2016, Deconstructed Turtle Toy, Costume jewelry, embroidery, mixed fibers, 11 × 16 × 9 inches

Artist Statement:

A reconstructed stuffed turtle embellished with elaborate embroidery and a carpet of costume jewelry covering its

shell. Represents the experience of women’s objectification when the effects of aging and the loss of youthful luster require adornment by artificial means.

Artist Bio:

Balancing tradition and innovation I employ needlework to infuse renewed power to craft, engage the senses and explore the human condition. I use textiles to convey stories of loss and constraint primarily in women’s lives. Attracted to color and texture, my durational process embraces the ideals of labor and community. I’ve recently introduced ceramics commingling rigid forms with fibers to create vessels that don’t hold water but instead contain stories embodying domestic life.

Aspiring to David Pye’s Workmanship of Risk my final products are not predetermined and controlled from the outset. In contrast they depend on my judgment, dexterity and care during the process of making. It is the direct contact between me and the material that connects to earth and authenticity. I read the rawness and state of unfinish as tenderness and challenge the pristine uniformity of mass-production as the nullification of expression.

Jodi Colella exhibits and teaches internationally. She is a member of Boston Sculptors Gallery and the recipient of a 2019 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship Award for Sculpture.

Her exhibitions include The Textile Museum in Washington D.C.; Textile Center, Minneapolis; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton; World of Threads, Toronto; and Da Wang Culture Highland in Shenzhen China among others. She has collaborated on several public art projects, and her work is held in multiple museum collections. Recently interviewed for WGBH’s Open Studio with Jared Bowen, her work has featured in The Boston Globe, Surface Design Journal, The Woven Tale Press, Vasari 21, Artistry in Fiber, POSIT and TextileArtist.org.