Irene Marinos – USA,
a visual artist based in New York
https://www.instagram.com/irenemarinosstudio/
https://www.instagram.com/iiiriiiriii/
Artist statement and bio
Irene Marinos is a mixed media artist from New York with roots in Nisyros, Greece. Her early work focused on portraiture of the island’s villagers, and then saints and holy figures, capturing a mystical nostalgia that continues to inform her art. Her newer work combines elements from several avenues of her life, fusing fashion and mechanics, textile and metal.
Irene Marinos Studio, her independent couture label, offers 1 of 1 handmade clothing from repurposed vintage and scrap fabric. The garments often feature patchwork with folkloric, retro, and geometric patterns; a nod to punk with a wabi-sabi verve. The designs are sewn by hand or using a 1950’s Singer Slant-o-matic machine resurrected from the trash. The declaration is a philosophy of sustainability as an antidote to hyper-consumerism. The garments can be found in slow-fashion boutique contracts and collaborations, or setup outside on the front-lines of the happy, gritty Brooklyn streets; crafting connection the good old fashion way.
Irene previously built a career in the diesel and transportation industries as a heavy-duty mechanic and Class A commercial truck driver. Her most recent job at a local scrap metal yard has provided ample dinged auto parts and weathered trinkets to reimagine as artistic elements, paralleling the scrap reject textile reworkings she mends into couture. This ethos of resourcefulness extends to her mechanical projects, with her 1969 Pontiac Custom S presenting as an amalgamation of hobbies, featuring a patchwork interior and sigil inspired exterior paintwork. Currently she is restoring a 1962 Mack B67 model flatbed that will be the anchor of her display for future street vending pursuits.
Swimming in and out of various vocations has allowed Irene to hunt and gather both tangible gems and spiritual ones. Imbuing new life into scrap, her style advocates a reconsideration of old materials, presenting them with the allure of a knowingly inter-connected wink.
Aidan Knowles – USA
An illustrator based in Bozeman, Montana
https://www.instagram.com/aidanjknowles/
Artist statement and bio
«While I currently spend most of my time working on my business, my background stems more from the fine arts. I graduated from California College of the Arts in 2020 with a focus on illustration and up until graduating I’d been doing freelance work, mostly private commissions but with a little bit of graphic design mixed in. Having done my thesis on puzzle design and composition, I set out to create a wooden jigsaw puzzle company, Victory Wooden Puzzles upon leaving school. The company is based out of my hometown in the UK but I now live in Bozeman, Montana, where I do both the die cut design for each puzzle as well as the art licensing, which involves reaching out to international artists and acquiring the rights to their work. Although I thoroughly enjoy the stability and opportunities that come with having a business, I’ve rarely had the time to work on my own personal projects. I’m incredibly excited to get back to my own roots with this residency and once again be surrounded by artists and their art as well as making my own.
For myself, the purpose for creating any piece of art is ever changing, and whether that means meeting the needs of clients or my own, I never want to feel limited to certain ideas or even mediums. My favorite thing about art is its variability and versatility when it comes to both the process of creating a piece as well as the viewing and interpretation of it. At the very least, I hope to create work that speaks for itself, and evokes a feeling, however varied, rather than a refined description.»
