Katya: NOthing 1

On display at Assemble Gallery & Studio in Seattle WA in a group show, "This Will Be Our Year (Took a Long Time to Come)." January 14th, 2011 through February 8th, 2011. NOthing 1
Nylon & fiber fil
$1,000
2010

STATEMENT: I primarily use embroidery and knitting as three-dimensional image-making tools, although other fibers play a strong part in my art as well. Fiber work is a timeless forms of human expression with a hidden history. Long seen solely as utilitarian women’s work, it is once again making inroads into the gallery world. My art seeks to build on the work of past feminists and talk about the significance of femininity, family and tradition, while re-introducing fiber arts to the contemporary art realm. In this way, THIS WILL BE our year, for fiber art!

Drawing on Louise Bourgeois’ sewn assemblage sculptures, among other sources, I made this abstract piece using nylon stockings entitled 'NOthing' - referencing a certain female body part. My hope is to inspire a dialogue about the social ideals for women. Moreover, the shape further mimics a woman's own body as vessel. This hive like creation is part womb, part nest. The feeling it evokes can perhaps tell the viewer something about their own ideas on femininity.

artist's statement

My family immigrated from Minsk, Belarus to the suburbs of Cleveland in 1992, when I was 11 years old. This major transition made me feel like a fish out of water for most of my awkward teenage years and it really wasn’t until I embraced my roots that I felt like I could develop my own voice.

I am a fiber artist. I use thread and yarn as three-dimensional image-making tools. Embroidery and knitting are timeless forms of human expression that have a hidden history. Seen as mere women’s work, and solely utilitarian, they were not welcomed into the gallery world. My work seeks to build on these notions of femininity, family and tradition, while introducing fiber arts into the contemporary art realm.

I feel empowered to use art-making techniques taught to me by my grandmother, and through disciplines I learned in art school, transform them and create something new. For one, I enjoy using a once-silent, “women’s art form” to create dynamic portraits of women in my life who inspire me. The slow meditative process and repetitive motion of the art form feel natural and organic and I see it almost as a form of resistance against the pace of contemporary life.

-Katya Usvitsky
© All right reserved.

NOthing 1

CATEGORIES

artist's statement

artists I know and like