I use fiber media to sculpt solid, freestanding forms that embody the complex experiences of womanhood within contemporary American culture. Created from wool fibers needle-felted into intricate, robust, writhing shapes or meticulously stitched from pieces of thick, smooth wool felt, my sculptures evoke the female form rendered in soft, tactile media to engage viewers on multiple sensory and intellectual levels.

Current works incorporate subtle reflections of intense pink pigment, a color laden with cultural significance long associated with femininity. The organic forms I create are seductively approachable yet mildly alarming; they serve as vessels for exploring the multifaceted nature of living in a female-identifying body—a spectrum encompassing strength and vulnerability, the beautiful and the grotesque, pain and resilience, control and the lack of agency.

"Soft power" refers to persuasion through indirect or non-confrontational means; it captures the way I learned to navigate my world as a girl growing up in 1980s America, as well as my visually alluring approach to feminist topics in a world that still undervalues women. I want to be part of the dialog that ushers in a future in which gender equality, positive body images, reproductive rights, and sexual empowerment are the norm.  My sculpture invites audiences to reconsider their preconceptions and assumptions, fostering a sense of shared connection within the larger human experience through a visceral, visual language.

Artist Biography

Stephanie Metz (United States, b.1976) creates fiber sculptures that embody nuanced, contradictory ideas to offer viewers a means to connect, reconsider, and sit with complex realities. She uses nontraditional techniques in fiber-- stitching thick industrial felt and needle felting-- to create three-dimensional objects ranging from intimately sized to human scale, in forms that are both seductive and repulsive, muscular and yet elegant. Metz holds a BFA in Sculpture from the University of Oregon and she lives and works in the California Bay Area. Her work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and internationally. Awards include grants from the Belle Foundation, the Center for Cultural Innovation, and SVCreates. Workshop venues include Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Penland School of Crafts, Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft, Kala Art Institute, and the Pacific Northwest Art School.