Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Delfina Piretti. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Delfina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

An artist friend told me before going on my artist residency: you never know what will happen- often not what we expect. This was certainly my experience at the Palazzo Rinaldi Artist Residency in an ancient, very small hilltop village in Southern Italy, next to the Pollino National Forest. My art at the time was painting and making interactive installations inspired by my nighttime dreams. My intention for the residency was to explore my cultural roots and have two weeks of uninterrupted time to paint. Both of my Italian grandmothers who immigrated here died before I was born. I was named after one, Delfina Minacci. I was curious to know more about my cultural roots and the influence on my art. Right away I encountered bumps, in the road; the studio was in the basement, the other artist couldn’t make it and the family running the residency where I was to stay with were oddly emotionally distant. The woman in particular who was close to my age seemed to have it out for me. I did my best to win her favor with no success. She was out right mean spirited. It was a small hilltop village where the men gathered at the local cafe and women were not welcomed- not much had changed there. It was hard to meet people. I was not happy and tried my best to work it through the painting with no avail.
Allora, in spite of my determination to overcome, my spirit was dissipating, and I was beginning to think, Andiamo!
Then that night I had a dream that awoke me with great emotion and physical shaking. It was a dream of a woman walking the narrow streets of Noepoli repeatedly calling to me in Italian: “Sei un portento, siete amore stesso”! I called my Italian friend for a proper translation and the first thing she said is” that is something a grandmother would say: You are special, you are love”. 

I sobbed for a long time. My Nonna had come to help me! That morning I got on the 7am bus to the sea and instantly made friends with two of the women and their children
of the village. They befriended me and introduced me to other kind villagers. This was clearly an empowerment dream through the visitation from my Nonna. I stopped trying to get the woman at the residency to like me and realized her behavior had nothing to do with me. Perhaps she was unhappy or jealous. I made connections with the villagers that day that nourished and inspired me. My finale was a show of my paintings hung in the trees at the Pollino Forest edge. I also invited families and children to paint their dreams and gave a talk about the value of dreams and unconscious mind as it relates to art and life. It was a huge success. When I returned home what came out of me was also quite a surprise- something I had never done before. I made a paper-mache sculpture of a hybrid creature: half Italian grandmother and half dolphin, which I titled Nonna SinEater. I then created an interactive installation, the Sin Eater Café, where you write your sins or the sins of the world on pasta and feed them to Nonna SinEater by placing them in her dolphin mouth. People wrote meaningful and vulnerable things. I think it’s one of my strongest installation works.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a visual artist, fortunate to have a beautiful studio with a great group of over 100 artists: 1890 Bryant Studios in San Francisco. My current work includes abstract oil paintings and cyanotypes made with the Pacific Ocean.

Early on I had negative experiences in my art education. In high school the kids that could draw realistically were the ones who were seen as “talented”. I don’t think I’m alone in this experience. Unfortunately, art educators can be off the mark, focusing on the technique rather than the creative process. We are born creatives. It is our birthright. Of course, not everyone will become an artist, but creativity is integral to most everything. Being creative is about being curious, playful, open minded and thinking outside the box. I believe everyone has creative potential and that’s what motived me to become an art therapist. 

In my undergraduate work I started taking classes in ceramics and photography. At some point I realized that painting was my passion even though it was the thing I was most afraid of. Joseph Campbell once said: The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” I’ve learned to not be afraid of my fear.
I’ve been painting, photographing and making interactive installations since 1996. It’s only recently that I’ve picked up photography again. I sell enough work to at least make it pay for itself. I am grateful that I don’t have to sell art to pay the bills. It’s a lot of pressure and I don’t think I’m cut out of it.
My somatic psychotherapy practice supports my art practice. It gives me great joy to witness people’s healing and psychological growth. A part of my treatment approach is encouraging creativity in my client’s lives, as I believe it contributes to living a rich and meaning life. I used to struggle with having two careers but have come to accept it as a gift.  I have stopped listening to the overcultures definition of an artist. Adrian Piper, a well-known artist, speaks out about the validity of having dual careers. She is an artist alongside having an academic career in philosophy.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

“You have to learn to feel confident about the prospect of failing because it’s so inevitable.” Andrea Zittel, Artist
This is so true of anything we deeply pursue. In putting my art out there by applying for shows , grants and residencies I’ve had to strengthen the muscle of resilience as there will be rejections. I find it’s a balance between being hopeful and letting go of expectations. For example, I really wanted to get into the De Young Museum Open Show this year. It’s a juried show open to all artists in the Bay Area;
883 works were chosen out of 7,766. I kept thinking this year I will get in! Nope, I did not get in. I can say with a chuckle now the degree of disappointment can be measured by the level of expectation. So, I felt lousy for a few days – a great improvement over years
ago when that would have put me out of commission for weeks.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

What I love, love, love about art making is how it feels when something comes through that is a total surprise, that I don’t even recognize. It’s like it has a life of its own. I love the feeling of being taken over by the creative flow and losing myself. There have been times when finishing a painting that I’ve fallen to the ground and cried, not knowing why and later discovering it was one of my better works.

 During Covid I started doing cyanotype photography after taking a class at the Kala Institute in Berkeley.  This camera-less photographic technique is dynamic especially when you’re exposing in the ocean waves.
I love how in the making of a cyanotype with the ocean you have limited control over the outcome. So much depends on the changing light, the exposure time and the shifting tides. Watching the rhythm of the waves and getting completely soaked when one comes up stronger than expected is exciting. Then, witnessing the emergence of gorgeous deep indigo blue marks on the paper. Where there is light, the dark blues appear and where there is darkness, light makes its mark. It’s magical!

Contact Info:

• Website: studio-delfinapiretti.com
• Instagram: delfinapiretti
• Facebook: Delfina Joanne Piretti
• Linkedin: J. Delfina Piretti LMFT, REAT
• Other: Vimeo.com: Tabula Rasa Confessional/ Delfina Piretti