BIO
Carlie Jo Antes earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with an emphasis in Ceramics and was offered the opportunity to return to UNL in the fall of 2020 where she began pursuing her Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture.
Having grown up in the presence of other makers, Carlie draws inspiration from her grandmothers and often references traditional craft mediums and practices—specifically in relation to textiles. Carlie employs these materials using a systematic and ordered approach while also confronting dynamic family and interpersonal relationships.
Since beginning her career at UNL, Carlie has received the Francis William Vreeland Scholarship Award (2017), is a two-time recipient of Jean R. Faulkner Memorial Art Exhibition Awards (2017, 2020), and was granted the 2020 Dan & Barbara Howard Creative Achievement Award. Carlie has served as the studio art representative for the Graduate Student Assembly since 2021 where she has served on the Teaching Council and currently co-chairs the Committee for Academic Affairs. Carlie completed an artist’s residency at the Cedar Point Biological Station during the summer of 2022 where she worked to prepare for her MFA Thesis Exhibition—scheduled to take place in April of 2023.
Carlie is a dedicated artist, wife and mother of two, working to further her practice as a studio artist. While pursuing her degree, Carlie has continued to both work and volunteer as a graphic artist, marketing consultant and event coordinator for various functions.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work explores concepts pertaining to loss, longing and the growth and adaptation that can occur as a result of traumatic circumstances. In order to facilitate a hopeful and optimistic dialogue in relationship to that which is often derived of the melancholy, I draw upon biological and ecological structures—comparing and contrasting them with human inventions and behavior. I find common threads in these seemingly disparate constructs through their shared ability to adapt—facilitating future growth and forging new relationships with their surroundings.
Wire, beads, wool, hair, fabric, and clay serve as metaphors for people, places, and emotions. Objects derived from nature are occasionally introduced, speaking directly to systems created by the living world. Materials are broken down and addressed as cellular structures, only to be thoughtfully reconstructed. Through the meticulous assembling, layering and weaving of individual components—objects ultimately manifest as interdependent sculptural networks. Varying degrees of transparency and porousness can often be found throughout the work, allowing objects to appear as a mere whisper or shadow of their past occurrence or future potential. This further serves to articulate and emphasize the methods at which ecological, biological and social constructs can both function and fail—and how through these instances, there may also be facilitation for growth, evolution, and stability.