We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Stephanie McGovern a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Stephanie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I am an interdisciplinary artist working in textiles, sculpture, collage, video and performance. I’m formally trained as a weaver, and have been working in the craft for over thirteen years.

I was first exposed to fiber art when I was seventeen years old while performing in the production <i>Dancing at Lughnasa</i>. My part required that I knit during many of the scenes, so I learned to make scarves with my fellow cast mates. I had always been an artist, exploring mediums such as drawing or painting, but there was something about the applicable and tactile nature of creating with fiber that instantly hooked me.

I spent my early career as an artist creating and selling apparel at trade shows, while also expanding my skills at SFSU. There I learned to weave, crochet, acid dye silks, use sewing machines and thread complex looms set ups. I don’t think there are any shortcuts to becoming a skillful artist. Many of the foundational skills I picked up in school laid the groundwork to becoming a developed and confident maker and artist. So much so that in 2016 I picked up and moved to New York City to pursue my career in the arts.

Stephanie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Through my practice I am looking to push the boundaries of what we perceive as weaving, by blurring the lines between textile and sculpture. I spend a lot of time in the studio mixing techniques as a way of layering my weavings. I’m always looking to “break the rectangle,” which in an art sense is this familiar and recurring strict shape. The materials I use in my woven sculptures are a combination of recycled textile “waste,” and inherited objects given to me by friends or family.

I’m particularly drawn to feminine materials, such as bra trimmings, lace, jewelry, lingerie or porcelain. Utilizing up-cycled materials in my work is both an environmentally practical choice as well as conceptual. Materials and objects that have had a life before they make it into my hands have been imbued with an energy that transfers into my work. I like the idea of things that are not new, that are being saved from a landfill and given a second life to live as art. I see each one of these works as something special and precious, like jewels that should be handled with care and consideration.

I see this process less like weaving and more like building and assembling. Working this way has allowed me to bring together ideas around privacy, gender, defined limits, and create a space for discourse. With material I can broach political and social issues through subversion, while also exploring my own personal biography in abstracted ways.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

There are so many rewards to being an artist, especially in a vibrant city like New York. Here, there is so much energy around collaboration and exchanging with other artists. There are so many prolific artists in and around New York that you can end up working on some incredible projects. It’s a thriving ecosystem and feels like a deep pool of opportunity—you never know where your work will lead you. You can get your art into the public sphere in many capacities while connecting with an amazing community of artists who are also putting in the work to make it here.

Being an artist opens your life up to possibilities and places that an ordinary career may never yield. In 2023 I had the opportunity to take on a residency in Greece—a place I had never thought about visiting previously. A few years ago I was showing in Miami, and this summer I will be on residency in France and showing in an art fair in Wisconsin. Traveling for my art practice, at this stage in my career, feels like one of the biggest and most unexpected rewards.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think there needs to be more avenues for financial support for artists and arts organizations. If there was better public or private funding available then artists could be properly braced to create to their full potential. More times than not, too many costs spill over to artists—you have to pay-to-play just to get a few eyes on your work. I think that artists pay enough as it is just to get into the position to create their work, and there needs to be a better financial model in the art world. The trope of the “starving artist” doesn’t quite make sense in the 21st century, where art markets and their collectors wouldn’t be able to thrive without the labor of artists.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.stephaniemcgovern.com
• Instagram: @stephanie.mcgovern.studio

Image Credits
Chris-Coe