Dee Clements
MEDIATORS
© Dee Clements, photo by Evan Jenkins.
The founder and director of Studio Herron, Dee Clements, is not one to shy away from the craft roots that inform her design practice. The avid researcher has traveled the world learning about the ethnography of objects and craft disciplines through a feminist lens, ultimately leading her to basketry. Although guided by a deep appreciation for materials and respect for traditional methodologies, especially those historically stewarded by women, the designer wants basket weaving to run wild. She zigzags between tight and loose weaves, often intentionally leaving the structures unfinished to create abstract sculptural forms at a grand scale. Painterly surfaces built through multicolor hand-dyed reeds and gouache heighten the freedom of form.
Despite their undeniable basket quality, they are not containers but voluptuous and expressive objects that intervene with space to investigate the relationship between bodies and social space. Clements’s creations look and behave like human bodies: lumpy, bumpy, and sometimes droopy or on the verge of collapse. Specifically, they reference the bodies and experiences of women. The anthropomorphic baskets are rebellious proxies for one of the most significant legacies of women’s work.
B. 1980, Rochester, NY
Lives and works in Chicago, IL
studioherron.com
@studio_herron
SM9477
Dee Clements, Grotesque Flowers; On the Pressure to be seen, 2024, Dyed Reed, gouache, ceramic, polyurethane. Courtesy of the artist and Nina Johnson Gallery, photo by R & Company.
SM9639
Dee Clements, Small Fruit Basket, 2024, Ceramic, reed, dye, polyurethane. Courtesy of the artist and Nina Johnson Gallery, photo by R & Company.