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A solo exhibition at Window on Hudson (Hudson Eye) in Hudson, NY. "Between Shadow and Light" at 43 South 3rd Street, Hudson, NY.

This work was highlighted as a Featured Project on ArtSpiel

The exhibition was in several events:

The Hudson Eye Festival a city wide Arts Festival sponsored by the Jonah Bokaer Foundation

The exhibition was part of Open Studios Hudson and participated in Two Coats of Paint Hudson Valley Gallery Crawl

Exhibition Statement

I love working with my hands, creating something where there was nothing before. Inspiration comes from nature, found materials and my intuition. I’m interested in the many paradoxes that exist simultaneously in our world - fragility and strength, transparency and opacity, vicissitudes of memory, beauty in flaws. I work in different media, and the work is consistently based in the exploration of light, color, and pattern. I always rely on my instinct and sense of play - allowing my intuition to decide the colors and lead my hands to create the shapes. I am always amazed as certain colors and shapes illicit specific emotions.

I fold, pin, arrange and suspend translucent, yet durable fabrics into abstract shapes that may refer to the natural world. They are pinned to the wall, arranged in containers, or suspended from the ceiling. I use the swathes of fabric like paint colors – mixing and layering them. The textile sculptures seem fragile but are quite sturdy. They create shadows and reflections that sometimes appear more substantial than the actual object. The sculpture lies between the light and creates the shadow. I put them together into groups where the colors, shapes and shadows interact, as light and air movement act upon them.

A whisper, a thought, a tenderness, something just out of reach.

Each of these textile sculptures can fit into the palm of your hand and were shown @smallbanygallery, a miniature gallery founded and curated by Katherine Chwazik who hosts virtual exhibitions. All photographs: Katherine Chwazik

“I am often inspired by materials – the sensuous colors of fabrics, translucent vellum, wispy wool threads. I see my studio as a Iaboratory where I collect disparate specimens, manipulate, combine and transform them.

The delicate fabric is made to define space, shape and volume. Gravity, invisible air, and shadow play as large a role in the work as the physical media. The shadow can often appear more solid than the object. The work appears to be fragile, but actually has an inherent strength.”

“Our greatest strength lies in the gentleness and tenderness of our heart.” Rumi

I delicately pin or place translucent, yet strong fabrics into shapes that are abstract though seem to refer to the natural world. They create shadows and reflections that sometime appear more substantial than the actual object. The colors, shapes and shadows interact as light and air movement act upon them.

A whisper, a thought, a tenderness, something just out of reach.

Please see the essay by Frank Matheis “The Delicate Boldness of Mimi Czajka Graminski “ on this and other bodies of work in his series In Other Words

The Hammond Museum was delighted to present the work of two dynamic artists who are engaged with transforming nature into art. The virtual exhibition “Landscape Deconstructed: Mimi Czajka Graminski and Linda Stillman” opened on September 11, 2021 on Facebook Live and on Zoom. It is available to view on the Hammond Museum website. The exhibition is curated by Bibiana Huang Matheis

Please see the Hammond website for the full exhibition which includes the images pictured along with several other works and videos.

Hudson Valley artists Graminski and Stillman were introduced through a NYFA program and were immediately struck by the connections in their work. They each explore their relationship to the environment with landscape in non-traditional forms. Be it videos of wind in flower petals, daily photos of the sky, drawings of flowers, they each exhibit their intimate observations of their surroundings in their work. This is the first time their work is presented in tandem.

In this virtual exhibition viewers can explore the differences and similarities in their work and delight in seeing a fresh approach to landscape art in diverse disciplines; collage, photography, video, sculpture and painting.

