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JACQUELINE SURDELL
| by Maria Rosaria Roseo | Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois (USA), where she currently lives and works, Jacqueline Surdell is a young woman of many talents—first a professional athlete and later an artist, with a background from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she earned her Master of Fine Arts in Fiber and Material Studies in 2017. Family heritage plays a significant role in Jacqueline Surdell’s work. Her love for art and conceptual practice was passed down to her by her grandmother, a landscape painter. Her passion and interest in materials, their history and origin, and various processing techniques, on the other hand, were inherited…
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INTERWEAVINGS OF ART AND SCIENCE: THE ARTISTIC JOURNEY OF A CONTEMPORARY WEAVER
| by Maria Rosaria Roseo | Rachel (Meyers) Hefferan, an artist from suburban Midwest, USA, graduated from the University of Michigan and earned her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She currently lives and works in rural western Michigan. A weaver, farmer, environmentalist, and fermentation enthusiast, Hefferan uses the loom as a metaphorical tool, balancing between science and magic, to create tapestries—woven abstractions that represent and celebrate the beauty and complexity of microbial life and its process of decomposition and renewal of matter. Mosses, lichens, fungi, and molds, with their metabolic activities of transformation and deconstruction, are the primary sources of inspiration for the artist. Through…
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WEAVES THE FUTURE: THE ARTISTIC RESEARCH OF KATSURA TAKASUKA
|by Maria Rosaria Roseo | Katsura Takasuka was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1986 and studied textile design, earning his degree from Tokyo Zokei University, where he also completed a master’s program in 2011. Katsura Takasuka’s works focus on the relationship between humans and nature. He explores this complex connection through textiles—their origins and production—deeply rooted in human history. Through meticulous research on materials such as silk, cotton, hemp, and wool, as well as various weaving techniques, Takasuka distances himself from an anthropocentric perspective. His work expresses the need to restore an impartial and balanced vision of the human-nature relationship and their undeniable interdependence. His works have been featured in…
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ADELINE CONTRERAS: SENSORIAL TRACES BETWEEN MEMORY AND MATERIAL
| by Barbara Pavan | Adeline Contreras, an artist living and working in France, explores collective memory in her work—”a shared story”, she explains, “linked to our sensory and visual experiences, embedded in a more personal experience. A memory tied to a sensation rather than an event, a recollection that awakens our sensory memory. These resurfacings are the trace of our experiences, sensations connected to the context in which we evolve.” Contreras pursues an artistic inquiry nourished by memory, reclaimed materials, and textile techniques. Her works, tactile and material-based, embody the visible concreteness of a perpetual metamorphosis, hybridizing into polymorphic forms of varying dimensions and materials, hinting at the infinite…
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AI KIJIMA: THE ART OF TEXTILE COLLAGE BETWEEN CULTURES AND NARRATIVES
| by Maria Rosaria Roseo | Ai Kijima, a Japanese artist from Tokyo, has transformed her passion for textiles into unique and captivating works of art. Trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Kijima currently lives and works between Istanbul and Brooklyn, where she continues to explore and merge her multicultural experiences into textile collages that tell stories of cultures and identities. A Passion for Fabric and Visual Storytelling Ai Kijima’s works are the result of a creative process involving a wide range of heterogeneous materials, from vintage kimonos to children’s bed linens, second-hand clothes, and traditional fabrics. Her work is a collage of stories and meanings,…
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FARIBA BOROUFAR
| by Barbara Pavan | Fariba Boroufar, an artist whose works bridge the gap between tradition and modernity, uses the ancient art of weaving to explore and reinterpret the rich cultural and architectural history of Iran. Her artistic journey reflects a deep engagement with both the tangible and intangible aspects of her heritage, imbuing her textile works with a profound sense of cultural memory while addressing contemporary issues such as architectural degradation and the loss of identity. For Boroufar, being an artist means more than just the creation of objects; it is about offering new perspectives on reality. “Innovation means a new look into reality,” she explains. “The artist acts…
