Stephen F. Austin State University

Everything an artist has seen and done collides in the imagination for the creation of art.

Piero Fenci's work is influenced by those things to which he is drawn: ancient pottery, architecture, Japanese armor, Shaker hatboxes and tinware, and traditional Origami.

Two of the Stephen F. Austin State University art professor' pieces recently have been acquired by the Tyler Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

The Tyler Museum of Art acquired "White Crown Turbine" in 2006, following a fall show that featured Fenci and his wife, Liz Akamatsu.

"The opening was the biggest in the history of the museum," Fenci said.

Ken Tomio, museum curator, said the acquisition of "White Crown Turbine" was important for Fenci, from a social standpoint.

"Of all the organizations and individuals buying and acquiring art work, the museum historically has been placed at the apex of that value system," he said. "If a museum acquires an artist's work to add to their permanent collection, that is the best thing that can happen. That is how an artist becomes recognized in society."

Tomio said Fenci is a ceramist who is still concerned with making vessels.

"One thing that has happened in the 20th century, is that ceramists, initially defined as potters, slowly began to disengage themselves and become sculptors," Tomio said.

Fenci creates contemporary art "while still maintaining the notion that the piece he is making is a vessel," Tomio said.

"It puts certain constraints on him, but it makes things more interesting, from my point of view," Tomio said. "When working around constraints, an artist's creative ability really shines through."
Tomio said he has seen a turning point in Fenci's creativity in recent years.

"He continues to draw inspiration from the things he loves to create art that is new and different," Tomio said.

With regard to "White Crown Turbine," Tomio said the piece is interesting because it meets the criteria of being a vessel, because it has a cylinder inside.

"But it's not utilitarian, meant for everyday use," he said. "It's clearly an art object."

Inspired by industrial machinery, the piece still manages to have a delicate appearance, Tomio said, adding that the top of it looks like a crown.

The piece has a matte finish, and because there are empty spaces between the circular bands that surround the core, light shines the piece in a way that makes it appear ephemeral and almost transitory, Tomio said.

"It is not ostentatious or flashy," he said. "But it draws you in. There is a lot of symbolism there. The shape, form, surface treatment, texture and color combine together to make it a really interesting piece, and that is why we wanted it for our museum."

Fenci said "White Crown Turbine" was inspired, in part, by his visits to the Bolivar Peninsula to see the migration of birds from the Yucatan Peninsula. After flying as far as 600 miles across the Gulf of Mexico, the birds often seem to "fall out of the sky" in pure exhaustion at the first sight of land.

At times, he has been fascinated to see the birds perched atop oil rigs or other man-made apparatus "in a collision of nature and industry."

"It is poignant and powerful," he said.

Fenci said "White Crown Turbine" is reminiscent of a turbine or other piece of industrial machinery and white in color -- the color that an endangered species of bird could be, he said.
This is an example of how ideas collide for inspiration, he said.

Clint Willour, interim director and curator of the Galveston Arts Center, facilitated the acquisition of Fenci's "Shaker Hat Box" for the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston -- the fourth largest art market in the country, and a "hugely prestigious venue."

"They were looking to add work by Texas artists that met the same criteria as other pieces in the collection," Willour said.

In other words, the Museum of Fine Arts wasn't looking for work by Texas artists merely because they were from Texas. They wanted to add pieces to their collection that illustrated Texas talent, Willour said.

The ceramics collection at the Museum of Fine Arts is recognized as one of the best in the country, Willour said, adding that Fenci's work is now part of the same collection that features some of the world's leading experts in ceramics.

Fenci said the acquisitions are "humbling" and "an outward manifestation that I'm doing a good job."

"I have developed a deep attachment to many types of functional objects," he said. "I filter these items through my psyche to intuitively connect them."

Fenci said when he visits an art museum, he "pretends that he is metal," and waits to see what draws him like a magnet.

He uses these influences, along with his own interests, to reinvent and connect ideas.