Marcela Panasiti's work marries painting and sculpture through the use of adobe; sun-dried earth or alluvial clay often mixed with straw, as an art medium. Indigenous to the desert, her two and three-dimensional structures combine a variety of texture or grain with additives of stone, horse hair, feathers, bone and straw. Minerals are added for color and patina. A laborious process, results range from smooth, almost glazed surfaces, to parched, cracked and weathered "murals."

Marcela's work is deeply influenced by primitive art and the search for simplicity of expression, using red, dark brown and white soil from Sedona. Results are contemporary, abstract, and richly layered work, ranging in value from light to dark, using warm or cool colors that reflect the richness of the earth.

Born in Mendoza, Argentina, she worked as an art coordinator for the Museum of Modern Art and Cultura de Mendoza and participated in exhibitions in Argentina and Chile. She also taught art at the Spanish College in Mendoza before coming to the U.S. in 1993. Marcela's work can be found in more than 400 collections throughout the U.S.