Julie Kiechel

Biography

Kiechel has worked in manufacturing, marketing, and design, with projects ranging from her own line of women’s apparel, to a collection of jewelry produced in collaboration with Calphalon cookware. In 2004, Kiechel honed in her design and manufacturing experience into a MFA in metals from Bowling Green State University. Her experiences working with manufacturing facilities, the fashion industry, and the fine arts have developed strong connections to materials as well as an awareness of the complex and often problematic issues surrounding material culture.

Kiechel uses a color palette of black, white, and red, and manufactured materials such as vinyl, high-density foam, and industrial felt. Although the materials and design aesthetic are distinctly modern, much of her visual reference has ancient roots. There are three main forms repeated in the exhibition- scrolls, simplified apparel forms and Cycladic figures.

Artist Statement

Whereas the writer/historian concentrates on theme, concept and issues, the artist is compelled to produce and create.  For me, the issues involve my vision of life experiences.  Art and the processes of art are my language and vocabulary.  To produce and create is to breathe and eat.  I am compelled to immerse myself in the process. 

I was a young adult of the 60’s with accepted abstract expressionism, optical art and Bauhaus constructionism.  Also as a political activist, my vision was impacted by civil and gender rights, the Vietnam War, and governmental corruption.

Initially, I was involved with jewelry and 3-D design under the teaching of Earl Pardon. I learned construction with large surfaces in a classical manner.  The late 60’s and early 70’s were classrooms for the cutting- edge craft design, political activism, and motherhood,  plus a job in retailing, and finally, teaching.

Starting  graduate work in metals and metal smithing with Marilyn Griewank led to developing a fashion design/ mfg business, couture fashion production wholesale/ retail for high end sales.  Currently, large scale sculptural artwork in mixed media has followed the completion of my MFA in 3-Design.

Influential texts that impact my work are “Patterns that Connect,” Carl Schuster/ Edmund Carpenter, and “Symmetries of Culture,” Dorothy K. Washburn/Donald W. Crowe.  Clothing was some of the earliest art- functional, mobile, celebratory, and also historically recorded.  The patterns from different and distant cultures are remarkably similar and are compatible with modern design.

My art form and language are patterns that represent connecting cultures and history.  These forms are woven together to produce design and a contemporary vision and story.

Exhibits

Dedee Shattuck Gallery | September 4 - 28, 2013 | Witness