ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist, I am fascinated by the thought of building with soft, finite materials.The impermanent and imperfect nature of the soft sculpture parallels not only my experiences as a queer woman, but the universal fragility we all feel. This material provides an opportunity to talk about the often complex, wordless happenings that lead to violence towards oppressed peoples when living in a white patriarchal society.
Heavily tied to content and material, my work is an updated extension of the feminist art of the 1970’s. Through an intersectional lense, I critique the institutions and societal practices that aim to maintain the status quo, including those in my personal narrative.
All materials I use are intentionally terminable and often second hand. Reusing material, especially fabric, not only connects me back to the lineage of past queer studio crafters, but also to the long history of women as makers and unrecognized masters in the art world.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Megan Roethler attended the University of Northern Iowa, majoring in fine arts and minoring in art history. After four years, she graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and certification in museum studies. Her work heavily focuses on hand-sewn sculptures and the incorporation of recycled, impermanent material.
The subtext of Roethler’s work is often on the parallel power dynamics of the art world and outside society, the alienation of “craft” from art history, the subsequent isolation of women and queer makers, and the violence stemming from white patriarchy.
Roethler’s work has been exhibited in several locations such as, Woman Made Gallery; Chicago IL, The Dubuque Museum of Art; Dubuque IA, The Charles H. MacNider Art Museum; Mason City IA. She received the Guillaume Grant in 2019 and was featured in the Fall 2019 issue of Uprising Magazine.
© Megan Roethler