Jodi Colella, Vortex, Wire Armature Mixed Fibers Texture Photo Prints Cyanotype, 80 x 32 x 33 inches

A sculptural funnel created from autobiographical fibers and photographic textiles that capture fleeting memories of those who came before me. My mother’s drapes, father’s trousers, grandmother’s lace reveal identity and place. Tufted and stitched there’s an affection and a knowing in the act of making by hand. The touch allows a vulnerability to be visible as a vortex of texture and sensations from my childhood recollections –connecting with a longing to go home.

Jodi Colella exhibits and teaches internationally. Currently residing in Portland Maine, she is a member of Boston Sculptors Gallery and the recipient of a 2019 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship Award for Sculpture. Her exhibitions include The Textile Museum in Washington D.C.; Textile Center, Minneapolis; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton; World of Threads, Toronto; and Da Wang Culture Highland in Shenzhen China among others. She has collaborated on several public art projects, and her work is held in multiple museum collections. Interviewed for WGBH’s Open Studio with Jared Bowen, her work has featured in The Boston Globe, Surface Design Journal, The Woven Tale Press, Vasari 21, Artistry in Fiber, POSIT and TextileArtist.org. Colella is the founder of the fiber arts study group FiberLAB. She serves on the Artist Advisory Board for Gather 2025 Fiberart Symposium, Chair of Executive Committee for Boston Sculptors Gallery, Collections Committee for Fuller Craft Museum and Events Committee for Surface Design Association. She has held residencies at Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Fruitlands Museum in Harvard MA, Society of Arts + Crafts in Boston MA, Da Wang Culture Highland in Shenzhen China, Compeung in Doi Saket Thailand, Weir Farm in Ridgefield CT and is the recipient of a Pollack Krasner Fellowship at Vermont Studios Center in Johnson Vermont.