EILEEN HOFFMAN

ARTIST STATEMENT:

Growing up I first developed my voice and visual language as an artist in my overtly pink bedroom/studio. It was full of projects at different levels of completion; I knit, I sewed, I painted with my make-up. In particular I became deeply engaged with knitting, embroidery, and weaving. From this deep connection to the traditions of textile arts, I gained an appreciation for the skill, vision, and time that this work requires. I was fascinated with the emotions and stories that were woven into the fabric of these projects. It was where I forged my commitment to make visible the hidden stories of women’s lives, including my own, while grappling with sexism. 

My visual language consists of reclaiming pink, a color that has been oppressively misused to represent femininity and combining it with non-traditional materials to build a connection between historical traditions and contemporary feminist ideology. Text from my early diaries are often incorporated with patterns painted on Dura-Lar. The repeated lines and patterns allude to the emotions woven within the contemplative act of textile creation. In my method, the political is personal.

Bio:

Eileen Hoffman is a sculptor and installation artist. She studied art at Skidmore College, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and received her MFA from Indiana University. Her work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows throughout the United States and internationally, including at the Pelham Art Center, Pelham, NY; Atlantic Gallery, Carter Burden Gallery, and Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY; Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL; WAH Center, Brooklyn, NY; Ely Center for Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT; ITSLIQUID Group, Philadelphia, PA; Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY; Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ; Noyes Museum of Art, Hammonton, NJ; and Bishkek Collection, Russia. Her outdoor installations in New York include the Connective Project Installation, Art In Odd Places, and Prayers for the Pandemic - Prayers for Progress. Her work is also featured in Surface Design Journal’s SDA Annual International Exhibition in Print, UPPERCASE magazine, Art Spiel, and Les Femmes Folles. Hoffman lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.