creating wonder

Artist’s Statement

April DeConick (b 1963, Detroit, MI) is an abstract expressionist who uses fiber and clay as her “canvases.” She is also a professor of the study of religion at Rice University (2006-). After decades of writing about mysticism and gnosticism, she has found that words often are inadequate to communicate the deepest aspects of reality. She has turned to art to express this wonder. She creates art to communicate what cannot be said in words, but what must be experienced and felt first-hand about who we are, where we are from, and where we are going.

“I play with the intersection of the haptic and the aesthetic so that my artworks convey the sensation of “hygge (who-gah),” the feeling of comfort, care, and companionship. I intend my pieces to inspire us to cultivate a culture of care for ourselves, each other, and the planet we share.”

As an abstract expressionist, she embraces improvisation and spontaneity in her fiber artworks and ceramics, using color, texture, and undulating forms to visually reflect the diffusion of the Flow, Dao, or the Shefa as it interlaces with the natural world. The poetics of her fiber pieces rely on the wildness of long random hooked stitches that break away from the typical flat stitches used to create hooked rugs. The aesthetics of her abstract ceramic surfaces rely on the layering of glazes spilled and painted on textured and stamped clay.

“The materials are my focus and inspiration.”

Her interdisciplinary work oscillates between functional and conceptual art. The artist works at the intersection of fine art and traditional craft – what she calls “women’s work” – contesting the androcentric and patriarchal narratives that still, unacceptably, define and control the art world today.

“When a woman does it, it’s a craft but when a man does it, it’s art.”

Most of her artworks challenge our cultural fetishization of women’s bodies as the natural world which men can subjugate and control. While her pieces are abstractions of the natural world, they also are abstract representations of women’s bodies and couture. They often combine the hard ceramic surface with soft fiber in integrated but hybrid wall sculptures, using form and assemblage to reorient viewers to the uncontrollable power of women.

Biography

The artist first learned to stitch rugs, weave, and make ceramics in college, but since then has developed her own artistic practice. She combines hooked, woven, painted, wired, and ceramic surfaces into wall art, sculptures, vessels, and wearable art. She also creates ceramic art tiles and slabware which embody the spontaneity and spirit of modern abstraction.

She has participated in exhibitions put on by the Art League of Houston, Sawyers Yards, Women in Literary and Visual Arts, the Ardest Gallery, Lawndale Arts Center, the Surface Design Association, Envision Arts, and the Rug Hooking Magazine. In 2018, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame for hooked art and, in 2023, she hung her first solo exhibition, Flow Meets Fiber, in Gallery 300 (Houston). She operates an art studio – Studio 2TWENTY – in the Silos at Sawyer Yards, Houston. She is represented by the Ardest Gallery (The Woodlands).

Resume

Studio

April DeConick Art. Studio 220. The Silos, Sawyer Yards, Houston, Texas.

Gallery Representation

Ardest Gallery. 25200 Grogan’s Park Drive, The Woodlands, Texas.

Solo Exhibitions

2023. Flow Meets Fiber. Gallery 300. The Silos at Sawyer Yards, Houston, Texas. July 3-29.

Exhibitions

2024. Over the Edge and From the Light. In: Abstraction. Ardest Gallery, The Woodlands, Texas. Juror Terry Suprean. July 10-August 3.
2024. Escape. Arthouse Art Loan Program. Houston.
2024. Earth Spirit. In: Interplay. Surface Design Association. The Dairy Barn Arts Center. Juror Annet Couwenberg. June 28-September 4.
2024. Triple Spirit. In: The Big Show. Lawndale Art Center, Houston. Juror: Laura Augusta. June 7-August 17.
2024. EPIMONE/persistence and Difference is Beautiful. In: A Version of Beauty. The Silos at Sawyer Yards, Houston. May 11-August 17.
2024. Good Luck Barbie and (In)habitation. In: Dimension. Ardest Gallery, The Woodlands, Texas. Juror: Jeff Forster. May 11-June 1.
2024. There is a Rose. In: Small Frames, Big Ideas 2. Gallery 200. The Silos at Sawyer Yards, Houston. January 1-March 31.
2023. (In)habitation. In: Creating Space: Weaving Stories in Fibre. Organizer: Harriet Goodall. Virtual Exhibition with print catalog.
2023. METAMORPHOSIS/change and Blood, Sweat, and Tears. In: Artists of the Silos Winter Exhibition. November 18-February 12.
2023. Blood, Sweat, and Tears. In: Expansion. Women in the Visual and Literary Arts. POST-Houston. Juror and Curator: Elena Poirot. September 1-November 11.
2023. Wild Spring, River Bottom, and Beneath Spring. In: Big Ideas, Small Frames. The Silos at Sawyer Yards, Houston. August 28-November 11.
2023. Escape and Peacock Collar. Best In Show. In: Envision Arts: Aquamarine. Virtual exhibition. Juror: Ginger Cochran.
2023. Bleeding Out. In: I Choose, Therefore I Am. Silver Street Studio Exhibition, Houston, Texas. Juror: Rachelle LaBlanc. March 11-April 30. Permanent online exhibition at www.ichoosethereforeiam.com.
2023. We are Connected, Difference is Beautiful, and Rose Cascade. In: Artists Talk. The Silos at Sawyer Yards, Houston, Texas. March 1-April 30.
2022. Swimming in Balmorhea Springs and Reflections on Lake Raven. In: Envision Arts:Terra and Tide. Virtual exhibition. Juror: Ginger Cochran.
2022. River of Light. In: Faculty-Student Exhibition. Art League of Houston. July 30-September 2.
2022. Grow Wild. In: Free Expression. The Silos at Sawyer Yards, Houston, Texas. July 1-September 30.
2022. Transfiguration: Red to Purple. In: Love Story. The Silos at Sawyer Yards, Houston, Texas. February 1-April 30.
2021. The Place Where All Stairways End. In: The Silo’s Artists: The Silos at Sawyer Yards, Houston, Texas. February 1-December 30.
2021. We Are Connected and Difference is Beautiful. In: Envision Arts: Texture II. Virtual exhibition. Juror: Ginger Cochran.
2021. Grow Wild. In: Faculty-Student Exhibition. Art League of Houston. July 30-August 28.
2021. Beneath Spring and Spark of Life. Honorable Mention. In: Envision Arts: Spring. Virtual exhibition. Juror: Ginger Cochran.
2020. Homage to Van Gogh and Homage to Georgia O’Keeffe. In: Envision Arts: Prism. Virtual exhibition. Juror: Ginger Cochran.

