Artist Statement
Fiber processes allow me to explore personal and universal feminine identities through the world of materials, iconography, and textile history. My work aims to validate and celebrate femininity. Surface seduction, unrestrained craft, and decoration are a means of overturning cultural structures imposed upon the feminine.
Concepts traditionally associated with fiber processes are also related to those associated with femininity include nurturing, transformation, and the manifestation from abstract into physical. The methodical use of the body results in transcendence of the mind—a release from order. Craft is also important as a counter to the hyper-mediated state of contemporary Western culture and industrially produced objects. This "magic of craft" offers the viewer a gift, a sensual material experience. The use of glitter, ribbons, bows, plastics, and shiny things connote joy, celebration and play, all of which do not fit into a restrained masculine structure, and ultimately intend to validate feminine identities.
Bio
Natalie Grieshammer is an artist, musician, and arts administrator living in Akron, OH. She holds a BFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the Cleveland Institute of Art and an MA in Arts Administration from the University of Akron. At the Cleveland Museum of Art, she currently serves as Member Program Manager in the Stewardship and Donor Relations department. Natalie creates feminist fiber and mixed media art, primarily through weaving, spinning yarn, and digital collaging. A self-taught drummer, she plays in local garage soul and rock ‘n’ roll band, The Dreemers. Natalie is also Strategic Planning Advisor and Partner at Akron Recording Company, a recording studio and record label founded in 2018.
Exhibition History
Solo
2019 Bursting at the Seams, Akron Coffee Roasters, Akron, OH
2019 Bursting at the Seams, BOX Gallery, Akron, OH
2016 Hyper Femme, Land of Plenty, Akron, OH
Group
2019 Live Creative Studio, Corbin Gallery at Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH
2019 CMA Staff Art Show, Transformer Station, Cleveland, OH
2018 Waterloo Arts Juried Exhibition, Waterloo Arts, Cleveland, OH
2018 Art as Armor, Shaker Community Gallery, Cleveland, OH
2016 IN ESSE: Material, Process, and Community, Emily Davis Gallery, Akron, OH
2015 Thread and Mud, Box Gallery, Akron, OH
2015 Close Connections, Praxis Fiber Workshop, Cleveland, OH
2014 Six in the Studio, Cleveland West Artist League, Cleveland, OH
2013 Student Summer Show, Reinberger Gallery, Cleveland, OH
2013 Sprawl, The Art Spot, Cleveland, OH
2013 The Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition, The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
2012 Bazaarbeque Vol. 3, FORUM Artspace, Cleveland, OH
2012 Art Cares.12, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH
Permanent Collections
Artist Book Collection, The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
Curatorial
2016 IN ESSE: Material, Process, and Community, Emily Davis Gallery, Akron, OH
Fiber processes allow me to explore personal and universal feminine identities through the world of materials, iconography, and textile history. My work aims to validate and celebrate femininity. Surface seduction, unrestrained craft, and decoration are a means of overturning cultural structures imposed upon the feminine.
Concepts traditionally associated with fiber processes are also related to those associated with femininity include nurturing, transformation, and the manifestation from abstract into physical. The methodical use of the body results in transcendence of the mind—a release from order. Craft is also important as a counter to the hyper-mediated state of contemporary Western culture and industrially produced objects. This "magic of craft" offers the viewer a gift, a sensual material experience. The use of glitter, ribbons, bows, plastics, and shiny things connote joy, celebration and play, all of which do not fit into a restrained masculine structure, and ultimately intend to validate feminine identities.
Bio
Natalie Grieshammer is an artist, musician, and arts administrator living in Akron, OH. She holds a BFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the Cleveland Institute of Art and an MA in Arts Administration from the University of Akron. At the Cleveland Museum of Art, she currently serves as Member Program Manager in the Stewardship and Donor Relations department. Natalie creates feminist fiber and mixed media art, primarily through weaving, spinning yarn, and digital collaging. A self-taught drummer, she plays in local garage soul and rock ‘n’ roll band, The Dreemers. Natalie is also Strategic Planning Advisor and Partner at Akron Recording Company, a recording studio and record label founded in 2018.
Exhibition History
Solo
2019 Bursting at the Seams, Akron Coffee Roasters, Akron, OH
2019 Bursting at the Seams, BOX Gallery, Akron, OH
2016 Hyper Femme, Land of Plenty, Akron, OH
Group
2019 Live Creative Studio, Corbin Gallery at Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH
2019 CMA Staff Art Show, Transformer Station, Cleveland, OH
2018 Waterloo Arts Juried Exhibition, Waterloo Arts, Cleveland, OH
2018 Art as Armor, Shaker Community Gallery, Cleveland, OH
2016 IN ESSE: Material, Process, and Community, Emily Davis Gallery, Akron, OH
2015 Thread and Mud, Box Gallery, Akron, OH
2015 Close Connections, Praxis Fiber Workshop, Cleveland, OH
2014 Six in the Studio, Cleveland West Artist League, Cleveland, OH
2013 Student Summer Show, Reinberger Gallery, Cleveland, OH
2013 Sprawl, The Art Spot, Cleveland, OH
2013 The Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition, The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
2012 Bazaarbeque Vol. 3, FORUM Artspace, Cleveland, OH
2012 Art Cares.12, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH
Permanent Collections
Artist Book Collection, The Cleveland Institute of Art, Cleveland, OH
Curatorial
2016 IN ESSE: Material, Process, and Community, Emily Davis Gallery, Akron, OH