Patricia Downs Between Layers and Stitches Exhibition 2021

Friday, October 1st - Friday, October 29th, 2021

The Strand Center for the Arts is excited to host “Between Layers and Stiches,” a unique fiber art exhibition featuring work by artist, Patricia Downs, in the Community Gallery.

Plattsburgh native, Patricia Downs, has loved creating her whole life. As far back as she can remember, she was digging through the art cabinet in the kitchen and finding materials she could transform into art projects. But she was never satisfied with drawing and painting. She wanted to make things. In high school, school she reconnected with her love of creating artwork and decided to build a portfolio to apply for art school, eventually settling on the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

While there, Downs created a body of work based on the assignments given, but it wasn’t until she took her first abstract sculpture class that she got obsessed. From Fall 2017 through Spring 2019, she spent all her energy making sculptures, collages, and mixed media pieces. Her college experience culminated in her senior year as she worked on my thesis project, a massive fiber sculpture titled “Paralyzed in the Deep Dark.”

Since college, Downs has been living and working back in Plattsburgh where she’s been growing a substantial body of work in mixed, recycled media and mixed fibers. Currently, she is creating sculptural wall hangings through processes like crocheting, weaving, knotting, and sewing. Her work focuses on introspection, the relationship between her mind and body, and her experience as a woman.

Concerning the exhibition, Downs stated; “I combine processes often thought of as “domestic” or “feminine” work with contemporary art making. I combine the ideas of craft, skill, utilitarian process, and abstract art. I’m actively trying to reduce the stigma around craft processes by showing what’s possible with exploration and experimentation with craft methods and mediums. I’m not making a quilt or crocheting a potholder, but I am honoring traditions while elevating the processes to fine art.”

“Each piece is constructed differently, but I use a few main processes throughout my work. I use wire to create a grid-shaped armature for some works. I make a “fabric yarn” from strips of fabric tied together at their ends. I use this fabric yarn to weave between the spaces of a wire armature in some pieces. In others I use it to weave on homemade looms, or to crochet with. In each piece I combine various fibers in the methods I regularly utilize and let each move inform the next.”