Awards and Honors

2024. Triple Spirit. Juror’s Award. The Big Show. Lawndale Art Center. Juror: Laura Augusta.
2024. DIAKRISIS/discernment. Third Place. In: Dimension. The Ardest Gallery. Juror: Jeff Forster.
2023. Escape and Peacock Collar. Best In Show. In: Envision Arts: Aquamarine. Virtual exhibition. Juror: Ginger Cochran.
2021. Beneath Spring and Spark of Life. Honorable Mention. In: Envision Arts: Spring. Virtual exhibition. Juror: Ginger Cochran.
2018. Induction into the Hall of Fame for hooked art.

Published Juried Pieces in Exhibition Catalogues

2023. (In)habitation. In: Creating Space: Weaving Stories in Fibre. Edited by Harriet Goodall.
2023. Bleeding Out. In: I Choose, Therefore I am 2023 Exhibition Catalog. Edited by Rachelle LeBlanc.
2020. Original Palette. In: Celebration of Hand-Hooked Rugs 30.

Special Event Appearances

2024. Artist Talk for The Big Slide Show. Lawndale Art Center. June 22.
2023. Artist Talk on “Renegade Women” podcast with Meryl Cook, December 9.
2023. Artist Exhibition Talk: Flow Meets Fiber. Sip and Stroll Event. Arts District Houston. Organizer: Nicole Peralta. July 15.

Publications

2023. April DeConick. Flow Meets Fiber: April DeConick Fiber Art Exhibition. Houston: Studio 220 Press.
2023. April DeConick. Soul Windows: April DeConick Fiber Art Series. Houston: Studio 220 Press.
2022. April DeConick. Going Abstract with April DeConick: A Practical Workbook. Houston: Studio 220 Press.
2022. April DeConick. Power Dyeing with April DeConick: A Practical Workbook. Houston: Studio 220 Press.
2013. April DeConick. Wool Snapshots: A Guide to Creating Miniature Wool Portraits from Photos. Houston: Studio 220 Press.
2011. April DeConick. The Wool Palette: A Guide to Dyeing Your Own Color Palette of Wool. Houston: Studio 220 Press.

Featured Appearances

2021. Dawn Awakens featured in “Exposure. ” Page 37 in Summer edition of Surface Design Association Journal: Spontaneity and Play in Fiber Art.
2014. “April DeConick.” Pages 105-6 in Deanne Fitzpatrick, Simply Modern: Contemporary Designs for Hooked Rugs. Nimbus.

Professional Service

2013. Juror for Celebration of Hand-Hooked Rugs 23.

Teaching

2023. “Crazy Color.” Sauder Village Rug Week. Archbold, Ohio.
2022. “Going Abstract.” 3-Day Retreat. Sauder Village Rug Week. Archbold, Ohio.
2022. “Power Dyeing.” Sauder Village Rug Week. Archbold, Ohio.
2021-present. Master Dyeing Course. Online instruction with videos. Art Rug Academy.
2019. “Color Theory and the Color Tree.” Sauder Village Rug Week. Archbold, Ohio.
2019. “Zonalism.” ATHA Biennial. Denver, Colorado.2012. “Palette Dyeing.” Sauder Village Rug Week. Archbold, Ohio.
2018. “Exploring the Color Spectrum.” Green Mountain Rug Guild. Montplier, Vermont.
2015. “Zonalism.” Sauder Village Rug Week. Archbold, Ohio.
2015. “Zonalism.” ATHA Biennial. San Antonio, Texas.
2013. “Miniature People.” Deanne Fitzpatrick Studio. Amherst, Canada.

Memberships

Art League of Houston
Surface Design Association
Fiber Art Network
Textile Society of America
Visual Arts Alliance Houston
ClayHouston