Jodi Colellaartist + teacher
I’m a sculptor of objects and room-sized installations that speak to an overlapping discourse about craft, women’s work, domesticity and feminism. I use handwork to touch on power, identity politics, institutionalized prejudice and body agency. The objects honor the labor and craft histories of the women who came before me.
Weaving, spinning, embroidery, knitting, crochet, mending, and lacemaking are my methods and employ women’s clothing, yarns, threads, and clay. The touch of the making allows a vulnerability to be visible, in the bulges that ooze from orifices, fabrics pierced with irregular stitches, and bundles of threads that drip from the backs of weavings. A sense of whimsy shapes hybrid vessels that confuse soft and hard surfaces; woven tapestries with words that expose coded messages; and bound figurines confined by obsessively wrapped threads.
There’s an affection and a knowing in the act of making by hand. As sensual, incongruous, and humble artworks, they appear fueled by an irrepressible drive to exist.
Jodi Colella exhibits and teaches internationally. She is a member of Boston Sculptors Gallery and the recipient of a 2019 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship Award for Sculpture. Her exhibitions include The Textile Museum in Washington D.C.; Textile Center, Minneapolis; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton; World of Threads, Toronto; and Da Wang Culture Highland in Shenzhen China among others. She has collaborated on several public art projects, and her work is held in multiple museum collections. Interviewed for WGBH’s Open Studio with Jared Bowen, her work has featured in The Boston Globe, Surface Design Journal, The Woven Tale Press, Vasari 21, Artistry in Fiber, POSIT and TextileArtist.org. Colella is the founder of the fiber arts study group FiberLAB. She serves on the Artist Advisory Board for Gather 2025 Fiberart Symposium, Chair of Executive Committee for Boston Sculptors Gallery, Collections Committee for Fuller Craft Museum and Events Committee for Surface Design Association. She has held residencies at Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Fruitlands Museum in Harvard MA, Society of Arts + Crafts in Boston MA, Da Wang Culture Highland in Shenzhen China, Compeung in Doi Saket Thailand, Weir Farm in Ridgefield CT and is the recipient of a Pollack Krasner Fellowship at Vermont Studios Center in Johnson Vermont.
S E L E C T E D S H O W S
2025 The Future Belongs to the Loving MAPspace, Port Chester NY American Tapestry Biennial 15 American Tapestry Alliance, Epiphany Center for the Arts, Chicago IL The Carrier Bag Theory: Visual Artists Re-envision the Container Nave Gallery, Somerville MA Trace, Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland ME Elemental Flinn Gallery, Greenwich CT 2024 Figurative: The Body As Language Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland ME In The Making Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland ME Earthworks: Tradition, Influence, Innovation Umbrella Center for the Arts, Concord MA Where Are We From and Where Do We Go? Goethe-Institut, MET College Graduate Program in Arts Administration, Boston MA 2023 But It Doesn't Hold Water Boston Sculptors Gallery, SOWA Boston MA Danforth Museum Member Show Danforth Museum at Framingham State University, Framingham MA Through the Eye of the Needle Hudson Valley MOCA, Hudson NY Tenuous Threads Atlantic Gallery, NYC 2022 Compendium George Marshall Store Gallery, York ME Boston Sculptors 30th Anniversary Group Exhibition Boston Sculptors Gallery, SOWA and Highfield Hall, Falmouth MA Theme and Variations The Art Gallery at North Hill, Needham MA 2021 BSG Alight Nocturnal Exhibition, Manship Artist Residency, Gloucester MA (Re)Sisters Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville MA Womens Work Woodstock Art Center, Atlanta GA Outer Edges Three Stones Gallery, Concord MA The Chemistry of FiberLab Lexington Arts + Crafts Society, Lexington MA 2020 Faculty of Utterance Boston Sculptors Gallery, Boston MA Full Circle Public Interactive