**All images are the rights and property of Wylie Sofia Garcia and may not be reproduced without permission from the artist. 2012.
Wylie Sofia Garcia is interested in embellishments, myths, performance and the undeniable allure of couture. In her sewn objects she manipulates fabric to challenge the integrity, economy, and society of surface and physical presence. She bends and bulks and stitches together staccato blocks of contrasting materials evoking feminine metaphors and anxious desires.
I am trying to use the confection and the allure of beauty to explore how an ethereal concept relates to the practicality and myth of being a woman. Building upon concepts of beauty from historical definitions of art and fashion, I am specifically interested in the aesthetics of beauty blending with the topography of the psychological on the surface of feminine domestic objects such as dresses, quilts, chairs,and beds.
About the Artist
Wylie Sofia Garcia was born in Houston, Texas, 1980.
She received her B.A. from The University of Chicago and her M.F.A. from Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
She has participated in artist residencies at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, VT, the Seven Below Fund in Burlington, VT, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA, Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China and the Maine Photographic Workshops in Rockport, ME.
She has received numerous awards and grants including most recently a Sustainable Arts Foundation Fellowship as well as a Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council.
Her work is in many private collections and has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the U.S. including the Helen Day Art Center, The Art Complex Museum, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, and the Brattleboro Museum. Her work was also featured in a group show at Louisiana Art Works during Prospect 1, New Orleans in 2008.
She has mentored with Nancy Reddin Kienholz, Sharon Kopriva, Helen Miranda Wilson, Jim Peters, Joel Janowitz, Paul Bowen and Laura Letinsky.