Artist Statement

My work honors the resilient histories of my close female relatives. Through physical and psychological acts of construction and repair— painting, stitching, collage, print and transfer—their personal stories materialize gendered experiences of loss, pain, and hope. Through the study of art historical representations of female deference, sexualization and violation, I strive to create images of women that express their full humanity and are beautiful on their own complicated terms. Female types such as Venus, Eve, and the powerful and mysterious 12th century carvings known as sheela na gig often enter my process and influence the unfolding of content.

Bio

Jeanne Ciravolo’s mixed media work explores family narratives, amplifying female experience--while challenging art historical depictions of women.

Raised in Miami, Florida, Ciravolo moved to New York City, where her early work was influenced by her experiences as class monitor for Harvey Dinnerstein at the Art Students’ League of New York. In 2006, she was one of eleven finalists in the Portrait Society of America’s International Portrait Competition. At that time, Ciravolo’s observational art practice supported her work as a commissioned portrait painter. Her portrait of Connecticut Supreme Court Justice David Borden was unveiled at the Appellate Court in Hartford, Connecticut in 2016.

Ciravolo earned an MFA from the University of Connecticut in 2019 and was awarded the Joan and George Cole Master of Fine Arts Award. In 2020, she received the Walter Feldman Fellowship, juried by Ellen Tani, Assistant Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston.

Selected exhibitions include Fondamenta Gallery, Rome, Italy; Odetta Gallery, LMAK Gallery, SITE: Brooklyn Gallery, and Ethan Cohen Gallery in NY; ARC Gallery and Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, IL; The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH; The Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, MT; Ann Arbor Art Center, MI; The New Britain Museum of American Art, CT; Coral Springs Museum, FL; and the Indianapolis Art Center, IN. Ciravolo’s work is included in the public collections of the William Benton Museum of Art, Easter Seals Goodwill Industries, and The Connecticut Hospice, as well as in many private collections.

Publications of her work include Manifest International Painting Annual 10, and Rejoinder, a publication of the Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers University, in partnership with the Feminist Art Project. Ciravolo’s residencies include the Byrdcliffe Guild, the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Hambidge Center, and Kimmel Harding Nelson Art Center in August of 2022. She is an Assistant Professor in Residence and Director of the Alexey von Schlippe Gallery at the University of Connecticut.