About Us

Professor Tina Piracci

Tina Piracci received a Master of Science in Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley with an emphasis on technology & sustainability, and certificates in teaching & education, remote learning, as well as new media. She obtained a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree from the University of South Florida with a concentration in sculpture/new media, and three minors including: electrical engineering, visualization & design, and entrepreneurship. Additionally, she spent a semester abroad at Cite Universitaire in Paris and University College London focusing on studio art practices. Her previous teaching experience at the University of California, Berkeley explored the various intersections of art, design, engineering, health, technology, computational design, prototyping and entrepreneurship. In Berkeley, CA she also founded a Makerspace in which she curated a computational design art studio which explored international partnerships with leading experts in art, engineering, and architecture.

As one of the newest full-time faculty instructors at the Judy Genshaft Honors College, Piracci teaches courses such as Art in Motion, Acquisition of Knowledge, Art + the Environment, and Curatorial Practices + Public Art. She also serves as a faculty representative for the Ceramics Club and the new Honors student founded crochet student organization. Her more recent student-collaborative research investigates clay 3D printing as a solution for oyster habitat restoration along seawalls.

Piracci’s artworks have been recognized internationally and locally with exhibitions ranging from California, New York, Taiwan and more. Some of her recent works can be found at Fairgrounds, an immersive art + technology experience museum in the St. Petersburg, the Underwater Museum of Art (UMA), 60 feet down anchored to the floor of the Gulf of Mexico as coral restoration structures off the coast of Grayton Beach State Park, The Salvador in St. Petersburg, and a public commission at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus in Heller Hall. She has been referenced in various publications and her ceramic 3D printing and robotics work will be featured in the upcoming book with Oxford Press, Hands in the Clay, by John Toki and Charlotte Speight.

Piracci researches in partnership with Potters for Peace, striving to find more accessible solutions to clean water via clay and technology developments. She has an ongoing art practice and continues to exhibit artistic research around the world. Her artwork often utilizes clay 3D printing, ceramics, natural materials, environmental restorative efforts, computational design, sculpture, or immersive installation. Each of her projects is an experiment as she strives to merge art with technology. She hopes to integrate these learnings and practices into her classroom through experiential learning and studio-based exercises.