Mariella Poli is an educator, interdisciplinary artist and curator of student art/design exhibitions and catalogs. She is particularly interested in history, geopolitics, cultural diversity and the power of space in everyday social life and global pedagogies.
As an educator, Mariella specializes in international exchanges addressing global pedagogies through various institutions around the world. These exchanges result in international exhibitions and catalogs. The specifics of these exchanges are designed to achieve an increased understanding of socioeconomic inequalities and the geopolitics of rapidly growing urban environments. She engages the student as a future problem solver and producer, creating agency in the realization of potential impacts and relevancies their work as artists, craftspeople and designers can have.
Since 2005 to the present she established partnerships with Institutions around the globe, such as Marmara University and BILGI University in Istanbul, Turkey; University of Cape Town, South Africa; Goldsmith College, London, England; Accademia di Belle Arti Palermo, Naples Second University, Collaboration with “Citta’ della Scienza”, Naples; Instituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia, (IUAV) Venice, Italy.
Mariella has been Co-curator of several student exhibitions and catalogs locally and globally, CCA galleries in Oakland and San Francisco (2005 – present), Pro Arts Gallery, Cultural Arts Gallery, Oakland, CA, San Francisco Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco, CA.
Internationally Participation at the 7TH International Student Triennial (2017) “Temporality-Differences and Beyond”, Republic Museum Gallery, organized by Marmara University in Istanbul, 42 Art & Design institutions from 12 countries attended; Participation at the 6TH International Student Triennial (2013) “Connecting the Dots” Pera Museum, organized by Marmara University in Istanbul, 50 Art & Design institutions from 15 countries attended; “Urban Boundaries” Cumhuriyet Museum; Santral Gallery Bilgi University, Istanbul, Turkey. Michaelis Gallery, Cape Town University, Cape Town, South Africa; “The Old Police Station”, New Cross, London, England; Spazio Galleria, Accademia di Belle Arti, Palermo; Padiglione Marie Curie Gallery, Naples; Site Specific Installation “Environmental Dialog” Citta’ della Scienza, Naples; Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice, Galleria Civica, Modena, Italy.
Mariella Poli is an interdisciplinary artist working with installation, which includes photography, video and film, her work, investigates culture, identity, place and the power of space. Her work has been exhibited in such international institutions as the National Museum of Fine Art, Hanoi, Vietnam, Museo di Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto (MART), Italy, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City, Ava Gallery, Capetown, South Africa, Ca’ Foscari University, Studio Barberi Arte Contemporanea in Venice, Italy, Studio La Citta’ Gallery, Verona, Italy, International Fair for Modern Art, Art Cologne, Germany; UCCI Gallery, Madrid, Spazio Italia IIC, Los Angeles, Art Commission Gallery, San Francisco.
Mariella is currently working on a project using photography and Cinema concerning culture and media reflecting a span of time from 1935 to the present. Since 1989 she has worked on many photography and video installations including ‘Between the Lines’, ‘There’, ‘Beyond/Oltre’ ‘Nascita di un Museo’, City Hall’, ‘The Convent’, ‘Montecatini’.
Her publications include; MART: Nascita di un Museo (Mondadori Electa); Montecatini, (Skira’); Savoy Hotel (Antiga Edizioni); No People No Joey (Edizione Osiride) She also has been published in several publications in Italy, Austria, Spain, Denmark and Mexico.
Her work is in museums and private collections and she has participated in various international symposiums such as, “Enviromental Dialog” Presenting Science in the Studio, AICAD Symposium (Art Design Science), California College of the Arts, San Francisco; “Enviromental Dialog” Presentation, Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco; “Photography & Visual Culture” Università Roma Tre, Teatro Palladium, Rome, Italy, ”Attentive Eyes” Italy’s Unesco Sites, ItaloAmerican Museum, San Francisco, California; “Women, Spirituality and the Arts” Symposium, Saint Mary’s College of California, Moraga; Society for Photography Education West Region Conference, CCAC, Oakland, California; Pacific Northwest Art College, Portland, Oregon; Infancia y Sida, Museo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico City, Mexico.
She was awarded an international residency at Citazensofculture.net, contemporary arts and design, “A Soul for Europe”, Culture, Economy and Social Responsibility. Venice, Italy, RES, International Program Multidisciplinary Artist in Residence, Torcito, Lecce, Italy, International Association of Residential Arts Centers Conference, Civitella Ranieri Center, Umbertide, Italy, Na-Bolom, Research Center Artist in Residence, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico.
Mariella Poli taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, San Mary’s College, Moraga, SACI, Florence an affiliation with Boling Green State University and from 2001-Present at California College of the Arts in Photography, Study Abroad, Upper Division Interdisciplinary Studio and Humanity and Science Division Diversity Interdisciplinary Studies Studio.
Senior Adjunct Professor, Diversity Studies Studio
BFA and MFA San Francisco Art Institute, California
Mariella Poli 