Mimi Czajka Graminski explores materials, light and color through diverse disciplines. In 2021 she is exhibiting her work at Nykarleby Arts Festival in Finland, Hammond Museum in NY, InView Project in CT and Smallbany Gallery in NY. Recent exhibits include Ann Street Gallery, Window on Hudson and Lockwood Gallery all in NY. Past venues include Hyde Collection, Pratt/ Munson Williams Proctor, Samuel Dorsky, Islip, Katonah and Haggin Museums, Bard College Center for Curatorial Studies, among others. In 2020 Vasari21 Art blog featured her work and Hammond Museum’s Frank Matheis showcased her work in the essay: “Delicate Boldness”. Her interview with Sarah LaDuke aired on WAMC Radio “Creativity During Covid 19” and she was interviewed for WGXC Radio 4Arte about her solo exhibition in Hudson, NY. A recent sculpture is in Surface Design Journal’s Fifth Annual International Exhibition in Print: Devotion: Sewing the Sacred. She was highlighted in the New York Times for work at The Hat Factory and at the Akin Museum. Her website is mimigraminski.com.

Linda Stillman is a Hudson Valley artist who works in various media, investigating concepts of time, memory and nature. She has been awarded fellowships and residencies at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VA & France), the New York Foundation for the Arts Mark program, the Wave Hill Winter Workspace and The Studios at Mass MoCA. Her work has been featured in many solo and group exhibitions in galleries and museums around the country including the Brooklyn Museum, the Dorsky Museum, Hunter College Art Galleries, the Arts Club of Chicago, and the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey. Stillman’s art work has been reviewed in numerous publications including the New York Times and Hyperallergic. Her art is included in many private and public collections such as the Dorsky Museum and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Stillman is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (BA), the School of Visual Arts and Vermont College of Fine Arts (MFA). Her website is lindastillman.com.

The virtual opening is a one-hour visual tour of the exhibition and live visit with the artists interviewed by distinguished guest Jennifer McGregor.

Jennifer McGregor is a curator and arts planner who develops strategies to engage non-traditional public spaces, diverse audiences, and innovative artists. She conceived place-based arts programming at Wave Hill, in the Bronx, from 1999 to 2020. There she activated connections to the environment by producing adventurous exhibitions, residencies and performances explore nature, culture and site.

ArtSpiel interview An interview with Jennifer McGregor about the exhibition “Landscape Deconstructed: Mimi Czajka Graminski & Linda Stillman,” at The Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden. Appeared in February 2022 on the Art Spiel blog edited by Etty Yaniv.

Artists and Climate Change featured this exhibition on their site.

In this body of work Graminski uses wool roving (sheep’s wool that has been cleaned, carded and dyed) translucent fabrics and clear containers.

I am often inspired by materials – the sensuous colors of fabrics, translucent vellum, wispy wool threads, crocheted and handcrafted items. I see my studio as a Iaboratory where I collect disparate specimens and then manipulate and transform them, sometimes contrasting them with unlikely pairings.

The delicate fabric, translucent paper and airy wool are made to define space, shape and volume. Gravity, invisible air, and shadow play as large a role in the work as the physical media. The shadow can often appear more solid than the physical media. The work appears to be fragile, but actually has an inherent strength and speaks to the fluidity of memory and identity.

These qualities speak to the intersection of feminism and femininity- the place where strength and delicacy exist on the same plane.

This work was in His Eyes Were So Blue at Betsy Jacaruso Gallery in Rhinebeck, NY, curated by Betsy Jacaruso.

I often see my studio as a Iaboratory where I collect a variety of materials and then manipulate and transform them, sometimes combining them in unlikely pairings.

I am inspired by these materials – the sensuous colors of wool, translucent mylar (paper), tiny bottles, broken pottery, crocheted yarn and wispy wool roving. Roving is wool that has been shorn from sheep, cleaned, carded, dyed and is ready to be spun into yarn or made into felt. I have taken the wool, stretched it, attached it to mylar and encased it in various containers.

The translucent paper and airy wool are made to define space, shape and volume. They are soft and appear to be fragile, but are actually quite strong. This work is a tribute to the women, past and present, who exhibit these unique qualities.

This installation was created in an alternative space in Danbury, CT and curated by Brian Walters.

