Artist: C. Pazia Mannella of Philadelphia, PA, USA
Interview 114
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Interviews published and curated by Gareth Bate & Dawne Rudman
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Artist: C. Pazia Mannella. |
Tell us about your work?
The process of creating a work of art is the point of it. I believe the emotion and labour of the maker can be translated to the object. I am fascinated by the structure and potential conceptual application of fibrous materials. I use contemporary and historic techniques and equipment to create a personal and innovative visual language. My artistic intention is to evoke excitement and emotion by subverting mundane, commonplace objects. I am fascinated by the roles textiles play in human experience. Fibre is not unique among cultures, ideological classes, or racial identities. I discovered that I have a wealth of material sources and aesthetic qualities from which I draw inspiration for my tactile sculptures, installations and wearables. Viewers can relate to my work because the materials I use pass through their hand or are worn on their body consistently during their lifetime. My material choices are transformed, due to repetitive construction techniques. My work is sculptural and also can be worn on the body. I explore the temporal, emotional experience and dialogue among artist, wearer and viewer. C. Pazia's website.
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I'll Be Your Mirror, 2008. Mirror paillettes with viewer participation, 5' x 3 ½'. Photo: Matthew Hollerbush |
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Conviction of Vanity, 2010. Mirror paillettes with viewer participation, dimensions variable. Photo credit: Armando Morales. |
Why did you choose to go into fibre art?
I did not grow up with the knowledge of fibre processes. I could do basic garment repair but did not learn knitting, crochet and embroidery at a young age. It is by chance I enrolled in fibre and sculpture courses early in my undergraduate course work. The processes and materials of fibres attracted me. The discovery of the conceptual ideas of contemporary sculpture combined with the craft of fibres allowed me to personally combine these historically separated visual languages to realize my work.
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Swell, (outdoor installation view at The Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences sculpture garden, Loveladies, New Jersey) 2013. Crocheted fluorescent flagging tape and metallic plastic beads, dimensions variable. |
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Swell, detail, (outdoor installation view at The Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences sculpture garden, Loveladies, New Jersey) 2013. Crocheted fluorescent flagging tape and metallic plastic beads, dimensions variable. |
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Swell, detail, (outdoor installation view at The Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences sculpture garden, Loveladies, New Jersey) 2013. Crocheted fluorescent flagging tape and metallic plastic beads, dimensions variable. |
Tell us about the other mediums that you work in and how this informs your fibre work?
Crochet, machine stitching and embroidery are techniques I consistently return to. I realized a few years ago that I could crochet using only my hands, creating larger loops and that has influenced the larger installation work. Originally I was provoked by crochet having the potential to unravel. However, as I have explored this process, it has become about the line of the material constructed through looping and how easily stitches can be increased and decreased to create dynamic structure. Repetitive stitching allows form to build, beginning with the joining of single pieces to create mass. For example both the wearable zipper and coffee filter pieces began with one piece and are seamed again and again to create the whole. Currently, I am developing a body of woven work created on a floor loom. I feel free to source from many fibre and sculpture mediums.
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Adorn (outdoor installation view at St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 2010. Crocheted Glo-Pink fluorescent plastic flagging tape, dimensions variable. |
What specific historic artists have influenced your work?
I am most influenced by artists and writers from the recent past. I am inspired by the individual rebellion of these women.
Eva Hesse – German-born American sculptor: Hesse's experimentation with material and the drape of her sculptures inspire the construction of my work.
Elsa Schiaparelli – Italian fashion designer: Schiaparelli embraced the surreal nature and understanding of novelty in fashion. The power of costume and dress is a theme that is woven throughout the concepts of my work.
Sylvia Plath – American poet: I read the work of Plath at a pivotal time in my life. I felt trapped by expectations of family and societal pressures to conform to a certain version of a contemporary female role. Plath's writing allowed me to confront subjective narratives within my performance work.
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Ribbons and Bows, (installation view at Urban Outfitters Headquarters, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 2011. Crocheted and knotted Glo-Pink fluorescent flagging tape and children's barrettes, dimensions variable. |
What role do you think fibre art plays in contemporary art?
