Michael Sylvan's profile
This past year included a long recovery from a severe broken ankle, bringing me back into my body and practice with deepening focus and presence, and as a result, I'm reengaged with new directions in my work. I just completed the exceptionally elaborate, luscious "Restoring Joy" piece. The previous year, 2014, was an excellent exhibition year: a "Pop-Up Exhibit" feature on Artworks, Maryland Public Television, and in the summer there was Magnified, a three artist show at the University of Maryland, Stamp Gallery, as well as a great group show, Things That Scare Me, at Howard Community College that included a major component of my ongoing Burning Times Project, as well as one of my sculptural garment works, The Singer's Robe for the Song of Ruin. In April, my work was exhibited in an innovative fiber art show in Materiality at the Ann Street Gallery in Newburgh, NY.
One of the great opportunities of this site is the ability to share new work and ongoing projects. The ongoing Peacock God series, begun in 2008, continues to be a very intimate process of relationship and spiritual qualities. My Burning Times Project, begun in 2006, investigates the stories of those executed as "witches" during the Witch-Trial Era. Both of these ongoing projects work with the gathering of small art objects together that hold the stories of those represented.
As a fiber artist, my pieces begin with textiles selected for elaborate patterns which are then overworked with labor-intensive hand stitching and beadwork. In both two dimensional works and sculptural pieces, the question of scale is heightened by an intricate surface detail that draws the viewer inward from a larger conceptual structure. My aesthetic is defined by an original use of color and pattern, an obsessive fetish quality that creates an awesome, almost gruesome or garish beauty, subversively providing a surreal perspective to what is primarily a decorative art style.
Please consider following my artist page:
Facebook Artist Page: Michael Sylvan Robinson – Fiber Artist
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michael-Sylvan-Robinson-Fiber-Artist/438545946260408
BIO: An innovative fiber artist, Robinson’s pieces are created with extensive hand sewing and beading. A Baltimore artist, Michael Sylvan Robinson earned an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College (2008), and he has a B.A. from Bennington College (1989) with an emphasis in dance and drama. He is the Director of Arts at The Bryn Mawr School. Originally a costume designer and performance artist from New York City, his fiber art/mixed media work has been shown in galleries and exhibitions including the National Queer Arts Festival in San Francisco. He was a semi-finalist for the 2010 Sondheim Prize.
One of the great opportunities of this site is the ability to share new work and ongoing projects. The ongoing Peacock God series, begun in 2008, continues to be a very intimate process of relationship and spiritual qualities. My Burning Times Project, begun in 2006, investigates the stories of those executed as "witches" during the Witch-Trial Era. Both of these ongoing projects work with the gathering of small art objects together that hold the stories of those represented.
As a fiber artist, my pieces begin with textiles selected for elaborate patterns which are then overworked with labor-intensive hand stitching and beadwork. In both two dimensional works and sculptural pieces, the question of scale is heightened by an intricate surface detail that draws the viewer inward from a larger conceptual structure. My aesthetic is defined by an original use of color and pattern, an obsessive fetish quality that creates an awesome, almost gruesome or garish beauty, subversively providing a surreal perspective to what is primarily a decorative art style.
Please consider following my artist page:
Facebook Artist Page: Michael Sylvan Robinson – Fiber Artist
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Michael-Sylvan-Robinson-Fiber-Artist/438545946260408
BIO: An innovative fiber artist, Robinson’s pieces are created with extensive hand sewing and beading. A Baltimore artist, Michael Sylvan Robinson earned an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College (2008), and he has a B.A. from Bennington College (1989) with an emphasis in dance and drama. He is the Director of Arts at The Bryn Mawr School. Originally a costume designer and performance artist from New York City, his fiber art/mixed media work has been shown in galleries and exhibitions including the National Queer Arts Festival in San Francisco. He was a semi-finalist for the 2010 Sondheim Prize.
You have not yet created a curated collection!