Artist/Instructor: Aidelen Montoya
Supplies included
Challenging commercially desirable aesthetics, this workshop will highlight the craft of beading and explore what we consider to be perfect or imperfect. Beads translate data and storytelling by individual points coming together to compose an image. Aidelen will discuss her artwork, the Blemished Fruit Series, on exhibition in The Sylvia L. Rosen Craft Art Biennial 2025 show. Participants will create their own beaded fruit inspired by her practice.
Aidelen Montoya
Growing up in the US and not being fully connected with my culture, I’ve had to find it on my own. Serving as a love letter to the Philippines, I collaborate with mycelium and perform the labor of beadwork as a political act. Guided by traditional ecological knowledge, my choice in mycelium acts as an ancestor to collaborate with and highlight indigenous foundations. My practice involves the intersection of art, science, and craft. Beading on discarded natural material, mycelium, Styrofoam from consumer packages, and industrial scraps headed for the landfill, I create large-scale beaded paintings, sculptures, and installations. Much of my work is fixed in the foundation of environmental and social justice, exploring the connections between these fields to produce alternative visual narratives around resistance. Viewers witness my intimate and personal path of connecting further with my ancestry while touching on public issues.
For Further information please contact Kathy Shiroki