Joetta Maue

As a multimedia artist, Joetta primarily uses fiber techniques, photography and language as her medium. She is trained as a photographer and self-taught as a fiber artist.

Joetta received her BFA from Ohio State University and her MFA from the University of Massachusetts. She has been an active member of a number of artist spaces and organizations in both Boston and NY and has exhibited widely across the country. She resides in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, 2 cats and a goldfish.

As humans, we live in a state of dynamic, conflicting emotions. In moments of pain we experience joy and in moments of joy we have sorrow. I celebrate the contradictions and dynamism of the joy and sadness of life. Just like the word “lovely,” which we may use to describe everything from a wedding ceremony to a funeral service, life is an indefinable experience. It fluctuates, never remaining in one moment or emotion for long. This dynamism creates the complexity of life, the beauty of life, and the path of life. As Joanna Freuh says, “life is sloppy” and, as an artist, I celebrate, question and reveal the sloppiness of our lives.

I use my daily life as the main subject of my work, with the idea of the work being honest—even painfully so—coming from my desire to be true to my emotions, insecurities, strengths and intelligence without fear of ridicule or censure from a patriarchal society. By making work that resides within the realm of the everyday, everyday objects, and the female, I am attempting to defy and contest masculine censure. In effect, I reclaim my femininity: the quality of being feminine, without the fear of losing strength or respect. Though the autobiographical drives my work and is necessary for it to exist, ultimately it is transcended, enabling viewers to have their own independent relationships to my work.

I am not an extraordinary woman. I do not live under extraordinary circumstances. I am a woman who has both flaws and fears, as well as strengths and hopes. Through the depiction of these characteristics, I invite the viewer to relate to and connect with my work, the artist, and the subject of human experience.

I had to make the quilt to keep my family warm. I made it beautiful to keep my heart from breaking. -Miriam Schapiro