Thesis 2024 / Melanie Dowding | Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Thesis 2024 / Melanie Dowding

Artwork by Melanie Dowding: an orange-red, abstract painting on a white gallery wall. Several fabric sculptures are installed over the mural.

This work was created with found fabrics, embroidery, and layered textiles assembled into soft sculptures that draw upon a reflection of my upbringing and personal relationships. Each of the works is connected visually through a cream satin fabric and three-dimensional elements, though the textual pieces are separated and the ‘objects’ are clustered together. The motif on the wall pays homage to my sketchbook, which hosts my rawest form of thought and intuition and is vital to my practice.

In exploring a maternal relationship and its evolution alongside the nuances of how women/femme childhood, I have created visual imagery in three parts. The representational objects are part of a larger series deemed Objects of Girlhood in which I explore objects that are reminiscent of the vicissitudes of growing up a girl. The objects are clustered together like memories, loosely connected in a way that is individualistically determined. Each one is intimate and small, and begs for close consideration. The text sculptures frame the objects as an overarching, lingering influence of a maternal relationship. Behind the 3D work sits my tree-like motif, representative of my personal growth and reconciliation with the aforementioned concepts, a mature framework which supersedes all of these ideas and manifests in my daily sketchbook practice.

Overarching themes of femininity, domesticity, and women’s work are central to my practice and are inherent to the textile work I’ve created– I’ve hand embroidered each layer of the objects as much of my work showcases labor and detail. The individual experience of this work specifically resonates with female and femme-identified individuals who have navigated similarly disjointed upbringings or experienced their own relationships characterized by power imbalances.

Website: melaniedowding.com

Tags
MCAD MFA 2024
MFA Thesis 2024