Nadya Volicer

Artist Statement
My textile sculptures, installations and portraits focus on a fragmented family history. Curious about how my parents fled their respective homes, I developed a pack rat’s impulse to collect what was left behind. The photographs, documents and objects from former Czechoslovakia, Iowa, and Boston are tiny windows onto the past that I scan for connecting threads. Using craft techniques such as embroidery and applique, with repurposed clothes and fabric, I stitch together images of ancestors, handwriting and elements from nature. I combine figures who did not coexist or merge multiple depictions of the same person at different ages. By relaxing the rules of chronology and context, I imagine unspoken histories, assemble scattered fragments and find evidence of belonging. The meticulous handwork required to make these pieces creates a meditative space for me and, in turn, for the viewer.

Bio
Born in Boston to a Czech émigré and a transplant from the Mid-west, artist Nadya Volicer makes intricate textile works exploring themes of family history, memory, and displacement. Volicer has created site-specific works for many spaces including the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT and the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD and recently exhibited at Kunstraum in Brooklyn, Space 538 in Portland, ME and the Arrowmont Gallery in Knoxville, TN. She has been awarded residencies at the Bemis Center, the McColl Center, Millay Arts, Jentel and others, and received awards from the St. Botolph Club and the Pollack-Krasner Foundation. Volicer earned a BFA in Sculpture from MassArt and a Master of Architecture from MIT.

CV available here
@nadyavolicer mail@nadyavolicer.com