Cary Memorial Library, Lexington MA Obstructed View Piper Gallery Cary Memorial Library, Lexington MA 2018 Loom Large Boston Sculptors Gallery, Boston MA Unidentified Women Form + Concept, Santa Fe NM Twisted, Twined and Woven Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit MA 2019 Human Impact: Stories of the Opioid Epidemic Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton MA Dressed Danforth Art, Framingham MA Look This Way Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit MA2017 Unidentified Woman Historic Northampton Museum, Northampton MA2016 Beastiary Chandler Gallery, Maud Morgan Arts, Cambridge MA Intimacy+Materiality Helen Day Art Center, Stowe VT Own Your Piece/Peace Collaborative school wide installation for community event, Needham H.S., Needham MA 2015 WHACK! Pop-Up exhibition in Beacon Hill, Boston MA 2014 November Works Da Wang Culture Highland, Shenzhen China Unraveled Museums of Old York, York ME High Fiber Conrad-Wilde Gallery, Tuscon AZ Over and Under: Weaving Together the Fabric of Our Community Wheaton College, Norton MA 2013 The Order of the Universe Beard Gallery, Wheaton College, Norfolk MA A Room of Our Own Concord Art Association, Concord, MA 2011 GREEN: the Color and the Cause International exhibition, Textile Museum, Washington D.C. R E S I D E N C I E S / A W A R D S 2024 Somerville Arts Council Fellowship Somerville MA Haystack Mountain School of Craft Open Studio Residency , Deer Isle ME2019 Mass Cultural Council Fellowship Award for Sculpture Boston MA Haystack Mountain School of Craft Open Studio Residency 2019, Deer Isle ME2018 Society for Arts + Crafts Artist-in-Residence Oct. 2018-Jan. 2019, Boston MA Visual Artist Fellowship Award 2018, 2015, 2012 Somerville Arts Council, Somerville MA2016 Fay Chandler Emerging Artist City of Boston Council on the Arts, Boston MA Compeung Art Residency Doi Saket, Thailand2015 Weir Farm Art Center Artist Residency, Weir Farm National Park, Wilton CT2014 Da Wang Cultural Highland Artist Residency, Shenzhen China2013 Fruitlands Museum Artist-in-Residence, Harvard MA Vermont Studio Center Pollack-Krasner Fellowship Award, Johnson VT
P R O F E S S I O N A L / S P E A K I N G 2025 Gather 2025 Fiberart Symposium, Art Advisory Board Member, Boston, MA 2023 Boston Sculptors Gallery Chair of Executive Committee, Boston MA (ongoing) 2022 Fuller Craft Museum Collections Committee, Brockton MA (ongoing) Surface Design Association Events Committee (ongoing)2020 Institute of Contemporary Art Gallery Talk on Yayoi Kusama, Boston MA Fuller Craft Museum Craft Chat, Brockton MA Lexington Arts & Crafts Society Sparks Fly! Inspire Series, Lexington MA2019 Stonehill College Symposium on the Opioid Epidemic, Easton MA2018 Montserrat College of Art Material + Process, Beverly MA FiberLAB Founder of a studio mentoring and instruction program for working fiber artists 2015-present Snow Farm The New England Craft Program Workshop Faculty, Williamsburg MA, ongoing Center for the Arts Skopelos Stitching Nature and Culture Workshop Instructor, Skopelos Greece Eliot School Workshop Faculty, Jamaica Plain, Boston MA, ongoing Governors Institute on the Arts Faculty, summer arts program, Governors Institutes of Vermont, Castleton VT Click here for unabridged resume including Press/Bibliography
2025 The Future Belongs to the Loving MAPspace, Port Chester NY American Tapestry Biennial 15 American Tapestry Alliance, Epiphany Center for the Arts, Chicago IL The Carrier Bag Theory: Visual Artists Re-envision the Container Nave Gallery, Somerville MA Trace, Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland ME Elemental Flinn Gallery, Greenwich CT 2024 Figurative: The Body As Language Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland ME In The Making Maine Museum of Photographic Arts, Portland ME Earthworks: Tradition, Influence, Innovation Umbrella Center for the Arts, Concord MA Where Are We From and Where Do We Go? Goethe-Institut, MET College Graduate Program in Arts Administration, Boston MA 2023 But It Doesn't Hold Water Boston Sculptors Gallery, SOWA Boston MA Danforth Museum