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North Carolina sculptor Justine Ferreri is the creator of a wonderful variety of clay goddessess, vessels, crabs, prayer angels, mermaids, and hot chili peppers (with sun glasses and faces!) er vivid colors and vivid imagination have helped her create a large following for her work, with everyone wondering, "What will Justine come up with next?!"

Justine began her career as an artist in the 1990s. She and her husband were in the restaurant business when she decided that she wanted to do some large sculptural pieces for a special event they were having in their restaurant. She started working with papier-maché doing full sized sculptures of people and animals. Her first sculpture was named “Blanche” after her husband’s sister.
Not long after installing the pieces in her restaurant she began getting commissions from her patrons. Justine admits to not being too patient so the fact that the large sculptures took several weeks to dry and because of their size were quite fragile, she soon began to look for other mediums to work in.

She began working in clay by accident. A friend had a kiln and was getting ready for a show and mentioned to Justine that she might want to make some things to enter and offered the use of her kiln. Justine agreed and created a collection of snake (the only thing she knew how to make at the time!)

"At the show we Made 1,200 dollars and I was hooked. I loved the feel of the clay, bought my own kiln and started creating my cast of characters.

I had never taken art classes so the learning curve was long, learning how to not have my pieces blow up in the kiln, learning about glazes, and how to get the dry pieces into the kiln without breaking them!"

One of her popular items, the Prayer Angel, hangs on the wall with a rolled up piece of paper in her hands. on which a prayer can be written. From the sale of each of these angels, Justine makes a donation to Hospice.

When asked where her ideas come from she says they come from "somewhere else, and I feel it is endless” . Everything Justine creates is inspiring to her and she refuses to create anything that isn't inspiring or uplifting.

Her artist’s mind allows Justine to create not only the work, but also names, stories and sometimes hidden meanings associated with her creations. “I make a ‘Puppet Master,’ which has a beautiful spiritual message; if the puppet gives his life over to the master and stops fighting the strings, everyone would not see him as the puppet but as the master.”

She makes goddesses that are intended to help people. “Confa is the goddess of friendship and holds a book of secrets never told. Cura is a healer of broken hearts and holds a golden heart of pure love that can never be broken. Mega is at peace without and within— she is the goddess of prosperity and joy.” She also fashions clay people meant to inspire, such as a boy that jumps on the back of a fish trying to reach heaven. One of her favorite things to create are jesters because of the bright colors and elaborate costumes.

Whimsical and quirky, Justine describes her early works as having a primitive childlike quality, which she tries to maintain as she becomes more adept at her craft. We also want to mention that she is the recipient of an "Emerging Artist grant" from the North Carolina Arts Council.