The Fourth Incarnation in the Logs and Lace series is currently (Summer - Fall 2023) installed at ArtBuoy Kingston, 274 East Strand, Kingston, NY, in association with ArtPort ArtStream

It is part of the ArtStream Festival curated by Stefan Saffer and Laurie DeChiara and featured in UpstateArt Weekend 2023. UpstateArt Weekend ArtBuoy Project

The third version of this series was in Shelter at Woodstock Byrdclyffe Guild Historic White Pines in Woodstock, NY curated by Melinda Stickney-Gibson.

Shelter at Woodstock Byrdclyffe Guild

The first two versions were in Winter Over? at The Garage in Chatham, NY and at TSL Time Space Limited in Hudson NY, curated by George Spencer.

The series began during Covid when trees felled in a storm gave me an abundance of raw material. I use the cut logs and combine them with lace stencils, collected from many sources, to create an installation that honors both the trees and the lace makers. I pay tribute to the lace makers, their labor and the energy they imbued into each stitch.

Winnakee Land Trust invited me (along with other artists) to create work in their new 165 acre land conservancy site, Vlei Marsh Preserve, in Rhinebeck, NY. I created a site wide ephemeral installation, on land and in water, for their exhibition The Enchanted Forest. The images are available as archival pigment prints.

The majority of materials in this exhibition at Window on Hudson in Hudson, NY are inspired by and derived from plant-based sources. All of which stem from the process of photosynthesis – creating energy, nourishment and growth from light.

“In my work I am using materials that were all born from this process - logs from trees, (drawings of) leaves from plants, and paper made from cotton and rice. After their growth process and harvest, the materials find renewed life in their cross pollination incorporated into this site-specific installation.”

Czajka Graminski continues, “During these past spring and summer months at home I have found myself drawn to the forests, and with my interest in materials, I have found a huge resource in the natural environment. In my study of leaves (found and cultivated) I have been examining light, shadow and color by using pencil, watercolor and video. I celebrate the differences and commonalities that the leaves all share.

Trees felled in a storm gave me an abundance of raw material. I use the cut logs and combine them with cotton lace, collected from many sources, to create an installation that honors both the trees and the lace makers. I pay tribute to the lace makers, their labor and the energy they imbued into each stitch. I wonder about their lives and under what circumstances did they create this work? Was it a labor of love or necessity? Their lace has outlived them just as the logs will outlast the intricate stenciled patterns on them. I honor the fleeting and enduring quality of both women’s labor and the natural environment.”

These ephemeral installations celebrate delicacy that can simultaneously exist with strength. I use lace collected from many sources, trees felled in recent storms, found objects. I pay tribute to the lace makers, their labor and the energy they imbued into each stitch. I wonder about their lives and under what circumstances did they create this work? Was it a labor of love or necessity? What were their hopes and dreams? Their lace has outlived them just as the logs will outlast the intricate stenciled patterns on them. While the passage of time and the effects of weather gradually erode the images, I honor the fleeting and enduring quality of both women’s labor and the natural environment.

The individual pieces range in size from 6’’ to 16” in diameter, and are crocheted or knit of various metal wires.

Images 2 and 3 are of an installation in ArtBox Sustainable Communities Program, Red hook, NY.

In this series the work has multiple incarnations where it is changed and adapted to many installations which include exhibitions at Wilderstein Historic Site (2), Hammond Museum, and Unison Art Center. Each time it is exhibited, the configuration is adapted to the specific site and the environment affects and changes the work.

Graminski draws inspiration from nature, combining unusual materials with traditional handcrafts, bringing new meaning to both. In Angle of Repose; Dawn to Dusk, she begins with locust trees, which were felled due to old age, at Wilderstein Historic Site in Rhinebeck, NY. She places the 12 foot logs, so from a distance, they appear to be randomly stacked but are carefully balanced upon each other so the ends face east and west. Upon closer inspection they present an unexpected surprise as their cut ends are covered in gold leaf and crocheted wire which are alternately illuminated by the rising and setting sun. The tree was sourced from and sited at the Wilderstein Historic Site where the exhibition Sculpture in a Romantic Landscape was held, curated by Jennifer Harris.