I feel we live in a material world, however, we have lost the necessity and desire to create because of the availability of disposable goods that are industrially made. I feel fine artists who work with craft mediums, including fibres, sustain dialogues and concepts within the visual experience of fine art, craft, architecture, fashion and technology.
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Ribbons and Bows, (installation view at Urban Outfitters Headquarters, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 2011. Crocheted and knotted Glo-Pink fluorescent flagging tape and children's barrettes, dimensions variable. |
Tell us about your training and how you applied what you have learnt?
My fibres professor at Indiana University of Pennsylvania was Fuyuko Matsubara and my sculpture professor was Dr. James Nestor. Both Matsubara and Nestor had a profound impact on my artistic practice. I was young and undisciplined when I started learning weaving and other fibre processes from Matsubara. Matsubara imparted the necessary focus needed to master the craft of fibre arts. I continue to be inspired by the weaving techniques I learned from Matsubara. Nestor unburdened me from aspects of the history of craft and directed the critique of my work through the visual language of contemporary sculpture.
Rebecca Medel was the Program Head of Fibers and Material Studies, Tyler School of Art, Temple University. I continued to develop weaving and off loom skills as her teaching assistant while studying for my MFA. She requested I propose a course from my research on fashion and the body in art. I credit Medel for mentoring my research and focusing my skill as an artist and educator.
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Left: Conviction of Vanity, 2010. Mirror paillettes, dimensions variable. Right: Ideal, 2010. Machine-sewn zippers, dimensions variable. |
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Ideal (detail), 2010. Machine-sewn zippers, dimensions variable. |
From where do you get your inspiration?
Currently, the collision of floral Tudor English textile patterns and the electric rainbow of hues used by 1970's rock artists inspire me. I am researching concert and publicity images of David Bowie and the GTO's (Girls Together Outrageously) and Tudor English embroidery and garment designs. Intense rainbow and neon colours vibrate in my work. Common contemporary materials like zippers, coffee filters, children's barrettes, construction marking tape or mirrored paillattes are transformed to mimic the splendour of historical textiles. I am fascinated how for both time periods, the flamboyance of dress conveyed cultural ideals of power, wealth and will. I am drawn to the idea of fan badges and royal coats of arms. My intention is to illuminate the allegiance and pride in the symbolic representation of specific cultural identities.
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I'll Be Your Mirror, 2008. Mirror paillettes with viewer participation, 5' x 3 ½'. Photo: Matthew Hollerbush |
What specific contemporary artists have influenced your work?
Janine Antoni – Bahamas-born America residing performance artist: Antoni performs using cultural tropes of femininity and the ephemera of beauty maintenance. Floors are painted with hair dipped in hair dye, busts cast in chocolate and soap and licked and lathered by the artist are tenderly erased by the action.
Do-Ho Suh – Korean sculptor and installation artist: Suh's focus on home and how to physically manifest the architecture of a real or invented structure. Sheer suspended fabric constructions, created in a one-to-one scale, are sewn by meticulously seaming each detail of the interior and exterior structure. Seoul Home/L.A. Home/New York Home/Baltimore Home/London Home/Seattle Home, 1999. Silk, 149 x 240 x 240 inches, is a sewn replica of a familiar space for Suh that can be packed and carried in a small personal pack.
Marina Abramović – New York-based Serbian performance artist: I heard Abramović speak when I was an undergraduate student, which influenced my understanding of performance art. I am engrossed in her performances because of her commitment and trust of body as medium and subject.
Experimental fashion designers including Iris van Herpen (Dutch fashion designer), Hussein Chalayan MBE (British/Turkish Cypriot fashion designer) and Lee Alexander McQueen CBE (British fashion designer and couturier) embrace the technology and experimental nature of fashion have also influenced me.
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Medusa, 2008. Machine-sewn zippers, dimensions variable. Photo: C. Pazia Mannella. |
Tell us about your studio and how you work:
My studio is based in my home. I prefer working at home because it allows me to return to the work at anytime of the day and night. Most of my processes are labour intensive so I commit many hours a week to working. It is a great joy for me to work and teach in Tyler School of Art's amazing Fibers and Material Studies studio.
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Your Grace (detail), 2008. Machine-sewn zippers, dimensions variable. Photo: C. Pazia Mannella. |
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Your Grace (detail), 2008. Machine-sewn zippers, dimensions variable. Photo: C. Pazia Mannella. |
When working on site how much do you improvise?
