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EVERLEA
2013- 2018
Katie Earle and I (Janna Maria Vallee) formed EVERLEA in 2013 as a platform to support each other in our respective art practices. We began by giving each other surface design challenges, organizing photoshoots and attending workshops and artist talks together. Our self-titled series of tapestries is a culmination and meta-interpretation of our years-long collaboration.
Everlea beginnings:
It was in the summer of 2014 in the handball courts of East Harlem’s Jefferson Park that our first photo shoot felt more like a public performance of our art practice than the menial task of documentation. As our lives and art practices grew alongside each other our collaboration evolved into a relational practice where we began to consider our artistic relationship a living artwork in-and-of-itself. We see our woven artwork as a negotiation between the art world, which is so white-box-centric, and our attempt to show evidence of the invisible materials of our relationship, as art, within it.
Our current series of tapestries:
The tapestries above shown in a gallery setting are from a growing series of artwork woven respectively by myself and Katie Earle, each based on a photograph from times Katie and I spent together intentionally supporting each other in our respective art practices (ex during a photo shoot or skill-share). We are exploring both the memories that the photographs conjure as well as the problematic nature of a photograph’s attempt to represent the complexity of a living moment.
www.everleatextiles.com
Everlea beginnings:
It was in the summer of 2014 in the handball courts of East Harlem’s Jefferson Park that our first photo shoot felt more like a public performance of our art practice than the menial task of documentation. As our lives and art practices grew alongside each other our collaboration evolved into a relational practice where we began to consider our artistic relationship a living artwork in-and-of-itself. We see our woven artwork as a negotiation between the art world, which is so white-box-centric, and our attempt to show evidence of the invisible materials of our relationship, as art, within it.
Our current series of tapestries:
The tapestries above shown in a gallery setting are from a growing series of artwork woven respectively by myself and Katie Earle, each based on a photograph from times Katie and I spent together intentionally supporting each other in our respective art practices (ex during a photo shoot or skill-share). We are exploring both the memories that the photographs conjure as well as the problematic nature of a photograph’s attempt to represent the complexity of a living moment.
www.everleatextiles.com
