AboutDominique Ostuni is a ceramicist, a painter, and a mother’s daughter. Working primarily in porcelain, Ostuni treats the ceramic surface like an enormous sheet of paper, drawing and gold gilding until the piece becomes theatrical, sentimental, and sometimes absolutely ridiculous. A practical object caught behaving badly! Tsk, tsk.
The domestic becomes Ostuni's stage for questions of taste, intimacy, and value. The scale of work shifts constantly between the intimate and the architectural, yet the artist's hand remains visible throughout. Ostuni is especially drawn to objects that hold the strange authority ornament demands when there is simply too much of it to dismiss. Things ask to be used and contemplated at once, as though usefulness itself might be another material, and beauty a function with no practical end. Excess comes naturally. Rather than apologize for it, she invites you to swim in the gluttony with her.
Curriculum vitae
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bioDominique Ostuni received her BFA in Ceramics from Maine College of Art & Design. She has exhibited throughout the United States and abroad, with work held in private and public collections, including the Farnsworth Art Museum in Maine and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas. She has participated in artist residencies including C.R.E.T.A. Rome and Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts. Ostuni lives and works in Bowdoinham, Maine, where she maintains a studio practice rooted in porcelain, ornament, and a healthy appetite for gluttony.
EDUCATION2014–2017 Bachelor of Fine Art, Ceramics, Maine College of Art & Design, Portland, ME
2013–2014 Associate with Honors, Fine Arts, Onondaga Community College, Syracuse, NY
EXHBITIONS2026 Solo Exhibition, Would an Angel Apologize for Spilling Champagne?, Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, ME
2025 Portals Into Our Future, Waterfall Arts, Belfast, ME
2025 Offshore Winter, Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, ME
2024 Solo Exhibition, I’ve Been Thinking About What You Said, Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, ME
2024 Solo Exhibition, Not Ceramics But Something Else, North Optical, Portland, ME
2024 Two-Person Exhibition, Abundance, Studio Solenne, Brooklyn, NY, (with artist Michele Mirisola)
2023 It’s My Party & I’ll Cry If I Want To, Department of Contemporary Art, Tampa, FL
2023 The Cup, The Mug, Main Street Arts, Clifton Springs, NY
2022 Text Messages II, Companion Gallery, Humboldt TN
2021 Small Favors, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
2020 Work Exchange Showcase, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Two-Person Exhibition, Roma Deconstruction, C.R.E.T.A. Rome, Rome, Italy (with ceramicist Doug Jeck)
2018 Solo Exhibition, The Language of Shape & Form, 42 Maple Contemporary, Bethlehem, NH
2018 COLLECT Scholarship Fund, Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, ME
2017 Collaborative Public Sculpture, PINK CAT, Women’s March on Washington, Washington DC
2017 Forming Distinctions: Contemporary Ceramic Dialogue, Zand Head Gallery, Portland, ME
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE2026 Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle, ME
2025 Stephen Pace House, Stonington, ME
2018 C.R.E.T.A. Rome, Rome, Italy
Lectures, presentations, workshops2026 Ceramics Panel: Form, Surface, Portrayal, Ritual, panelist, in conjunction with the exhibition Precision and Expression: American Studio Ceramics from the E. John Bullard Collection, Bates College Museum of Art, Lewiston, ME, March 16
publicationsMaine Homes & Design Magazine, Danielle Devine, “When Objects Misbehave,” Nov/Dec 2026
Midcoast Villager, Dana-Nielsen Clark, “Letting the Angels Get Messy,” October, 2026
Ceramics Monthly, Margaret Kinkeade, “Studio Visit: Dominique Ostuni, Bowdoinham, ME,” February 2026
Cherry Bombe, Catherine Barker, “Handle With Care,” December 2025
Mother Tongue Magazine, Natalia Rachin, “Don’t Forget Me,” Issue 6, Spring/Summer 2024
Decor Maine, Michael Cobert, “Dominique Ostuni,” March 2024
Downeast Magazine, Sara Anne Donnelly, “The Internet Can’t Get Enough of Dominique Ostuni’s Gilded Whimsical Porcelain,” February 2024
Creative Maine Magazine, Devon Harris, “Issue 01,” Nov/Dec 2023
LES Collection, Lauren Sands, “A Day In The Life: Dominique Ostuni,” Summer 2023
awards & grants2025 Belvedere Fund Grant, Maine College of Art & Design, Portland, ME
2024 “Neighbors Investing in Neighbors” BCDI, Bowdoinham, ME
2020 Velocity Fund Artist Emergency Relief Grant, Temple Contemporary Gallery at Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA
collectionsCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME
