Heading 5
biography
Terri Placentia is an artist whose work has included the mediums of drawing, painting, printmaking and ceramic sculpture.
Terri graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in Fine Art and taught at the University of Washington Extension Program, creating programs for children and adults on campus. She also taught at the University of Washington Extension Program and later moved both her art practice and business to Pierce County where she opened Planet Art as a private art school in Gig Harbor.
​
Her ceramics career followed, creating and exhibiting large scale ceramic sculpture and vessels in the Pacific Northwest. She recently completed tenure as department head and lead art instructor at the Tacoma School of the Arts, and now works as a full time artist in her Tacoma studio.
​
Artist statement
Learning to have a conversation with the work is the most important part of my art making process. I love observational drawing as a starting point and then yielding to the additive and subtractive decision making that arises through the exploration of natural subject matter.
The most recent series of artwork examines the practice of stacking stones and how to honor the tranquility, peace and intention of the process. The stacks take on human like qualities as the work progresses and mark time with fleeting emotions and collective memories.
Stacked Stone Series
The current body of work examines the totemic nature of stacked stones, and the human-like qualities that arise from their proximity to one another. I am interested in the emerging personality and perspective the stones begin to reveal and how that is reflected in their interdependence. The ghostly outlines trace the remains of a careful decision making process that is required to create balance, and the tension of stillness that must be met in order to stand strong.