Jodi Colella: But It Doesn’t Hold Water

When:
Thursday, Nov 09, 2023 11:00a -
Sunday, Dec 10, 2023 5:00p

Where:
Boston Sculptors Gallery
486 Harrison Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02118

EventScheduled OfflineEventAttendanceMode

Admission:
FREE

Hosted by:
joyraft.host26475 Kathleen

Categories:
Art

Event website:
bostonsculptors.org

But It Doesn’t Hold Water, Jodi Colella’s third solo exhibition at Boston Sculptors Gallery, marks an exciting new direction for the artist as she introduces ceramics to her expansive repertoire of skills and techniques. Known primarily for her work centering around fiber and textiles, Colella intermingles her acts of craft and care with hard clay vessels, exposing an introspective moment in her practice.


Vessels, which historically functioned as containers for sustenance, here cannot hold water. Defying the rules of engagement, Colella pushes the clay against stress and breaking points before it hardens to solid form. The results are lumpy and misshapen, riven with cracks and orifices. They feel vulnerable, fungible and porous to the world. In a signature gesture of mending, she stitches them with thread and adds bits from her trove of domestic materialities – quilts, drapes, upholstery, clothing, unfinished needlepoint, and toys. Colella contrasts rigid with soft, rawness with refinement, and invites a state of “unfinish” that reads as tenderness.


In this exhibition, the pointed exterior narrative, so crucial to the artist’s prior work, has come undone. Instead, Colella’s deliberate acts of control and resistance unravel to reveal an interiority previously tightly protected. The work in But It Doesn’t Hold Water quietly embodies both the frailty and the strength of surrender.


Colella’s exhibitions include The Textile Museum in Washington D.C.; Textile Center, Minneapolis; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton; Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham; and Da Wang Culture Highland in Shenzhen China. She has collaborated on several public art projects, and her work is held in multiple museum collections. Colella has featured in The Boston Globe, Surface Design Journal, The Woven Tale Press, Vasari 21, Artistry in Fiber, and TextileArtist.org. She is the recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship and the founder of Fiberlab.


Jodi Colella: But It Doesn’t Hold Water runs concurrently with Roya Amigh: Beyond Us.


Artists’ Reception &Talks

Saturday, November 11, 2 – 5pm. Talks at 3pm

with guest artist/curator Patricia Miranda


Artist Meet & Greets

November 11, 25 & December 10, 11am – 5pm


First Friday Reception

December 1, 5 - 8:30pm

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11/09/2023 11:00:00 12/10/2023 17:00:00 America/New_York Jodi Colella: But It Doesn’t Hold Water <p><em>But It Doesn’t Hold Water</em>, Jodi Colella’s third solo exhibition at Boston Sculptors Gallery, marks an exciting new direction for the artist as she introduces ceramics to her expansive r... Boston Sculptors Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts 02118 false MM/DD/YYYY

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