Mimi Graminski

I have started a daily practice where I create a new piece each day. They are usually small in size, experimental in nature and are part of, or may become part of, a future installation. See the full range on my Instagram account @mimigraminski https://www.instagram.com/mimigraminski/?hl=en

Graminski draws inspiration from nature, combining unusual materials with traditional handcrafts, bringing new meaning to both. In Angle of Repose; Dawn to Dusk, she begins with locust trees, which were felled due to old age. She places the 12 foot logs, so from a distance, they appear to be randomly stacked but are carefully balanced upon each other so the ends face east and west. Upon closer inspection they present an unexpected surprise as their cut ends are covered in gold leaf and crocheted wire which are alternately illuminated by the rising and setting sun.

In this series I use crocheted yarn to weave doll clothes together with the memories encapsulated within them. They are all 3’- 5’ wide and 4’ - 6’ tall.

This body of work began with a heart attack. My closest childhood friend had survived a heart attack and during her recovery and recuperation, we were able to reconnect in a profound way. The brush with death seemed to magnify the relationships in life. We spent time talking about our shared childhood-the games, the chaos, the farm, our parents and the dolls. Endless hours of playing with dolls, clothes, and their dramas sustained us and helped us to persevere. These experiences shaped who we were and who we would become.

During this same time I had begun working with the box of doll clothes that had survived through the years. The clothes had been well loved and well used showing signs of their age. I used the clothes as a jumping off point and combined them with crocheted yarn highlighting the colors popular in the 1960’s. I wove together the clothes, the crochet, and the memories, in what was an organic process, to create a series that is a tribute to memory, resilience and relationship.

The work transforms memory as well as freezes it in time. It is both trapped and blooming. There is a shift back and forth between happy memory and a memory that catches. The personal emotional charge is transferred from the artist into the work where it organically blossoms outward.  

Penelope Hyde Levine, poet

With this series Graminski commemorates found, ordinary and obsolete materials such as a sponge, steel wool, encyclopedia images, photos of rain on snow, strawberry juice prints on wax paper. She uses traditional handcrafts (crochet) to celebrate the materials, highlighting their unique quality.

In this body of work Graminski uses wool roving (sheep’s wool that has been cleaned, carded and dyed) translucent fabrics and clear containers.

The individual pieces range in size from 6’’ to 16” in diameter, and are crocheted or knit of various metal wires.

In this series I use thread as a drawing material by stitching and over stitching on raw linen canvas. The inspiration originates from images I see when I am in that state, between wake and sleep, which I experience as a “picture of a feeling”. In my mind’s eye, I see an image which is usually abstract, and embodies a feeling, idea, person or experience.  My subconscious seeps subtly into my conscious world with a blending of senses to produce an image. They are 10”x10”, cotton, silk and rayon thread on raw linen.

Titles originated in collaboration with poet Sarah Stern and are taken from her two latest books We Have Been Lucky in the Midst of Misfortune and But Today Is Different. Books are available from the publishers and https://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Stern/e/B0058OD9SS

Poetry and Art

Poet Sarah Stern and I collaborated on three exhibits together. I used pieces from my Sewn Drawing Series, sometimes creating new work in response to hers, other times matching existing work to her poems.

How were these matches made? In short, they came about by what both of us found to be a magical process, almost as though the pieces and poems were already talking to each other before they were actually conceived. The poems are taken from Sarah Stern’s books But Today Is Different (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2014) https://wipfandstock.com/but-today-is-different.html and We Have Been Lucky In The Midst of Misfortune ( Kelsay Books, Aldrich Press, 2019)https://kelsaybooks.com/products/we-have-been-lucky-in-the-midst-of-misfortune . In a few, the works are a direct response to the poems. But in all the other groupings, the poems and works were conceived separately, and through phone conversations and emails, the matching process took place.

In speaking about how we arrived at our pairings, we started in a very literal sense—the colors and shapes and how there was an almost magnetic pull between the art forms. But then inevitably the conversation would go beyond that connection, to the very experiences that shaped the pieces and poems—the natural world, on being a woman in mid-life, family, on losing parents, on jobs, bonfires, and so much more. To us, these matchings feel personal and political, and the process by which they came together, deeply mysterious and humbling.

Bibi and Mimi's Friday Adventures

An ongoing project with Bibana Huang Matheis and Mimi Czajka Graminski - Two artists work in their separate studios (miles apart) during the same hour each week with the intention of tuning into the same creative channel. They don't speak or plan beforehand, but at the end of each session, they compare notes on their inspiration, state of mind and work produced. This is a sampling of their images often showing the relationships in their work, experiences and thoughts. For journal entries, accompanying poems and more images please see the dedicated blog. http://bibiandmimifridayadventures.blogspot.com/