Artist Statement
My experience with phenomena such as visual aura, lucid dreams, and hallucinations is the driving force behind my creative practice. Because I am personally aware of the ways in which the brain performs “trickery”, I am always questioning the nature of human consciousness. I am inspired by Romantic literature, Jungian psychology, and esotericism. My pieces function as metaphors representing the line between thoughts and matter, dream and wake, and consciousness and unconsciousness. I am interested in age old questions like, “How do things become alive?” and particularly, “Where do we go when we die?”
My practice is textile based and rooted in labor. I believe that labor endows deep meaning. I use stitch resist shibori and indigo dye as a method of drawing. I grow and extract my own indigo dye. Each drawing is a collaboration between the earth, water, and air as the indigo is grown in earth, submerged in water, and exposed to air to complete the bonding process. The image is made through the chemical bond of oxygen to leucoindigo. When the fabric emerges from the vat the chemical bond completes – creating the image on the surface. The drawing is contained in a moment. It is a happening.
Making marks this way allows for an indirect approach to image making. Rather than an active hand- the process allows me to make suggestions for where the mark should be. I set limitations. Define boundaries. Create barriers. But I also provide opportunities for the indigo to take up residence. I guide, coax, and invite my mark. The image emerges- passing through the doorways I open.
Biography
Davana Rodedee is an artist, curator, and educator. She creates large scale indigo drawings and fiber art installations. Her source for dye materials comes from her own small dye garden. She works to cultivate community arts practices through her role as the Director of the Tyler Art Gallery at SUNY Oswego. She is the former director of Quilting by the Lake- one of the oldest art quilt conferences in the country. She is passionate about promoting the communities that surround fiber-based art making. She was part of the American Craft Emerging Artist Cohort 2024 and is a NYSCA 2025 Artist Awardee.
Her work has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions nationwide. She has participated in residencies at Weissensee School of Art in Berlin, Kimmel Harding Nelson in Nebraska City, Penland Winter Residency in Ashville, NC, and fiber artist in residence at Gael Roots Farm through Catskills Artspace in Livingston Manor, NY.
She received an M.F.A from Syracuse University and a B.A. from Southeastern Louisiana University. She lives in Syracuse, NY with her partner and black cats.
