ARTIST STATEMENT
For a number of years I have focused on making sculpture and two dimensional works by cutting out forms in canvas and then stuffing and sewing the forms together. I cover these forms by drawing on them with thread or by covering them with fabric. The work is figurative but influenced by abstract art and varies in size from small individual pieces to installation. The art work is political and is made in reaction to the encroaching fascism in our country. The work is about equality, immigrant rights, due process and free speech. I am hopeful that my work communicates and educates others about this unsettling time and inspires action.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Patricia Dahlman has received a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship in Crafts, three Creative Catalyst Fund Grants from the City of Newark, a New Jersey Printmaking Fellowship to the Brodsky Center and two Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation Fellowships to attend Vermont Studio Center and Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Dahlman’s work has been exhibited at venues including George Adams Gallery, NYC, Jersey City Museum, Montclair Art Museum, Newark Museum of Art and Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ. Dahlman has completed site-specific projects for the New York Public Library and also “Windows of Understanding: We See Through Hate” in New Brunswick, NJ. She has also participated in residencies at Yaddo in Sarotoga Springs, NY and Slak Ateliers in Arnhem, Netherlands. Dahlman currently maintains a studio at Project for Empty Space in Newark, NJ.
© Patricia Dahlman