Biography Siena Gillann Porta
Siena Gillann Porta attended the Art Students League at 15, and then the School of Visual Arts and the New School in New York City. She earned a BS in Studio Arts from Brooklyn College, CUNY while studying with Philip Pearlstein, Lee Bonticou, Lennart Anderson, Paul Gianfagna and Sylvia Stone. Siena was awarded a Full Graduate Fellowship at The Pennsylvania State University, and received an MFA in Sculpture.
Currently her work is represented by Noho M55 Gallery, NY, NY, 14 Sculptors Gallery Inc. NY, NY, The National Association of Women Artists, The New York Society of Women Artists, The New York Artists Circle, Artist Equity and Inspiration Art Group International.
Porta has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions throughout the U.S. and abroad at galleries and museums, with installations in New York City, the greater metropolitan area and U.S. national parks. Her university exhibitions include Notre Dame, Lehigh, Adelphi, the New Jersey City University, Manhattanville, Fairleigh Dickinson and NYU. Siena’s public collections include The City of Hveragerdi, Iceland, The Agricultural University of Iceland St. Philip R.C. Church, Norwalk CT, The County of Rockland, NY and The Hafnarborg Cultural Museum, Iceland.
As a Scenic Artist and Lead Scenic Artist since 1986, she created work for numerous Broadway productions, Feature films, Prime-time network television, Netflix and The Metropolitan Opera. She has taught as both an Adjunct Professor of Art and of Contemporary Art at St. Thomas Aquinas College, Bergen Community College and Ramapo College of NJ.
Her biography is listed, among others, in Who's Who in America. She has received grants from The New York Foundation for the Arts, The United States Information Agency and The New York State Council on the Arts. Solo exhibitions include Noho M55 Gallery, Chelsea, 14 Sculptors Gallery, Mercer St., NY and Noho Gallery W. 25th St., NY. Porta has been an Artist in Residence at Brisons Veor in Cornwall, England and Artist in Residence twice at Varmahlid Haus in Hveragerdi, Iceland.
Recent reviews and essays include; Porta’s work and artistic voice have been recently recognized in multiple platforms: she was interviewed on Art in Conversation with Farrin, a YouTube series produced by the National Association of Women Artists (also available on Spotify), and reviewed by Liam Otero in White Hot Magazine (August 2025, Chelsea Exhibition Reviews, New York Society of Women Artists). Her practice is also discussed in Eleanor Heartney’s essay, The Time of Our Lives, published in the NYSWA Centennial Catalog.
Beyond her studio work Porta serves as President of 14 Sculptors Inc., an art collective founded in 1973 as a gallery in Soho, and is both a Board Member and exhibiting artist with the New York Society of Women Artists (NYSWA).
Selected recent exhibitions include: “Showing Up- Acts of Witness” at Noho M55 Gallery“, The Charles B Sifton Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Sculpture for Leonia, The Interchurch Center NYSWA Centennial “Women on the Edge of Time” TALLER BORICUA Gallery, NY, NY, 3/2021., The Hudson Valley Museum (HvMoca) , The Carter Burden Gallery, Manhattan, NY, , The Hammond Museum, Blue Mountain Gallery, NY, Prince Street Gallery , NY, Amherst College - Hampden Gallery, The Akin Museum, Rockaway National Park, St Peters Church, E. 54th Street, NY, Highbridge Park Manhattan, NY, The Howland Center in Beacon, Barrett Art Center, Poughkeepsie NY, The Zerillo - Marimo Gallery at NYU, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Governors Island.
Virtual exhibitions during the time of COVID include, Inspiration Art Group International 2022, “Memory” newyorksocietyofwomenartists.com, “At Risk” 14sculptors.com and “Women on the Edge of Time” TALLER BORICUA Gallery, NY, NY, 3/2021.
S.G.P. 2026