I use crocheted yarn to weave doll clothes together with the memories encapsulated within them. They are all 3’- 5’ wide and 4’ - 6’ tall.

This body of work began with a heart attack. My closest childhood friend had survived a heart attack and during her recovery and recuperation, we were able to reconnect in a profound way. The brush with death seemed to magnify the relationships in life. We spent time talking about our shared childhood-the games, the chaos, the farm, our parents and the dolls. Endless hours of playing with dolls, clothes, and their dramas sustained us.

During this same time I had begun working with the box of doll clothes that had survived through the years. The clothes had been well loved and well used showing signs of their age. I used the clothes as a jumping off point and combined them with crocheted yarn highlighting the colors popular in the 1960’s. I wove together the clothes, the crochet, and the memories, in what was an organic process, to create a series that is a tribute to memory, resilience and relationship.

The work transforms memory as well as freezes it in time. It is both trapped and blooming. There is a shift back and forth between happy memory and a memory that catches. The personal emotional charge is transferred from the artist into the work where it organically blossoms outward.  

Penelope Hyde Levine, poet

With this series Graminski commemorates found, ordinary and obsolete materials such as a sponge, steel wool, encyclopedia images, photos of rain on snow, strawberry juice prints on wax paper. She uses traditional handcrafts (crochet) to celebrate the materials, highlighting their unique quality.

In this series I use thread as a drawing material by stitching and over stitching on raw linen canvas. The inspiration originates from images I see when I am in that state, between wake and sleep, which I experience as a “picture of a feeling”. In my mind’s eye, I see an image which is usually abstract, and embodies a feeling, idea, person or experience.  My subconscious seeps subtly into my conscious world with a blending of senses to produce an image. They are 10”x10”, cotton, silk and rayon thread on raw linen.

Titles originated in collaboration with poet Sarah Stern and are taken from two of her books: We Have Been Lucky in the Midst of Misfortune and But Today Is Different which are available from the publishers - Sarah Stern Books

More drawings coming soon!

Bibi and Mimi Friday Adventures

An ongoing project withBibiana Huang Matheis

Two artists work in their separate studios (miles apart) during the same hour each week with the intention of tuning into the same creative channel. They don't speak or plan beforehand, but at the end of each session, they compare notes on their inspiration, state of mind and work produced. This is a sampling of their images often showing the relationships in their work, experiences and thoughts. For journal entries, accompanying poems and more images please see the dedicated blog. Bibi and Mimi Friday Adventures

Bibi Mimi Monday Memo

This is the newest incarnation of our project that began in 2020. Please see our Instagram page for images:

@bibimimimondaymemo

The project is featured in Conversations with Artists

Poetry and Art

Poet Sarah Stern and I collaborate: I use pieces from my Sewn Drawing Series, sometimes creating new work in response to hers, other times matching existing work to her poems. Sarah uses work from her book “But Today is Different”.

In 2024 we are exhibiting at the Starr Library in Rhinebeck, NY through April.

How were these matches made? In short, they came about by what both of us found to be a magical process, almost as though the pieces and poems were already talking to each other before they were actually conceived. The poems are taken from Sarah Stern’s books But Today Is Different (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2014) https://wipfandstock.com/but-today-is-different.html and We Have Been Lucky In The Midst of Misfortune ( Kelsay Books, Aldrich Press, 2019)https://kelsaybooks.com/products/we-have-been-lucky-in-the-midst-of-misfortune . In a few, the works are a direct response to the poems. But in all the other groupings, the poems and works were conceived separately, and through phone conversations and emails, the matching process took place.

In speaking about how we arrived at our pairings, we started in a very literal sense—the colors and shapes and how there was an almost magnetic pull between the art forms. But then inevitably the conversation would go beyond that connection, to the very experiences that shaped the pieces and poems—the natural world, on being a woman in mid-life, family, on losing parents, on jobs, bonfires, and so much more. To us, these matchings feel personal and political, and the process by which they came together, deeply mysterious and humbling.