DALLAS — A fiber and clay art exhibit entitled Painted in Smoke by artist Eva Polizzi will be on display at the Back Mountain Memorial Library throughout the month of April.
Polizzi was born and raised in Budapest, Hungary before moving to the United States in 2001. She lived in NYC and State College before settling in Clarks Summit. She is mostly self-taught in her fiber art and began creating when she was a little girl. Clay, however, entered her life just a few years ago.
Polizzi explains she has always been a maker but had no formal training in art. She came to a crossroads in her life where she decided to pursue a degree in sculpture which turned into working on an MFA in clay with a focus on fibers. In addition to using fibers and clay, Eva incorporates cloth and embroidery in her work and states that, in the past few years, working with needle and thread has become an essential part of her life. She stitches and weaves almost every day and credits Louise Bourgeois as one of her biggest inspirations. Polizzi states that, when she feels broken and torn, stitching helps repair her.
For her exhibit, Polizzi was drawn to surface treatments that resemble old, torn, fraying and darned textile bits. Her work is informed by Japanese textile techniques like Sashiko embroidery and the notion of Boro, which can be defined as heavily patched domestic textiles.
Polizzi makes small batches of functional pieces to sell at the Waverly General Store and also participates in local craft shows. An upcoming show at Peter’s Valley School of Arts and Crafts in NJ will be held April 14-May 20.
Polizzi currently teaches fiber classes at Marywood University. She offers commissioned pieces and her work can be found through her website www.evapolizzistudio.com. Anyone with questions may reach her at evapolizzi@gmail.com.
