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A Family Matter (Installation)
2010 Handmade gampi
Julie Sirek
Name: Julie
Sirek
City/State: Edina MN
Email: jasirek@gmail.com
Website: www/juliesirek.com
MNartist.org profile: http://www/mnartists.org/Julie_Sirek
City/State: Edina MN
Email: jasirek@gmail.com
Website: www/juliesirek.com
MNartist.org profile: http://www/mnartists.org/Julie_Sirek
Bio~
Julie
Sirek is a visual artist who lives and works in Edina, Minnesota. She received
her BFA in Print Paper Book from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She
was the recipient of the 2010 Minnesota Center for Book Arts/Minneapolis
College of Art and Design Collegiate Fellowship and the Mary Beason Bishop and
Francis Sumner Merrit Scholarship at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Her
work has been exhibited national and internationally.
Julie
uses crochet, embroidery, handmade paper and Joomchi (paper felting), to create
two and three-dimensional works of art that bridge traditional techniques and
contemporary aesthetics. The context of her work promotes awareness of domestic
violence. By bringing
attention to this issue, she hopes to increase awareness and create change.
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A Family Matter (Detail) 2010 Handmade gampi, thread
Tell me about your work? What are you
currently working on? How is this different from past projects?
At the age
of 7, I witnessed my father hitting my mother. This type of behavior continued
and escalated for the next 15 years. I now incorporate my experiences and the
violent experiences of women and girls throughout the world into my work.
I am
currently working on two projects. The first involves victims of domestic homicides
in the United Sates in 2011. I began by screen-printing blank toe tags onto old
tablecloths. A toe tag is normally attached with string to the big toe of a
deceased person in a morgue. It is used for identification purposes. I am now
in the process of embroidering one toe tag for each decedent with her name,
age, gender, and relationship to perpetrator, plus the date, place, and cause
of death. At the end of this project, I will have embroidered approximately
1500 toe tags that will be combined into an installation.
The second
project also revolves around the theme of domestic violence. This
piece will consist of six to eight articles of intimate apparel created from
Joomchi textiles, threads, and yarns. Joomchi is a 500-year-old Korean
papermaking technique. A single sheet of paper is formed from many layers of
Korean mulberry paper, using water and hours of hand agitation. I will also
incorporate spun paper thread and yarn into the work. I will use these threads
and yarns for sewing, embellishing, knitting, and crocheting. I will be making a
scarf, gloves, panties, a slip, and handkerchief. Each will be wrapped or
draped on an individual wire hanger. The items will also show signs of distress
representing the hardships women endure in their lives. This installation will
bear witness to the atrocities being committed against women all around the
world.
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A Family Matter (Detail) 2010 Handmade gampi, thread, staining
How did you decide to become an artist?
Art has been
a constant element in my life since childhood. After graduating from high
school, I went to cosmetology school and became a hair stylist. After doing
that for a period of time, I started making made holiday ornaments that were
sold nationally and internationally. After ten years of making approximately
10,000 items per year, I was totally burned out. I felt like a factory. One day
I could not bear it any longer and decided to become a "real" artist.
I had always wanted to go to art school and I did not want to regret that I had
not gone. I started taking continuing studies classes at Minneapolis College of
Art and Design to develop my portfolio. Two years later, I applied and was
accepted into their BFA program.
What was the best advice given to you as an artist?
The best advice
has been to follow your heart, not your head. It is easier getting up in the
morning when you love what you are doing. I am consistently motivated by the
desire to do the things I love and the success I get from doing them is simply
a bonus. We have all heard it before but it bears repeating. You only live once
and life is too short to be wasting time doing things you do not want to do.
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Femicide Garden (Installation) 2011 Mulberry paper
Many artists struggle to find ways to sell their
art. How do you sell your work? How do you market yourself?
Making a
living as an artist is the dream of almost every artist. You need to be
persistent and learn how to market yourself and your work. In today's world,
documenting your work is extremely important. If you do not have good visual reproductions,
you will find it difficult to get into juried shows or have a good presence on
the Internet. Business cards, postcards and my website (www.juliesirek.com) are vital in
presenting my work. I apply to a lot of shows as a way of getting my work seen
in multiple venues. Also, I cannot over emphasis the importance of a current
mailing list. Everyone in your database is a potential buyer.
I do not
sell a lot of art. I tend to make larger installation pieces that are not
generally fancied by the casual buyer or collector. At this stage in my career,
I am still able to take advantage of the MCAD Art Sale each fall. However, I
need to make specific items to sell at this outlet.
I rely on
the people that I know in the art world. They know my work, my work ethic, and
they are able to recommend me for projects and grants. They know I will not let
them down. For example, these contacts help me secure the commission of
creating the cover dress for Mpls St Paul Magazine’s 40th
anniversary issue. Without having a network of individuals who know me, it
never would have happened.
Dissolving Dream 2011 Mulberry paper
Who are some of the Minnesota artists you
enjoy?
I respond to the work of Erica Spitzer Rasmussen (www.ericaspitzerrasmussen.com), and Karen
Searle (www.karensearle.com). These
women use thread, wire, fabric and handmade paper to create
3-dimensional objects. To me one of the most important elements in art is the
aesthetic. This is what draws me into a piece and makes me take another look. Not
only does their work have an element of beauty, but also it is skillfully
constructed and has meaning. Both women's work demonstrates a high level of technical
skill. I feel the workmanship put into a piece shows the artist’s dedication
and thought process.
If I were to follow you around to see art in
Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?
In addition to www.Local-Artist-Interviews.com,
where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or
to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise?
I do a lot
of web surfing. I am a big fan of the news reader "Zite". I enjoy
randomly scanning artists, galleries and museums from artdaily.org (www.artdaily.org),
artinfo.com (www.artinfo.com), and Colossal
(www.thisiscolossal.com).
Secrets From My Closet 2011 Mulberry paper
Do you have any exhibits to promote in the near future?
My work "A Family
Matter" will be the featured work in the "Family Closet" show at
the Altered Esthetics Gallery from December 6, 2012 – December 20, 2012.
I have also been selected to
participate in the 2013 Fiberart International Exhibition of Contemporary Fiber
Art, at the Society for Contemporary Craft and the Pittsburgh Center for the
Arts, from April 19 to August 18, 2013.
Julie Sirek
Altered Esthetics
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