Mary Beth Giraci is a lifelong artist and art educator who moved to Portland, Oregon from New York City in 2019. With degrees from Pratt Institute (BFA), Queens College (MS ED), and the School of Visual Arts (MFA), Giraci exhibits her sculptures and works on paper and is in private collections throughout the country.

Giraci has always looked at anthropological artifacts and clothing to see how women were viewed and reflected throughout time. Her knitted sculptures are both feminist figures and installation. These female archetypes have a definitive sense of self and demand to take up space and be seen on their own terms. Created in bolder shades of pinks and purples, these mostly large, often imposing figures counter the idea of “the feminine” as small, cute, and demure. Giraci flips that ideal as each figure is defined by her gesture and pose and celebrated without apology.

Giraci hand knits her sculptures, and she often makes up the patterns in real time. She is working in a formal art language while creating with a craft technique. Her Sicilian grandfather was a stone carver for the NYC cemeteries, and her grandmother worked in factories as a seamstress. Giraci is an artist who continues this heritage through the process of creating sculptures that embody monument and garment.

Mary Beth Giraci lives in Portland, Oregon with her faithful chiweenie sidekick, Miss Evie G, where she has her studio in the historical Ford Building.