Juror for the Ottawa Guild of Potters’ 2023 Annual Juried Exhibition

Angelo di Petta was born in Colle d’Anchise, which is located in the Molise region of central Italy, and immigrated to Toronto with his family in 1956. He majored in ceramics at the Ontario College of Art, graduating in 1972. He was awarded three scholarships to study industrial ceramics in Faenza, Italy in 1973 and 1975.

From 1975 to 2012 he taught at the Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University), teaching courses in; mould-making, domestic ceramics, ceramic materials, 3D design, applied imagery and surface and rendering/drawing. di Petta has also shared his knowledge, expertise and experience through workshops and lectures in Canada and the United States. He has been the subject of various articles and his work has been published in numerous books and magazines on ceramics.

di Petta has exhibited his work through numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally. He has also executed major public commissions in Canada and the United States.

A solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Peterborough, in Peterborough Ontario in 2004 consisted of a single, site-specific piece installation called Torcitura. Measuring fifty feet by one foot the piece cut diagonally across the gallery floor and space. “di Petta has created an abstract form with the illusion that the piece is an outcome of a natural process occurring over time” wrote Joan McNeil in the exhibition brochure. 

Since his retirement from formal teaching in 2012 di Petta has continued his involvement in ceramics through exhibitions, workshops, mentoring and jurying shows. He has also been a technical mentor to several artists, including An Te Liu, who have wanted to make ceramic forms. 

di Petta resides with his family, in a country setting near Millbrook, Ontario located northeast of Toronto. His daily interaction with this rural environment, its subtleties of landscape and seasonal changes, is reflected in much of his most recent work.