The site always changes the vision for the installation. I work in my small-scale studio so the installation site is often the first time I can see the piece in total and from any distance. I often react to the architecture and drape the work accordingly.
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Give and Receive #23, 2008. Machine-sewn coffee filters stained with blackberry tea and thread, approx. 18" x 10" x 4 ½". |
You do a lot of teaching in fibre media/techniques, etc. What gives you the most satisfaction as a teacher in this field?
I teach and I am the interim program head in the Fibers and Material Studies program, at Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It is extraordinary for me to share the materials and processes of fibre with many students. Consistently teaching a variety of techniques allows me to maintain awareness of the skill involved with the craft of fibres and prevents me from becoming lazy with my muscle memory. I am consistently encouraging my students to development work that addresses both craft and fine art concepts. The Tyler School of Art embraces multidisciplinary practices and I have the opportunity to work with BFA and MFA students from many major concentrations.
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Give and Receive #6, 2008. Machine-sewn coffee filters and thread, approx. 18" x 10" x 4 ½". |
What other fibre artists are you interested in?
Michael Olszewski – American fibre artist: I met Olszewski when he attended my MFA thesis exhibition. His intimate crochet and fabric constructions are formally beautiful and emote the struggles of the human experience.
Anne Wilson – American artist: Wilson's use of domestic materials like hair, pins and thread serve as line in drawing and investigate social systems. I am drawn to Wilson's ability to animate textile materials.
Shelia Hicks – American fibre artist: Hicks' weaving and large-scale sculpture practice draws influence from a broad range of culture. Art is life for Hicks and I aspire to live and have a prolific studio practice like hers.
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Arms #7, 2007. Braided spandex and washers modeled by Andrew Criss, approx. 16" x 8" x 8". |
How did your work evolve into performance art and what was your motivation for trying this medium?
Performance art allows me to bring my body and/or voice directly to the work. The viewer has a body so they can potentially imagine the experience and emotion of my actions. For me endurance and repetitive movements or sounds create a meditative space, which I ephemerally inhabit and invite the viewer to witness.
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Arms #7, 2007. Braided spandex and washers modeled by Andrew Criss, approx. 16" x 8" x 8". |
What interests you about the World of Threads festival?
I have learned more about the art of many contemporary fibre artists and shared the interviews from the Weekly Fibre Artist Interviews series with my students. I hope I have the opportunity to exhibit in a future Worlds of Thread Festival.
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Behave (installation view at University of Delaware Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 2011. Crocheted and knitted fluorescent flagging tape, raw silk, ribbon, and children's barrettes, dimensions variable. |
Is there something else you would like us to know about you or your art that we have not covered?
Recently I began experimenting with translating images of my large-scale installations through the software and stitching of a Pfaff digital embroidery machine. I find by recreating this work in a smaller scale using a technological medium, allows me to interpret the work in different ways.
In April 2014 I participated in a two-person exhibition with photographer, Tamsen Wojtanowski, a Philadelphia, PA based photography, mixed media, and assemblage artist. Wojtanowski, a friend and peer from graduate school, is a member of the collectively run project space NAPOLEON, located in Philadelphia. Wojtanowski and I have been exchanging art through the mail for the past several months. The work received directly influences the next posted art piece. This exhibition was the culmination of this exchange.
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Adorn (indoor installation view at St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 2010. Crocheted Glo-Pink fluorescent plastic flagging tape, dimensions variable. |
Do you have any upcoming shows?
Swell is an outdoor installation on view at The Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences sculpture garden, Loveladies, New Jersey, from fall 2013 until summer 2014. Crocheting fluorescent flagging tape using the hand instead of a crochet hook created this large-scale work. The additions of crochet stitches; created through looping, increased each row causing the ruffling in the plastic. Metallic beads are present in mass to decoratively weight the work. I am especially interested in how the piece will be eroded by the seasonal changes in weather on the island. The materials are made for outdoor use, but I imagine will become worn and embedded to the sand and grass it rests upon. This work reflects upon adornment of outdoor space over time and the undulation of textile drapery, waves, and wind.
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Interviews published by Gareth Bate & Dawne Rudman.