Save the date for Riley's workshop on stuffed animal-making! On February 28, 2pm - 4:30pm.
"My work seeks to explore the relationships and attachments people form with inanimate objects. Despite the outward mundanity of everyday items, the bonds humans tend to form with them are often deep, profound, and entirely unique to the individual. A blanket used to shreds, a preferred utensil, or a family heirloom can hold little value to one, yet be essential to another.
I aim to replicate this attachment and present it to the viewer by rearranging and modifying simplistic objects in order to elicit a new emotional response. My first attempt at this has been to use two chair frames, spending the greater part of a year physically connecting them through a multi-layered process of weaving, wet felting, and knit upholstery. Through the time, dedication, and care of this project, I am replicating the emotional bonds that humans often form with everyday objects—that is, in their simple ritualistic use.
My preferred mediums are knit and wool stuffing, which allow me to distort proportions and silhouette. Using fiber to encase, suspend, or connect objects allows me to subvert their structure and functionality. Through my work, I hope that my viewer is presented with a mirror to their own material attachment and devotion, inciting them to contemplate their own ties and expectation of what importance these objects hold."
Riley Grossman is a multidisciplinary artist based in Queens, NY. During their time at The Fashion Institute of Technology and Central Saint Martins, Riley studied fashion design with a specialization in knitwear. Riley’s work centers around exploring the form of both body and object, in an effort to better understand the way fiber interacts with the subject. This is demonstrated in structures that cocoon the body, physically connect people, or distort proportions through stuffing. Beyond garment making, Riley utilizes objects to achieve their signature bulbous silhouettes through mediums of wire, collage, or stuffed animals. Their work presents the viewer with unfamiliar usage of familiar materials, challenging the way in which the viewer is able to interact with and understand structure. Through exploring the infinite shapes a form can take, Riley presents the peculiar as the intimate.
We welcome Dayeon to the studio as our January WIP resident!
You can visit her studio on Sundays from 2pm to 5pm.
Textile Arts Center’s Work in Progress (TAC WIP) is a window into the studio practice of contemporary artists and designers that engages the public in a dialogue with the field of textiles.