Bonnie Guercio

Bonnie Guercio has been a mixed-media collage artist for more than 25 years. Initially focused on creating pottery she develop appreciation for paper used in collage when working with a college professor who was an expert in paper conservation and museum practices. Thanks to her training, she worked for The Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester New York as a paper conservator while I was still in college.

After graduating she returned to pottery making, taking more pottery classes. In the 19xx’s Bonnie taught pottery at the Arts and Science Center in Nashua, and in 1987, she was hired to be the art teacher for Clearway Alternative High School in Nashua. With no water in the art classroom, it was difficult if not impossible to teach pottery and many other types of art. Her first project at Clearway was to instruct students about the art of collage and to have them create a “visual autobiography” – a collage all about them. This brought her love and interest in art created with paper “back off the shelf” and she has been working with it ever since.

Bonnie retired from teaching after 20 years at Clearway and took classes to incorporate digital images with the exotic papers she collected. One wonderful day in 19xx she moved into studio space in the original Picker Building in the historic Nashua Millyard and in 2016 she moved with the other Picker Artists to a studio in the current Picker Building across the street. Being part of this arts group has helped her practice grow.

According to Bonnie, paper is one of the strongest, longest-lived, flexible, and most beautiful mediums with which to create art. You can use just about anything to tape, glue, sew, staple, or somehow adhere it to a backing of paper or canvas. Acrylic paint, graphite, crayon, ink, and colored pencils work well with the and are infinitely forgiving. Bonnie is committed to helping the arts thrive by being a long-time board member of City Arts Nashua and the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium, as well as serving on the Nashua Arts Commission. From 2011 – 2018.