Statement
My work is an investigation of textiles as a form of process art. Applying universal elements of textile methods, I make recursive objects based on an accumulating gesture or connection. Similar to the act of weaving, patterns and structure are dictated by the rules of the process. Through the guiding principles of the grid I am able to find familiar motifs and access familiar aspects of material culture: gem cuts, athletic stripes, studded collars, and patchwork quilts. I converse in the visual languages of minimalism, geometric abstraction, textile tradition and kitsch handicraft as a means of taunting the hierarchy of art and craft.
My current body of work is the result of haptic discovery and material learning, taking a single gesture- twisting party bead necklaces together- and upon that simple action building an extensive vocabulary of processes. Working with party beads allows me to bring camp and visual decadence to formalism while exploring themes of value, taste, & consumption. At the root of this work is the need to find comfort and self-soothing in the obsessive nature of making and to find sensory stimulation in the enticing luster of these woven objects.
Bio
Kelly Dzioba is textile artist currently living and working in Middletown, CT. Her work has been exhibited in the US and internationally at High Tide Project Space in Philadelphia, PA, the Textile Center in Minneapolis, MN, the New Bedford Art Museum in New Bedford, MA and the Chung Young Yang Embroidery Museum in Seoul, South Korea. A graduate of the University of the Arts, Kelly is the recipient of the William Daley Fellowship and the Peters Valley School of Craft Artist Fellowship.