Reimagining Female Identity: Mychaelyn Michalec’s Textiles and the Legacy of Craft
In the world of textile art, Mychaelyn Michalec stands out as a talented storyteller, weaving themes of gendered labor, feminism, and art history into her intricately crafted wool rugs. Based in Dayton, OH, Michalec employs both traditional hand tools and commercial tufting guns to create large-scale pieces adorned with embroidery, hand knitting, and vintage sewing notions. Her work explores the cultural and historical depictions of womanhood, reflecting on the complexities of female roles and societal expectations. As she explores the intersection of craft and commentary, Michalec's art becomes a powerful medium for redefining the narratives assigned to women. In this interview, she sheds light on her inspirations, methodologies, and the broader context of her artistic practice.
1. Tell us briefly who you are? What themes does your current work address?
I am a textile artist living and working in Dayton, OH. My work uses craft, specifically textiles to address themes of gendered labor and stereotypes, feminism, aging, sexuality and art history. I create large scale rugs using both hand tools and a commercial tufting gun which are often embellished with embroidery, hand knitting and found vintage sewing notions. Textiles are historically a language of creation and storytelling assigned to women at birth and I use these processes as part of a historical continuum of our cultural heritage. While I recognize that my generation (Gen X) was the first to be told by second wave feminism that we could, “be anything we wanted to be,'' the reality is far from that for many women. My work examines the roles and expectations of the female gender in society and art history using sentimentality and craft to define and redefine these intentions.
My Work in New Worlds is a response to the idea of newness. This idea that everything old is new again and history repeating itself is the first thing brought to mind when the concept New Worlds is considered. This work features my portrait and a number of Greek and Roman tragedy masks. My piece is titled, "There are two roles for women". This is in reference to the play Medea where the only societal acceptable roles for a woman were wife and mother, but I contend they are as the ancient drama masks suggest comedy and tragedy but without the comedy.
2. How does your current work fit into your larger body of work?
My work in the New Worlds exhibition at the National Museum for Women in the Arts NMWA) is indicative of my practice which is an exploration of both cultural and historical depictions of womanhood, sexuality, domestic life and freedom. I have always been interested in what it means to be a woman, artist, and mother as well as the impact of the shortcomings of second wave feminism. Lately my work has also been about desire and perceptions of the female body as it ages.
3. As an artist, what are your essential materials and/or tools for building a new world? My essential tools for making work have always been history itself and the documentation or exploration of current culture. My work has always been a study of both.
4. Did any books, music, film, news, or other art inform your current work? Textiles are historically a language of creation and storytelling assigned to women at birth and I use these processes as part of a historical continuum of our cultural heritage. I am interested in craft processes and sentimentality in art. The artist Ree Morton's work and approach to making has been a big influence on my work. She once said that the most feminist thing you could do was to make the work personal. I do not shy away from that in my work.
5. How have the events of the past several years—the global pandemic, increased advocacy for social reform, and striking political division—changed or challenged your practice? For me the pandemic shined a huge light on the invisible and emotional labor in my life and it changed my relationship with my partner and ultimately my family through divorce. I think the need for social justice has always been apparent but being locked down during the pandemic magnified the microcosm which was my own life and I didn't like what I saw. But those huge changes gave me a stronger voice in my work and a sense of freedom and direction that is ever changing with my practice.
6. If you could travel to any time, past or future, where would you go? Why? The past has its limitations, dangers and restrictions for women, and the future is unknown I am content dealing with the hand I have been dealt which is to say the present.
Mychaelyn Michalec is a textile artist and painter working in Dayton, OH. Her work addresses themes of sexuality, art history, gendered labor and feminism by hand and mechanically crafting large-scale textured wool rugs. Michalec earned a BFA with distinction in Painting and Drawing and a BA in Art History from The Ohio State University and a MLIS in Library and Information Science from the University of Southern Mississippi. She has shown her work internationally, and has been awarded residencies at The Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT, the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts Residency in New Berlin, NY, and The Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, in Nebraska City, NE. Michalec is a 2021 recipient of an Individual Excellence Award in Craft from the Ohio Arts Council. Her work has been published in Friend of the Artist, Create! Magazine, and Art Maze. A review of her two person show, Femme Maison at Houseguest Gallery in Louisville, KY, was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered.
@mymychaelyn
