Lisa Belsky | LUX Center for the Arts | Art Gallery, Classes, Summer Camps & Outreach
 

Lisa Belsky

Lisa Belsky

Artist
Profile Location
Philadelphia , PA
Biography

Lisa Belsky is a studio artist and art educator. She received her BFA from Tyler School of Art and her MFA from Ohio State University. She has taught in a variety of academic settings including the Columbus College of Art and Design, Ohio State University, Otterbein University and several community art centers. In 2017, she was recognized as one of Ceramics Monthly Magazine’s Emerging Artists. She exhibits her artwork across the country and has been featured in publications in the United States and internationally. She has received several awards for her artwork and was the recipient of the Individual Artist Fellowship from the Ohio Arts Council. Belsky’s artwork explores the intersection between fiber and clay, using hand knit and crocheted cotton dipped in porcelain slip. Knitting and crocheting has been an important part of her life since childhood and was passed down through generations of women in her family. It represents family, connection, the preservation of memory and traditions and the passage of time.

Artist Statement

The art of knitting and crocheting was passed down through generations of women in my family and has been an important part of my life since childhood. Great Grandmothers and Great Aunts on both sides of my family often used the skills to make garments or decorative elements for the home. My mother was the one who taught me when I was six years old. When I knit or crochet, it provides me with a strong sense of nostalgia and a connection to family. My work explores ideas of preservation, memory, and transformation in both a metaphorical sense and in a physical sense. Each piece begins with hand knit or crocheted fabric. I utilize a combination of deconstructed garment patterns and traditional stitches to explore form. The fiber is soaked in porcelain slip to imbed the material with clay. During the firing process the original fabric burns away and the porcelain solidifies, leaving behind a remnant or record of what was once there. The stitches, now preserved as clay, become the structure and texture of the new object. The pieces all go through some degree of stress, strain and trauma during firing, which causes folding, slumping, split seams and even collapse. I welcome these changes and view them as an important layer of the work.

Medium
Ceramics
Fiber / Textiles
 
 

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