mary Jo Karimnia
about the artist
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Mary Jo Karimnia is an artist, arts advocate and arts administrator living and working in Memphis, TN. Her multimedia work often uses imagery from collected, vintage postcards which she lavishly embellishes with seed beads, velvety flocking and shiny foil. The work elevates women’s work and craft and addresses nostalgia, commenting on the unrealistic, candy-eyed ideals of the past. Her work also includes printmaking, installation and origami and sometimes comment on social issues including identity and how costumes and dress-up affect our lives. Karimnia has shown nationally and internationally and she is the Residency Director for Crosstown Arts in Memphis, TN.
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ARTIST STATEMENT
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Foiled Rock Series | CHAOS 9 2023
I consider my work with postcards a collaboration with anonymous artists of the past. In the Foiled Rock Series, I scan vintage postcards of rock formations and embellish them with shiny, brightly colored foils. The unabashed decorative surfaces comment on the nature of nostalgia as an unrealistic view of the past and elevate the craft medium of foil into the fine arts realm. “... as is the case with such internationally known artists as Kiki Smith and Lesley Dill, this artist plays around the fringes of folklore and the transformation of the psyche through the magic of women's work and the way it impinges on the ordinary.” Fredric Koeppel “Beadwork adds folkloric magic to Mary Jo Karimnia’s ‘Folds’ at the Dixon” The Commercial Appeal, August 16, 2016 |
