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Bio
Erica Fitzgerald is an interdisciplinary artist working across sculpture, fiber, installation, and material-based practices. Her work examines the relationships between feminine labor, ecology, Erica Fitzgerald – Soft Edges Statement ritual, and inherited forms of object making through the lens of material transformation. Drawing from traditions of basketry, broom-making, weaving, and domestic craft, she creates sculptural objects and installations that investigate care, repetition, resilience, and the histories embedded within handmade processes. Fitzgerald’s practice centers on embodied forms of knowledge passed through generations, particularly those tied to women’s labor and domestic production. Her work explores tension between utility and instability, creating forms that appear both functional and fragile while carrying traces of physical labor, memory, and repair. Through repetitive gestures such as weaving, stitching, wrapping, and binding, she considers how craft traditions can function as archives of survival, cultural memory, and ecological connection. Fitzgerald received her MFA in Studio Arts – New Media from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and her BFA in Sculpture from the Art Academy of Cincinnati. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including work and research completed in Ireland and Iceland, and has taught sculpture, ceramics, and fiber-based practices throughout the Midwest. Fitzgerald is also the founder of Wend Hollow, a craft-based project focused on handmade brooms, baskets, and functional objects rooted in slow craft traditions.
Statement
This body of work examines histories of domestic labor, material memory, and the embodied knowledge that is carried through handmade objects. I use linear traditions of broom-making, and handcraft, to create sculptural objects that mirror care structures, repetition, ritual, and survival. I am interested in how ordinary tools and materials can hold emotional, cultural, and historical weight, particularly within forms of labor that have traditionally been feminized, undervalued, or rendered invisible. Using broomcorn, wool, wood, salvaged materials, and hand-binding tension techniques, I construct objects that move between familiarity and instability. Some retain references to functional forms, while others become exaggerated, fragmented, or bodily in scale and presence. The works carry visible evidence of process by wrapping, stitching, weaving, and pulling, emphasizing the physicality and duration of making. Repetition is central to my practice, both as a formal strategy and as a reflection of the repetitive acts tied to domestic and caregiving labor. I am particularly drawn to the relationship between craft and familial memory. Handmade objects absorb touch, use, and time; they become quiet records of the bodies that shaped and used them. Historically, sweeping and maintenance practices have extended beyond utility into ritual acts connected to protection, mourning, purification, and spiritual care. These objects engages those histories while considering how labor performed within domestic spaces becomes culturally overlooked despite sustaining everyday life. Through these objects, I challenge distinctions between fine art, craft, and utility while elevating material traditions that have been dismissed as ordinary or peripheral. The work reflects an ongoing interest in how inherited practices can function as archives of gender, resilience, and collective memory. I view these objects as acts of storytelling that hold space for histories, gestures, and forms of labor that are intentionally unseen but deeply foundational to how we live each and every day.
Bio
Erica Fitzgerald is an interdisciplinary artist working across sculpture, fiber, installation, and material-based practices. Her work examines the relationships between feminine labor, ecology, Erica Fitzgerald – Soft Edges Statement ritual, and inherited forms of object making through the lens of material transformation. Drawing from traditions of basketry, broom-making, weaving, and domestic craft, she creates sculptural objects and installations that investigate care, repetition, resilience, and the histories embedded within handmade processes. Fitzgerald’s practice centers on embodied forms of knowledge passed through generations, particularly those tied to women’s labor and domestic production. Her work explores tension between utility and instability, creating forms that appear both functional and fragile while carrying traces of physical labor, memory, and repair. Through repetitive gestures such as weaving, stitching, wrapping, and binding, she considers how craft traditions can function as archives of survival, cultural memory, and ecological connection. Fitzgerald received her MFA in Studio Arts – New Media from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and her BFA in Sculpture from the Art Academy of Cincinnati. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, including work and research completed in Ireland and Iceland, and has taught sculpture, ceramics, and fiber-based practices throughout the Midwest. Fitzgerald is also the founder of Wend Hollow, a craft-based project focused on handmade brooms, baskets, and functional objects rooted in slow craft traditions.
Statement
This body of work examines histories of domestic labor, material memory, and the embodied knowledge that is carried through handmade objects. I use linear traditions of broom-making, and handcraft, to create sculptural objects that mirror care structures, repetition, ritual, and survival. I am interested in how ordinary tools and materials can hold emotional, cultural, and historical weight, particularly within forms of labor that have traditionally been feminized, undervalued, or rendered invisible. Using broomcorn, wool, wood, salvaged materials, and hand-binding tension techniques, I construct objects that move between familiarity and instability. Some retain references to functional forms, while others become exaggerated, fragmented, or bodily in scale and presence. The works carry visible evidence of process by wrapping, stitching, weaving, and pulling, emphasizing the physicality and duration of making. Repetition is central to my practice, both as a formal strategy and as a reflection of the repetitive acts tied to domestic and caregiving labor. I am particularly drawn to the relationship between craft and familial memory. Handmade objects absorb touch, use, and time; they become quiet records of the bodies that shaped and used them. Historically, sweeping and maintenance practices have extended beyond utility into ritual acts connected to protection, mourning, purification, and spiritual care. These objects engages those histories while considering how labor performed within domestic spaces becomes culturally overlooked despite sustaining everyday life. Through these objects, I challenge distinctions between fine art, craft, and utility while elevating material traditions that have been dismissed as ordinary or peripheral. The work reflects an ongoing interest in how inherited practices can function as archives of gender, resilience, and collective memory. I view these objects as acts of storytelling that hold space for histories, gestures, and forms of labor that are intentionally unseen but deeply foundational to how we live each and every day.
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