BIOGRAPHY

Valeria Scuteri was born in Stignano, in the province of Reggio Calabria. After moving to Turin, she graduated from the art high school, then attended the painting course at the Accademia Albertina and the Free School of Nude. A painter and sculptor, she developed her training by attending the studio of the Piedmontese master Teonesto Deabate, a fundamental figure throughout her professional and personal journey.

Very young, she debuted as a painter with a solo exhibition at the Ceppi gallery in Turin presented by the critic Ernesto Caballo, while simultaneously starting an original and unprecedented research on the experimental possibilities of textiles, which would later lead her to be recognized among the pioneers of Fiber Art in Italy. She became a refined exponent of this international language of Northern European and American origin. She was invited to international exhibitions and public shows promoted by important cultural institutions and museums in Italy and abroad.

In the canvases, drawings, textile sculptures, and performance pieces, she develops a poetics that addresses the deepest themes of human existence. Weaving iron and steel threads on an experimental loom, or manipulating wool and other materials with crochet, knitting, or free weaving, the artist gathers ancient traditions, reworking them in the light of contemporaneity with a personal philosophical thought that embraces and unites existential reflections. She is particularly interested in the feminine universe, explored in parallel with the masculine one through the choice of manual techniques embraced as a precise conceptual decision.

Art education teacher, in addition to having conducted image education courses for teachers and experimental educational projects, alongside the organization of charitable art initiatives in collaboration with public and private entities, holds specialist Fiber Art workshops. Among these, the seminar “Penelope's Fingers” on behalf of the Department of Culture of the Municipality of Vimercate as part of the project of the same name, and in 2012 at the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna. In 2015, she gave a lecture on her artistic work at the University of Perugia, within the course of Contemporary Art History.

He has repeatedly served as president of the jury in international art exhibitions.

Some chapters have been dedicated to her work within two degree theses discussed in the academic year 2005/2006, respectively at the University of Florence - Faculty of Architecture. Degree Course in Fashion Design and at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts of Turin – Course in Theatrical Scenography. Among the prestigious publications that have spoken about her is the textbook for compulsory schools in Art and Image “Belle Arti, Immagine e Comunicazione” by Petrini Publishing House. “Fiber Art Italiana - un intreccio virtuoso” by Renata Pompas. Focus in the magazine “DIID Design e Arte” entitled “il filo di Arianna” curated by Rossella Mana and Claudia Bottini. Interview by Barbara Pavan for the magazine “ARTEMORBIDA” and also the book “PROSPETTIVA PONTE e GENIUS LOCI”.

Her artistic career has received prestigious recognition since the beginning, when Valeria Scuteri was invited to the 1st Intercontinental Grand Prix of Art City of Venice Star held in '79 at Palazzo Grassi in Venice. This was followed, in 1998 in Moncalieri (TO), by the Saturnio Prize for Art and Culture. Also in '98, on the occasion of March 8th, she was chosen by German national television as the only artist from Italy for a documentary about women and mothers/artists, entitled Das Ende der Mama, directed by the director Gudrun Friedrich.

She was selected for three editions of the International Fiber Art Biennial of the City of Chieri, in 2004 traveling to the St. Gallen Museum, at the Miniarttextil of Como, XV International Contemporary Art Exhibition, curated by Luciano Caramel, and traveling to Montrouge and in 2009 the Musée du Textile de Haute Alsace dedicated a major solo exhibition to her. In 2016 she was included among the women of Italian Design in the international exhibition: XXI Triennale di Milano.

In addition to her participation in international events, at le Maettlé and St. Marie aux Mine (France), she was invited as the sole artist to exhibit at Palazzo Gonzaga di Volta Mantovana and to perform in the gardens, as part of “Racconti di Moda”, where she received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, while her body sculpture “Abito libro” was presented performatively at the Conference “Libro come lavoro d’arte, Book as artwork. The artist's book between texts and pretexts”, held at the Arduino Library as part of the project of the same name by the Department of Culture of the City of Moncalieri, in collaboration with the Education Department of the Castello di Rivoli Museo Arte Contemporanea as part of the initiatives for “Turin World Book Capital ”. One of her body sculptures was presented performatively and then as an installation, in 2018 at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin on the occasion of the press conference for the exhibition: TRAME d’AUTORE (Exhibition included in the TRAMANDA 2018 series). Promoted and organized by the city of Chieri.

One of her works was included in the international project “Sicily bridge to Europe”, conceived by the Regional Gallery of Palazzo Bellomo. The exhibition was held at the former Monastery of the Retreat in Syracuse and later at the Ethnographic Museum of St. Petersburg. In 2011 she was interviewed by the Viennese writer, cultural historian, and journalist Christina Höfferer for a feature on Radio Osterreich1.

In the last decade, he has worked on monumental sculptures, created by weaving thousands of threads and intended for large spaces in order to interact with both natural and artificial light, following a creative design constantly reflecting between the external and inner worlds. The first segment of this unprecedented cycle was exhibited at the archaeological space “Fabbrica” Gambettola (FC) promoted by Fabbrica with the patronage of the Municipality of Gambettola, Museo del Tessuto di Prato and the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna.

She was President of the Jury for the Young Fiber Contest 2016/17/18/19, for Chiamata Aperta 2018/2019, and Jury Member with Fiorenzo Alfieri as President for the 2020 Edition.

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