David Tarullo
David Tarullo
David Tarullo's work ranges from large-scale sculpture to installation art to intimate abstract and figurative sculpture as well as functional pottery. His primary themes focus on inner and interpersonal relationships and communication. A native Californian, he, has a strong connection with the Pacific Ocean, where he derives much of his imagery.
Tarullo is teaching at Cochise College in Southern Arizona where boarder issues have become the inspiration for his current body of work. Tarullo received his Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College, he studied wood fired ceramics at Northern Arizona University, and has a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Montana. He is a recipient of the Rudy Autio Award, among other awards and scholarships. He has taught sculpture, ceramics and three-dimensional design at the University of Montana. His work is in the permanent collection at the American Museum of Ceramic Art and the Montana Museum of Arts and Culture. He has shown throughout the Western United States, including solo exhibitions: "Ceramics and Light", "Embracing the Box", and "Exploring Structural Integration". His work is published in State of the Art: Installation and Site Specific Art #2 and Cast.
"The center of my work is exploration. Each and every piece I create allows me the ability to investigate my world and inner landscape. I create to better understand. Most of what I learn is in the process of making. I begin with a launching point, either formal, conceptual, or a combination of both. From there I am constantly in conversation with the work and searching for meaning and understanding. At a certain point I find the core, which is always different than my launching point. That is when things come together. The search changes from expansion to contraction and I begin to understand what the piece has been telling me all along. Then I distill and refine its message for the audience."
