Artists' Fellowship - 2005
Crafts
Artist Statement:
This work is about remembering and holding meaning.
The objects depicted are personal; each one is a kind of magnet for complex information from life experiences. At the same time, these same objects can appear to be ‘found objects,’ seemingly precious things plucked from the jet stream of lives – any person’s kitsch. Each object is presented both in textile and digital formats.
It is interesting to me how unexpected objects trigger the memory of a loved one who has died. There are of course the expected associations. And, there are the more powerful experiences like when picking up a toy tank from under a sofa will trigger a specific memory of a specific person telling a joke. This is the crux of this work – that melancholy moment of the recognition of the gifts of loving a person being revealed while simultaneously being hit by the fact that they are only present in memory.
The images used represent only the shape of these objects, like placeholders in the mind. These imbedded associations that will open up memories when the object that fits the ‘place-holder’ enough is ‘found’ or encountered. The evolution of the images to knit ‘blanket’ forms references sleep, and the unconscious, and the depth at which these associations live. The work speaks to aspects of identity and time and connections that are made -- retained and lost and transformed. In each piece images of found objects become icons of an event of the day or something that happened weeks or years ago – like a tiny rubber band from a small paper umbrella my son brought through, or a leaf that snuck its way in on a sole of a shoe.
I am curious about the value of revealed histories and in turn self-knowledge that speak through objects from a past. Many of ‘my’ objects appear as precious as they are and some do not. The juxtapositions of these objects is both conceptually and formally driven, and my goal is that the work speaks not to superficial nostalgia, but to quiet and often melancholy truths.
More about the Artist:
I am the Chair of the department of Art at Syracuse University, where I am also the coordinator of the Fibers/Materials Studies Program. I am currently represented by Julie: Artisan’s Gallery on Madison Avenue in New York City, Gayle Wilson Gallery, Southampton, NY and Eureka Gallery, Syracuse, NY.
My recent exhibitions include the 5th Gwangju Biennale International Art to Wear Exhibition, Korea; Under One Roof, SOHO 20, NY, NY; Convergence/Divergence, Goldstein Museum of Design, University of Minnesota, St Paul, MN; and Material Evidence at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, NY. Recent Publications include the Fiberarts Book of Wearable Art, and the Fiber Arts Design Book.
My current Community Art Project is in collaboration with the Learning Disability Association of Central New York and the Everson Museum of Art. The children who came to the project through the LDA created artworks inspired by the museum collections, and learned Photoshop to create composite designs that included self-portraits. This work is being printed in poster form.
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