BRENDA MCLERAN
BRENDA MCLERAN
Founder of Pacifico Ceramics
My journey from canvas to clay
My introduction to art was a childhood gift: at the age of five, my grandmother Aida Stone McLeran arranged for a visual artist to come to our home and give me private painting lessons. That early exposure stuck with me, and I continued to paint throughout high school, starting by trying to replicate the large-scale flower paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe.
In 2021, I decided to formally pursue my passion and enrolled in the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). I initially focused on figure painting, primarily featuring the male form, a body of work so successful that almost all of those early nude paintings were sold. During my second year at SFAI, I broadened my major to include photography, which led to an ongoing series of black and white self-portraits. I was primarily searching for my identity, not only as an artist but also as a woman.
The Detour to Rome and Wine
My lifelong love for Italy soon called me back. Since my first visit at 18, I knew I’d return. I booked a solo trip in 2000 with plans to study language in Rome and then fresco painting in Florence. The Roman experience captivated me—I ended up staying for a year, exploring Roma and studying Italian and Ancient Roman Art History. I needed to deepen my language skills, so I moved to Perugia and enrolled at the University for Foreigners to become truly fluent. I desired not to be just a tourist, but a local artist able to survive living in Italy. In Perugia, I also took a brief fresco painting class in a small bottega, but that medium didn’t resonate with me.
One afternoon, while attending a wine tasting, the world of wine opened its door. I enrolled in the demanding Italian Sommelier course. A year and a half later, I met my future husband, Graziano, during one of the final sommelier tastings. Together, we settled in the small town of Spello, and in 2012, I opened my own wine shop, Vinosofia.
The Call of Clay
While running Vinosofia, I had a quiet epiphany that led me back to art. While researching merchandise, I conceptualized a terracotta wine cooler and started volunteering at a local center for special needs adults who worked with clay. Although the wine cooler proved too complicated to realize, my time there was invaluable: I discovered the amazing power of art therapy and the profound calm that came from working with clay. I realized I had an underlying desire to return to a tactile medium.
In 2018, Graziano took over the business, finally giving me the window to return to my art practice. I began taking ceramics courses in nearby Deruta. These brief classes affirmed my true passion and the desire to learn how to throw on the wheel. Finding in-depth pottery courses was challenging, but I discovered La Meridiana, an International Ceramic School just two hours away. I immediately got on the waiting list for their intensive throwing programs.
In 2020, an incredible opportunity opened up, and I enrolled in a two-month throwing and decoration residency. That experience changed my life. I have since returned to La Meridiana six times to continuously enrich my skills as a ceramic artist.
Today, I can see myself spending the rest of my life working with clay; it makes me utterly content. Vinosofia is now more than just a wine shop where Graziano pursues his passion; it is also a pottery shop where I can show and sell my craft. This marriage of wine and clay is a true match made in heaven.