image credit: Hannah Blunt
Artist Statement
My work is driven by curiosity and a desire to ask questions. Rooted in an abiding relationship to both land and material, my practice employs queering and boundary-crossing strategies, bridging craft and sculpture, concept and material, nature and culture. Recent projects explore relationships between humans, trees, and forests, and how they might be deepened and transformed through ecological and post-humanist perspectives. Earlier works explore connections between American history, queer identity, and the role of vernacular objects in society. Craft, making, and materiality are central to my process, which integrates traditional woodworking forms and techniques with sculpture, video, installation, natural history, interdisciplinary research, collaboration, and public engagement.
image credit: Sara Smith
Bio
Gina Siepel (they/she) is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and woodworker. Their work has been shown in museums, galleries, and outdoor sites nationally, including the Museum for Art in Wood, the Colby Museum, the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, the DeCordova Museum, Smith College Museum of Art, Vox Populi Gallery, and the Langlais Art Preserve. They have received fellowships from Skowhegan, the Winterthur Museum, the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute at Smith College, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, among others. Gina has been awarded grants from the Center for Craft, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Puffin Foundation, and the Northampton Arts Council, and holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase and an MFA from the Maine College of Art. They currently teach at RISD in the division of Foundations and Experimental Studies and in the MFA low-residency program at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Gina is a MacLeish Field Station Artist-in-Residence and Research Affiliate in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at Smith College.
Originally from rural western New York, Gina lived in New York City, Maine, and eastern Massachusetts, before arriving in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts (Nipmuc land), where they live with their partner and frequent collaborator, artist and choreographer Sara Smith.