Member Show Danforth Museum at Framingham State University, Framingham MA Through the Eye of the Needle Hudson Valley MOCA, Hudson NY Tenuous Threads Atlantic Gallery, NYC 2022 Compendium George Marshall Store Gallery, York ME Boston Sculptors 30th Anniversary Group Exhibition Boston Sculptors Gallery, SOWA and Highfield Hall, Falmouth MA Theme and Variations The Art Gallery at North Hill, Needham MA 2021 BSG Alight Nocturnal Exhibition, Manship Artist Residency, Gloucester MA (Re)Sisters Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville MA Womens Work Woodstock Art Center, Atlanta GA Outer Edges Three Stones Gallery, Concord MA The Chemistry of FiberLab Lexington Arts + Crafts Society, Lexington MA 2020 Faculty of Utterance Boston Sculptors Gallery, Boston MA Full Circle Public Interactive Cary Memorial Library, Lexington MA Obstructed View Piper Gallery Cary Memorial Library, Lexington MA 2018 Loom Large Boston Sculptors Gallery, Boston MA Unidentified Women Form + Concept, Santa Fe NM Twisted, Twined and Woven Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit MA 2019 Human Impact: Stories of the Opioid Epidemic Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton MA Dressed Danforth Art, Framingham MA Look This Way Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit MA2017 Unidentified Woman Historic Northampton Museum, Northampton MA2016 Beastiary Chandler Gallery, Maud Morgan Arts, Cambridge MA Intimacy+Materiality Helen Day Art Center, Stowe VT Own Your Piece/Peace Collaborative school wide installation for community event, Needham H.S., Needham MA 2015 WHACK! Pop-Up exhibition in Beacon Hill, Boston MA 2014 November Works Da Wang Culture Highland, Shenzhen China Unraveled Museums of Old York, York ME High Fiber Conrad-Wilde Gallery, Tuscon AZ Over and Under: Weaving Together the Fabric of Our Community Wheaton College, Norton MA 2013 The Order of the Universe Beard Gallery, Wheaton College, Norfolk MA A Room of Our Own Concord Art Association, Concord, MA 2011 GREEN: the Color and the Cause International exhibition, Textile Museum, Washington D.C. R E S I D E N C I E S / A W A R D S 2024 Somerville Arts Council Fellowship Somerville MA Haystack Mountain School of Craft Open Studio Residency , Deer Isle ME2019 Mass Cultural Council Fellowship Award for Sculpture Boston MA Haystack Mountain School of Craft Open Studio Residency 2019, Deer Isle ME2018 Society for Arts + Crafts Artist-in-Residence Oct. 2018-Jan. 2019, Boston MA Visual Artist Fellowship Award 2018, 2015, 2012 Somerville Arts Council, Somerville MA2016 Fay Chandler Emerging Artist City of Boston Council on the Arts, Boston MA Compeung Art Residency Doi Saket, Thailand2015 Weir Farm Art Center Artist Residency, Weir Farm National Park, Wilton CT2014 Da Wang Cultural Highland Artist Residency, Shenzhen China2013 Fruitlands Museum Artist-in-Residence, Harvard MA Vermont Studio Center Pollack-Krasner Fellowship Award, Johnson VT
P R O F E S S I O N A L / S P E A K I N G 2025 Gather 2025 Fiberart Symposium, Art Advisory Board Member, Boston, MA 2023 Boston Sculptors Gallery Chair of Executive Committee, Boston MA (ongoing) 2022 Fuller Craft Museum Collections Committee, Brockton MA (ongoing) Surface Design Association Events Committee (ongoing)2020 Institute of Contemporary Art Gallery Talk on Yayoi Kusama, Boston MA Fuller Craft Museum Craft Chat, Brockton MA Lexington Arts & Crafts Society Sparks Fly! Inspire Series, Lexington MA2019 Stonehill College Symposium on the Opioid Epidemic, Easton MA2018 Montserrat College of Art Material + Process, Beverly MA FiberLAB Founder of a studio mentoring and instruction program for working fiber artists 2015-present Snow Farm The New England Craft Program Workshop Faculty, Williamsburg MA, ongoing Center for the Arts Skopelos Stitching Nature and Culture Workshop Instructor, Skopelos Greece Eliot School Workshop Faculty, Jamaica Plain, Boston MA, ongoing Governors Institute on the Arts Faculty, summer arts program, Governors Institutes of Vermont, Castleton VT Click here for unabridged resume including Press/Bibliography