July 10 – September 1, 2023 | Geoffrey A. Wolpert Gallery
nice to meet you: works by the 2023-24 artists-in-residence: rosie amato, marissa childers, karena “kidd” graves, m. kobe, and dongyi wu
Drawing from sources of memory and experiences of girlhood and womanhood, I devise fragmented and abstracted narratives centered around small hand-modeled figures cast in silver and bronze. The inherently relational quality of the figure is paramount to my work, as the metal figures are regarded simultaneously as object, by virtue of their material, and as beings, by virtue of their gesture and emotivity. I describe their environments through the design and functional elements transposing the vignettes into pieces of wearable jewelry, constructing a small world on the space of the body. Wearability is an integral aspect of the work, as the juxtaposition of the cast metal figures against the human body of the wearer activates their small scale, material, and corporeality. In turn, the piece transforms the body into a site for storytelling, projecting the emotion and tone of each piece onto the wearer as a sort of “narrative adornment” extending from and beyond the aesthetic qualities of the piece.
My work explores moments of connection and intimacy while celebrating femininity and craft found within domestic spaces. I believe pottery plays such an important role in our society as it enriches everyday objects with purpose and beauty. Whether creating a dish to celebrate a meal or adorning the wall to reminisce about a small moment, my artwork is built to honor and enhance our daily rituals.
I’m often inspired by the things which society deems as ‘craft’ or ‘feminine’ such as quilting, sewing, and decoration. These domestic activities heavily influence the work I create and further inform my building process. The various textures and patterns used are intended to evoke a sense of joy and nostalgic comfort, while small hidden details draw you in for a closer look. I strive to make artwork that is elegant yet inviting to the touch so it may be easily woven into the lives of others.
As I reflect upon and process these smaller moments, I am given room to navigate old and new identities within my own narrative. My work not only allows me to pay homage to where I am from but also helps me understand the world around me and the place in which I belong as a woman and an artist.
Karena “Kidd” Graves is a multidisciplinary artist from Greensboro, North Carolina. They received their MFA in sculpture from East Carolina University. Kidd’s interest and research are currently focused on African American dream symbolism, folklore, and storytelling. Their art practice consists of creating sculptural assemblages, woven and tufted textiles, and public art.
M. Kobe (she/they) is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She earned a BFA in Painting, a BA in Art History from Louisiana State University, and an MFA in Painting from Boston University. Kobe is a multi-disciplinary artist working with notions of history and superstition. Kobe makes much of her work with found natural materials, clay, and charred bones from family meals. Drawing upon her experiences growing up in the American South, her paintings and sculptures contend with the spiritual mythologies of her upbringing, notions of home, and cultural inheritance. Kobe received the 2023 Esther B. and Albert S. Kahn Career Entry Award and was a recipient of the BU Women’s Council Scholarship, the Constantin Alajalov Visual Art Scholarship, and the Michael Crespo Memorial Scholarship.
As an artist from the American South, primarily Louisiana and North Carolina, I make work that is informed by my own natural history and questions what it means to live in these regions now. Building off the myths of my religious upbringing, folk tales taught in elementary school, and my love for country music, I navigate these superstitions and examine what it means to write my own.
My work functions as reminders of finitude, pointing to the urgency of the present, of living. The art objects I make, paintings and sculptures, are embedded with found materials imbued with personal narrative. The forms in my work often resemble holes, portals, and tombs, referencing death while suggesting the potential for something more porous. As a symbol and motif, birds represent this space and exist somewhere between the earth and the sky.
Materials like cooking, music, and storytelling contain the capacity for connection, culture, history, heritage, and critique. I use clay and pine needles from my parents’ land in North Carolina, inks I make from acorns and walnuts found while walking, rocks and objects collected from creek beds, mud from the bed of the Mississippi River, and charred bones from family meals. Each material undergoes a process of distillation, envelopment, or physical alteration. The act of transforming and redeeming these materials promises an opportunity for transcendence. They become more than memento mori, more than a reminder of death, and can hold a history that extends beyond my own lifetime, both before and after.
I am learning what it means to love a place that can be hard to love, to love a landscape that loves me back. I make my work with gratitude and admiration and as a critical yet redemptive response to the complicated places I call home.
Dongyi Wu (she, her) is a contemporary jewelry artist who fascinates playing with a wide range of materials, and giving them special texture, distinct tactile, and new meaning in the process of her wearable artwork creation. Collecting her ideas from literature books, her own experiences, and researches of psychology, Dongyi lets free imagination and inspiration guide her in designing the object to wear. Since 2017, Dongyi has explored a project called “Access to unknown worlds.” The “Access to Unknown World” series expresses the complexity and contradiction of emotions in the dreamland in a surreal way. Dongyi believes the emotions accumulating in the daytime are the motivating force of dreams. We may get inspiration from our emotions and further accomplish them by our experiences, which allow us to create various pictures in each of our dreams. The shapes of animals are one of the most typical elements built by the emotions in our imagination. When different animals combine together, they can seem like the symbol of complexity and contradiction of our emotions. For the same reason, Dongyi designed the base decorated with a spiral texture that seems to guide the animals to the dreamland under the unknown power. Influenced by that, the animal forms are shaped to absurd and surreal images: when the zebra’s body comes to one side, the pig’s head appears on the other one.
Dongyi Wu was born and raised in China. She is a contemporary jewelry artist, who currently lives in Gatlinburg and works as an artist-in-residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Dongyi received her Master’s Degree from Rochester Institute of Technology in the United States, and her Bachelor’s Degree from Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology in China.
Dongyi has her works shown nationally and internationally, such as JOYA 2020 in Barcelona and Schmuck 2018 in Munich. She was one of the winners of Preziosa Young 2020 in Italy, the finalist for the LEAP award in the United States in 2019, and the finalist for the ENJOIA’T 2017 Contemporary Jewellery Award in Spain in 2017. Her works have also been featured in many publications, such as Chinese Contemporary Jewelry Design, New Brooches, Autor Magazine#5 and #6, Jewelry and Metalsmithing Survey, Vol.1, Original Jewelry Design. Her piece is permanently collected by Le Arti Orafe Jewellery School & Academy, in Florence, Italy.
Website: www.dongyiwu.com
Instagram: @dongyi.w
