Andrea Myers

Fiber Department
Student

Web page(s)

andreamyersartist.com

2006 MFA Fellowship Recipient

Background

Education
2006 MFA, Fiber and Material Studies, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Awards
MFA Fellowship, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Artist in Residency program, Contemporary Artist’s Center, North Adams, MA 2005, Scholarship recipient, the Union League Club of Chicago, 2005, John Quincy Adams Fellowship, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2002, Nippon Steel, tuition stipend, 2001

Exhibitions
2006 New Work: Jeff Beebe and Andrea Myers, (two-person), Lisa Boyle Gallery, Chicago, IL, 18th Evanston and Vicinity Biennial, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL, New American Talent: The Twenty-First Exhibition, Arthouse at the Jones Center, Austin, TX (Two year traveling exhibition), Graduate Exhibitions and Time Arts Events, Gallery 2, SAIC, Out of paint: traditional is non-traditional, Kuhn Gallery, the Ohio State University, Marion, OH

Personal statement

Within my artistic practice, I maintain an interest in exploring the space between two-dimensional and three-dimensional realms, hybridizing painting, sculpture, and printmaking. I employ painting as a matrix to work against and to stretch into the areas of other mediums. I look to painting to inspire color and form, extracting the formal qualities to reinvent the boundaries of painting.

I am engaged in the physical and material processes of constructing pieces that exist between painting and sculpture and my work is continually driven by contrasts in materiality, form and scale. My work is informed by varying degrees of tensions and contrasts, specifically, contrasts in materiality, form and scale, but extending into emotive polarizations, such as strong versus weak, introverted versus extroverted. My current work is constructed by layering two-dimensional materials, namely fabric and wood, repeatedly to create three-dimensional forms. I continue to expand upon my softer, more playful and imaginative approach to formalism, fusing elements of painting and sculpture into pieces that subtly challenge viewer’s expectations.

Current Interests

After graduating from SAIC, I moved into a studio space at the Contemporary Art Workshop, in Lincoln Park. It’s a great space and I can ride my bike there. I am also going to be teaching an “experimental printmaking” class for Anchor Graphics at Columbia College in the fall. I have some exhibitions coming up in Chicago and around the country. In September, I will be in a two-person show at Lisa Boyle Gallery in Chicago. I will also be involved in an exhibition in Houston, Texas in September, through Chicago curators Jeff Ward and Shannon Stratton. The most important thing to me is to keep making work and to keep constantly looking and drawing ideas form everyday observations, experiences and materials.

Experience at SAIC

I originally moved to Chicago in 2000, to transfer to SAIC, hoping to finally finish my meandering time as an undergraduate. I had two years left, and during that time, the School cultivated how I viewed my future as a practicing artist. I was amazed how dedicated the faculty was to teaching and their own artmaking. The teachers I had inspired me to one day continue on to graduate school, and since I only spent two years at SAIC as an undergraduate, I knew I wanted to apply there again for graduate school.

In 2004, I entered into graduate school through the Fiber and Material Studies department. I know I am biased, but I feel it is one of the best departments in the entire school. The “Material Studies” part of the department allows for a truly interdisciplinary approach to artmaking. My peers in the Fiber department experimented with video, performance, painting, and anything else you can think of, creating a dynamic mix in one small group of students. Because the history of Contemporary Fiber Art is young and the faculty within the department is so diverse in their own artistic pursuits, as students, we had full support and permission to freely explore new hybrids of artmaking. I also loved the option to advise with faculty outside of my department, including Printmedia and Painting. The best and biggest part of the MFA program at the School is you make it what you want and need it to be for you.