Tia Salmela Keobounpheng
My creative journey continues to expand while always circling back to connect with what came before it. Now, in mid-life, I see the diverse experience of earlier years as vital to where I am now - working primarily as an abstact artist in the textile realm.
My current work emerges from a process of self-reckoning that places me and my ancestry in the context of time - considering epigenetics, colonization, and assimilation to Whiteness. As a descendant of Finnish and Sami people I reconcile generational patterns that have kept me from seeing the ‘un-see-able.’ I use geometry to move my consciousness beyond binary narratives, in order to imagine a more complex framework of understanding.
Conceptually, I unweave my identity and break apart the methods of traditional women’s work in order to present fiber as Abstract Art. Working by hand shifts my brainwaves, mindset, and intentions in the direction of decolonization. Layers of symbolism hide in plain sight as my artifacts are both the ends and the means of transformation.
In weaving, strands of warp are wrapped in tension on a loom. Single lines of weft weave over and under, perpendicular to the warp. In my process, I think of vertical warp threads as the foundation of time/lineage and horizontal weft as my learned behaviors. What perspectives can I gain by removing the weft?
Doing so re-imagines the legacy of my ancestors by conjuring wisdom lost to the forces of dominant culture. The threads do not conceal the drawings below. They attempt to reveal what's been hidden, what is still flowing through my blood, what still could be. I reconcile myself - with my ancestors and with my descendants - through multiplex works that speak about the power of color, fiber, geometry, and abstraction to ignite human energy capable of imagining a decolonized world.
- March, 2023
BIO
Tia Keobounpheng is an artist/designer/maker living and working in North Minneapolis.
Tia has spent much of her life exploring the connection between art, craft, design, and architecture. After graduating with a BA degree in Architecture from the University of Minnesota, she co-founded Silvercocoon with her husband, Souliyahn, in 2001 as a means to work creatively across disciplines. She launched her laser-cut jewelry collection under the Silvercocoon label in 2007 and expanded into metal in 2016. Returning to working with her hands led her back to fine art in 2017.
Her drawing, sculpture, installation, public art, and fiber-based work has been exhibited at the Duluth Art Institute, Finlandia University Gallery in Hancock, Michigan, The American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, New Studio Gallery in St. Paul, In Lights on the Target HQ building in downtown Minneapolis, as part of The Great Northern Festival, The Department of Art History Gallery at the University of St. Thomas, The Anderson Center in Red Wing, Viewpoint Gallery/Friedli Gallery in St. Paul, and soon the SooVAC and Mia (Minneapolis Institute of Art) in 2023.
Her work has been juried into the MN State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition every year since 2019 with a 2020 Honorable Mention in Sculpture, a 2021 First Place ribbon in Textiles, and a 2022 Fourth Place ribbon and the Minnesota Museum of American Art (purchase) award. She has received multiple Artist Initiative grants in 2017, 2020, and a 2022 Individual Creative Support grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, a 2018 Next Step Grant from MRAC, a 2023 Scandinavian Folk Arts and Cultural Traditions grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation, and she was a finalist for the 2023/24 MCAD Jerome Emerging Artist Fellowship.
