Today we’d like to introduce you to Alia Pialtos.
Alia, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I never thought I’d become an artist, but I’ve always been interested in the ways we choose to see the world. From an early age, I set out to become an optometrist like my father. As I began to pursue science as a career path, my intuition led me to explore more indirect ways of seeing through the lenses of art and education. After transferring to art school, I never really stopped. For me, art is that thing that keeps me curious, keeps me learning, keeps me moving.
While pursuing my BFA at Massachusetts College of Art & Design and MFA at the University of Colorado, Boulder, I seized opportunities to learn outside the classroom. During this time, I studied abroad in London where I co-developed a line of ceramic baking products for a Muslim lifestyle magazine. In New York City, I opened a solo exhibition of my abstract ceramic sculptures before I was 25. As an artist’s studio assistant, I helped create and install major commissions for the Denver International Airport and Denver Botanical Garden. Writing a successful grant application allowed me to research 19th century photographic archives in Paris and German Expressionist dance. I learned how to blow glass, spin wool, write an invoice, make paper, build a website, weld, edit sound, and cast concrete.
To my surprise, I ended up back in Worcester where I have maintained a studio practice ever since. As a 2015-2017 Artist in Residence at Worcester Center for Crafts, I traveled to exhibit and lecture about my work at Harvard Ceramics Program, Science Gallery Dublin, and the Frost Museum of Science in Miami. Aside from my artwork, I have been fortunate to work for two incredible organizations that support opportunities for experiential learning and international travel, USA Gap Year Fairs and now Go Overseas, a review site for meaningful travel (check them out!).
Has it been a smooth road?
Smooth roads don’t really exist, especially within the arts. Personally, shifting from a more conventional career path to art school pretty much flipped my world upside down – not only for myself, but also for those around me. I’m a big believer in being comfortable with being uncomfortable. Change is inevitable and can lead to really meaningful growth, so the more resilient you can become, the better. I try not to get too hung up on things I can’t control, but take ownership for my responsibilities and decisions. I chose to go to art school and I made sure that my experience was worthwhile.
For those just starting out, self-doubt and perceived limitations can be stifling. Being an artist allows you to realize that you don’t really need permission to do most things. If you encounter an obstacle, there are at least a handful of ways around it. Creatives are excellent problem-solvers and shape-shifters. Avoid rigid thinking. Follow your gut. No regrets.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
As an interdisciplinary artist, I have two distinct bodies of work and approaches to making. My sculptural work pushes ceramic materials to their physical limits. These complex, delicate structures appear to defy gravity as fluid lines and drooping matrices are fixed in midair. Connections between the unseen forces of science and the internalized attributes of human relationships inspire abstract forms that accentuate emotive aspects of cause and effect.
My interest in human connection has led me to create a second body of work that presents alternative ways of seeing our personal relationships. Beginning with a physiological process or psychological scenario, each piece aims to reimagine the way we understand our intangible attachments to others. The works are often presented through photography or video installation — formats that have an equal capacity for portraying truth and fiction. In this way, the work exists between reality and fantasy, leaving space for viewers to examine our connections to one another and imagine what they could become.
Alongside my studio practice, I have worked in the field of international education for the past few years. Most recently, I joined the team at Go Overseas, an online platform for reviews, articles, and scholarship information for traveling abroad. Exploring new places has always played an integral part of shaping my perspective as an artist and I’m thrilled to continue encouraging others to spend meaningful time abroad. (If you’re on the hunt for your next adventure, check out GoOverseas.com!)
Do you recommend any apps, books or podcasts that have been helpful to you?
I’m a big fan of essays and short stories, probably because I travel so much. My absolute favorite piece of writing is called “Making Not Knowing” by Ann Hamilton, an artist whose work and words are equally as poetic. I’ve probably read this essay well over 100 times since the brilliant Judith Leemann shared a snippet through her “Reading Aloud” series (http://www.judithleemann.com/reading-aloud/). Hamilton’s thoughts on dialogue, creativity, art, empathy, ambiguity, connection, transformation, and culture have really resonated with me over the years. Here’s a quote to leave you with. Feel free to email me if you’d like to read the essay in its entirety…
“One doesn’t arrive — in words or in art — by necessarily knowing where one is going. In every work of art, something appears that does not previously exist, and so, by default, you work from what you know to what you don’t know. You may set out for New York but you may find yourself as I did in Ohio. You may set out to make a sculpture and find that time is your material. You may pick up a paintbrush and find that your making is not on canvas or wood but in relations between people. You may set out to walk across the room but getting to what is on the other side might take ten years. You have to be open to all possibilities and to all routes — circuitous or otherwise.”
Contact Info:
- Website: aliapialtos.com
- Email: alia.pialtos@gmail.com
- Instagram: @aliapialtos
Image Credit:
Courtesy of the artist & portraits by Tom Agostino
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