Adrienne Shishko
About the Artist
Adrienne Shishko is a process-driven, mixed media artist based in Boston, ma. she is known for her innovative ways of engaging communities in art beyond traditional gallery spaces through pop ups, digital murals, and building wraps. in 2017, she was commissioned by jbg smith to enliven a business district in crystal city, md which helped encourage new development in the area. inspired by her background as a buyer at saks fifth avenue and as general counsel at an environmentally responsible investing firm, her recent work has centered on using reclaimed materials to explore the environmental impact of fast fashion and issues of over-consumption. since 2009, her work has been exhibited throughout new England at venues including beacon gallery, the quin house, the providence art club, mosesian center for the arts, Cambridge art association among others, and is included in numerous private and corporate collections around the country.
Artist Statement
My work explores the environmental impact of materialism and the complicated relationships people have with their possessions. I use a variety of media responding to the stimulus around me My practice is rooted in intuition , through which i try to balance a playful sense of improvisation with creative systems of order. I often rely on grids and hard lines to build a framework that anchors me as I endeavor to bring meaning to matter and order to the chaos.
How do you interpret ‘Ready to wear’ in your work?
“Ready to Wear” is a concept which originally democratized fashion and made it available to a range of income levels.
Today’s “fast fashion” (defined as inexpensive clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers in response to the latest trends) is the ultimate “ready to wear” which sadly has created significant environmental and social problems across the globe. Textile manufacture is the second largest source of pollution in the world and 83% of textiles are disposed, not reused or recycled— and fast fashion is expected to grow by 60% by 2030. My work aims to address this problem by repurposing the discarded textiles and through the work i make encourage people to become conscious consumers. The Totems I have submitted are made of repurposed clothing and are inspired by the book The Lorax, by Dr. Seuss. The Lorax “speaks for the trees”, raising consciousness about our environmental destruction. In the book, a factory is cutting down truffula trees to make “thneeds”. ‘THNEEDS’ are “things we don’t need.” I have used reclaimed “thneeds” to make a version of “truffula trees” and in so doing remind people about the devastating impact our fast fashion habit is having on the environment.
Comments 9