ARTIST STATEMENT
Wildernization: The Triumph of Overgrowth: Green and sand-colored threads stitched close together in a random, terraced pattern climb over and envelope the structures on the surface of the leaf-shaped silhouette in the same way that wild grapevine, ivy, or kudzu envelope abandoned structures. Nature is tenacious and fecund enough to outlast all human endeavor.
As a Detroit resident for most of my life, I have witnessed the declaration of eminent domain and urban decay happen repeatedly. My awareness of it was buried deep. It wasn’t until this piece was completed that I understood exactly what had surfaced and what it meant.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Dolores S. Slowinski, a long-time resident of Detroit, has a BFA in weaving and ceramics from Wayne State University.
Her work experience includes art writing for national, regional, and local print and electronic magazines as well as serving as an arts administrator and resource person at the state and local level for over 40 years. Slowinski returned to studio practice in 1999 and began showing her work in local, state, and regional galleries in 2005.
Her artwork explores the use of thread as a line in the form of hand-stitched drawings on paper. Most recently her work has been included in three international exhibitions: 23rd International Open, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2020; Shifting Landscapes, Surface Design Association, juried, members exhibition at form & concept gallery in Santa Fe, NM, 2017; and World of Threads Festival 2016 in Oakville/Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. Hers is among the first 100 World of Threads Festival Artist Interviews posted online at worldofthreadsfestival.com
Slowinski’s work has also been included in local and international publications including Textiel Plus,TxP, a Dutch zine focusing on contemporary textile art, 2020; Microsoft Chicago blog post, 2017; Post-Industrial Complex, Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI, 2012; Textiles: The Art of Mankind by Mary Schoeser, Thames & Hudson, London, 2012. During the COVI-19 pandemic, she created a body of 80 miniature, stitched, friezes: Marking Time Series, that she sent to numerous friends and colleagues to subvert the tactile contact usually discouraged when viewing art but so necessary in human experience, especially during pandemic lockdowns.
© Dolores S. Slowinski