Of all the career paths that an artist might explore, the field of dental restorations is an unexpected one. But for Ellen Theresa Sisti, TYL ’21, it makes perfect sense.
“My master’s is in wearables, and what I’m making right now is the ultimate wearable!” she explained. “It’s using all of the skills that I learned in grad school; this is the practical application of them.”
Photo by Photo Credit: Joseph V. Labolito
Temple equipped me with grit and showed me not to give up when things get hard. It also taught me to combine toughness with softness and to show caring and compassion to the people I am working with and for.”
In the fall of 2020, Sisti connected with Amid Ismail, dean at Temple’s Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry, and Ben Topaz, CEO/owner of Golden Ceramic Dental Lab. They saw the value in her 3D modeling experience using various CAD and CAM software, and after being hired, she audited an anatomy class at Temple to get up to speed.
In her current role as lab manager and digital dental technician for Golden Ceramic Dental Lab, the commercial, fully digital dental lab housed within Temple Dental, she creates 3D-printed crowns, bridges and surgical casts. She’s even experimented with prosthetic silicon noses.
Using technology like 3D modeling, CNC milling and laser cutting was integral to Sisti’s fine arts work at Temple. Her thesis project, a gallery piece titled The Essence of Form, was a series of four birch plywood stands that supported four stainless steel vases sliced into tessellating geometric patterns with acrylic mirrors on the surfaces. She crafted these vessels to act as bridges for the viewer between physical and digital worlds.
“I wanted to use these bare-bones materials and forms to create a conduit,” Sisti said. “If you give someone the known, they can go into the unknown. They can start asking questions.”
The interdisciplinary relationship between fine art and technology has always fascinated Sisti. One class in particular, Critiques in Critical Discourse, in which master’s of fine arts students from various disciplines met to critique each other’s work, helped her see those overlaps and intersections come to life.
“We can learn the most when we learn from people who have expertise in different areas,” she said. “I love being surrounded by intelligent people who are passionate about what they do.”
College: Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Degree: MFA, metals/jewelry/CAD-CAM, 2021
Industry: Dentistry
Hometown: Kensington, Maryland
As a preschooler, Ellen told everyone that she would be an artist when she grew up.
In the fall of 2022, Ellen’s MFA thesis project—which had nothing to do with dentistry—was displayed in the office of Jason Wingard, Temple’s president.
Sisti also had an epiphany in an art history class taught by Jen Zwilling, TYL ’01, where she was introduced to the Arts and Crafts movement and its sociopolitical roots.
“They used craft as a way to rebel against the inequities they saw in the world,” she said. “There’s this quote from William Morris: ‘I don’t want art for a few.’ That stuck with me and changed my artwork and how I approach my life professionally.” She views her current work as a direct extension of that philosophy.
“The work I do here at Temple Dental uses technology to help the community of North Philly, which is so deserving of good care and dignity,” she said. “For me, it’s a very egalitarian tool.”
