Solo exhibition by mixed media fiber artist Mallory Zondag
I create fiber art to address our relationship to the natural world. We find comfort in nature, but more often than not it’s nature that we have shaped and sculpted into an ideal under our control. We are a part of the natural world's cycles of balance; growth and decay, creation and entropy, yet decay makes us uncomfortable. Roofs that sag with moss and the weight of time, bodies becoming food for the mushrooms and bluebells, these moments of decay confront our knowledge of our own mortality and lead us either to fascination or fear.
My work examines these forms of entropy in our world and in ourselves as well as our human impact on this planet. Using wool, wax, fibers, paint and found objects, I create forms and textures that explore the visual and emotional impact of growth and decay. I find strange beauty in the uncomfortable certainty that we, our structures and our bodies, are not permanent. I use textile and sculptural techniques to confront our relationship with nature, our adoration and destruction of the natural world and to convey the message that we are made of earth and one day we all return. - Mallory Zondag
Mallory Zondag is a Mixed Media Fiber artist. She graduated from Pratt Institute with honors, a BFA in Fashion Design and a minor in Art History. While at Pratt she focused on creating handmade one of a kind textiles for her collections. Since graduating, she has built a career as an independent artist and arts educator. Her work involves felting, dyeing, weaving and other mixed media fiber practices to create sculptural wall hangings and installations. The growth and decay of the natural world, the duality of discomfort and attraction we feel towards it and humanity's place within this dichotomy informs her creations of dimensional textures and sculptural pieces.
Mallory shares her passion for handmade one of a kind textiles through various educational programs and residencies. Many of these programs involve a collaborative element where the entire school works together on a single project. These programs bring an exciting and hands on artistic experience to the students as well as emphasizing community and collaboration through art.
Previous community work has included creating a fiber living wall with 500 elementary students in Easton, PA where students learned about fiber art, sustainability and worked together to create the leaves and flowers of the living wall. Another recent project involved weaving a twenty foot mural from recycled tshirts during a community arts festival. Most recently, Mallory created a mixed media fiber art installation for The Allentown Art Musuem’s Artways. The installation looks at the structures of racial inequality in America through the metaphorical lense of nature. Mallory creates decorative textile wall pieces and moments of nature made from a variety of sustainable fibers in her studio when she isn’t involved in one of her many community art projects.
Mallory has exhibited in galleries, participated in artist festivals, residencies and collective shows in New York and Pennsylvania.
