on cotton_49”h x 30”w copy-web.jpg

STATEMENT

The imagery in my artwork is predominately theme-driven. Zen practice has shaped and informed my work for most of my adult life. More recently the art of Shukokai Karate has become a part of this narrative. As a breast cancer survivor since 2010, karate images have figured prominently in my body of work. I became a practitioner myself, earning a Kimura Shukokai Karate black belt in 2016 and a second degree Black Belt, in 2021.

The mechanics of anatomy and bodies in motion has always been a passionate interest of mine. Dancing and performing in a mime and ballet troupe and studying at The Martha Graham School in New York as a teenager developed my appreciation for the human body as an instrument of expression. In graduate school I was fortunate to be able to draw from cadavers at Hershey Medical School through a grant from a Pennsylvania Arts Council which advanced my academic understanding of body mechanics as an artist.

Utilizing contemporary media in my professional fine arts creation has become an essential part of my vision. Access to new materials and technology has been one of the most rewarding experiences of working as a Scenic Artist. Drawing, painting and sculptural processes grounded in both traditional and experimental methodologies has been fundamental to both my personal art-work and to my tenure as a professional scenic artist (USA829).

I always fall in love with my newest work and hope that it communicates powerfully to others. At its best I find creating artwork is discovery and joy, sometimes frustration and always a place where linear time stops.

SGP 2023

BIOGRAPHY

Siena Gillann Porta attended the Art Students League at 15, and then The School of Visual Arts and the New School in New York City. She earned a BS in Studio Arts from Brooklyn College, CUNY while studying with Philip Pearlstein, Lee Bonticou, Lennart Anderson, Paul Gianfagna and Sylvia Stone. Siena was awarded a Full Graduate Fellowship at The Pennsylvania State University, and received an MFA in Sculpture. Currently her work is represented by 14 Sculptors Gallery Inc. NY, NY, The National Association of Women Artists, The New York Society of Women Artists and the New York Artists Circle.

Porta has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions throughout the U.S. and abroad at galleries and museums, with installations in New York City, the greater metropolitan area and U.S. national parks. Her university exhibitions include Notre Dame, Lehigh, Adelphi, the New Jersey City University, Manhattanville, Fairleigh Dickinson and NYU. Siena’s public collections include The City of Hveragerdi, Iceland, The Agricultural University of Iceland St. Philip R.C. Church, Norwalk CT, The County of Rockland, NY and The Hafnarborg Cultural Museum, Iceland.

As a Scenic Artist and Lead Scenic Artist since 1986, she created work for numerous Broadway productions, Feature films, Prime-time network television, Netflix and The Metropolitan Opera. She has taught as both an Adjunct Professor of Art and of Contemporary Art at St. Thomas Aquinas College, Bergen Community College and Ramapo College of NJ.

Her biography is listed, among others, in Who's Who in America. She has received grants from The New York Foundation for the Arts, The United States Information Agency and The New York State Council on the Arts. Solo exhibitions include 14 Sculptors Gallery, Mercer St., NY and Noho Gallery W. 25th St., NY. Porta has been an Artist in Residence at Brisons Veor in Cornwall, England and Artist in Residence twice at Varmahlid Haus in Hveragerdi, Iceland.

Reviews include The NY Times, The Wave, Gallery & Studio Magazine, Newsday, Spotlight Magazine, The New York Art Review, The Journal News and Women Artist’s News.

Recent exhibitions include “Sculpture for Leonia”, The Hudson Valley Museum (HvMoca), The Carter Burden Gallery, Manhattan, NY, The Taller Boricua Gallery, Manhattan, NY, The Hammond Museum, Blue Mountain Gallery, NY, Prince Street Gallery , NY, Amherst College - Hampden Gallery, The Akin Museum, Rockaway National Park, St Peters Church, E. 54th Street, NY, Highbridge Park Manhattan, NY, The Howland Center in Beacon, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie NY, The Zerillo - Marimo Gallery at NYU, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Governors Island.

Virtual exhibitions (during the time of COVID) include, Inspiration Art Group International 2022, curated by Bibiana Mathias, The Hammond Museum (June and July 2020-21), “Memory” newyorksocietyofwomenartists.com, “At Risk” 14sculptors.com and “Women on the Edge of Time” TALLER BORICUA Gallery, NY, NY, 3/2021.

Represented by: 14 Sculptors Inc, NY, NY; NYSWA (NY Society of Women Artists) ; NAWA (National Society of Women Artists) ; New York Artists Circle and Inspiration Art Group International.

S.G.P. 2023