Featured Project

Mimi Graminski started her work for Between Shadow and Light with small textile sculptures, using remnants from other projects. She pinned these pieces to the wall and experimented with light to produce pronounced shadows. Graminski was invited to create a new installation for her second exhibition at Window On Hudson. She magnified these small textile sculptures, suspending them using monofilament (fishing line), a method she had previously applied with other materials.
Tell us about the installation process for this specific site, the idea behind it, and what we are looking at as we walk by.
Installing work in a storefront window space presents challenges and rewards. It is very different from working in a white box where the light can be controlled. In this case, the changing light became an asset. In the morning, the strong eastern sunlight streams into the space, creating defined shadows. The natural sunlight changes throughout the day, and the electric lights take over in the evening, creating a different view. The spaciousness of the storefront windows also caused a change in the plan for the work. I had the idea to fill the windows with threaded shapes alone. Still, I realized a couple of days before installing that the hanging pieces needed a grounding presence and decided to use the vessels inside the windows for that solidity instead of the gallery’s interior.

Both storefront windows are related, but I chose to treat them slightly differently by leaving one open to the gallery and the other sealed off with a backdrop. In the window open to the gallery, I integrated the interior work with the window pieces, and it all can be viewed from the street. The other window is sealed off from the interior, as the work inside that gallery area consists of framed pieces where I treat the textiles in a different, more defined way.

Walking or driving by, you view the colorful shapes suspended in the air, and depending on the time of day, you may see the shadows they create. You also see transparent cubes and jars where the colors are encapsulated within the transparent containers. They become like bird cages, capturing the colors inside. Through the south window, inside the gallery are wire mobiles, and on another wall, small textile sculptures. Translucent fabric spirals hang down from the ceiling, and the many suspended pieces gently sway, creating shifting shadows.
I fill the space with color, light, and moving shadows to invoke an antidote to these challenging times.

Graminski’s Between Shadow and Light is from August 30 – October 15, 2023, at 43 South Third St. in Hudson, NY. The exhibition will be part of Open Studio Hudson October 7-9, 2023, 11 a.m. -5 p.m.
About the venue: Window On Hudson offers storefront window exhibition space for artists of the Hudson Valley. WoH is interested in all artistic mediums, with a special emphasis on textiles, installation, puppetry, movement, and emerging technologies. WoH is currently accepting proposals for the 2024 season. More information can be found here.
About the artist: Mimi Czajka Graminski has a long exhibition history, including recent shows with ODETTA Gallery in Berlin, Germany, ArtPort Kingston for UpstateArt Weekend, and Cornell University. The Jonah Bokaer Foundation awarded her a grant as part of The Hudson Eye Festival for her current solo show at Window on Hudson. Recent exhibitions include a solo show at Unison Arts and a two-person show at the Hammond Museum. She exhibited at the Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art and Arts Westchester with Inspiration Art Group International. Recent publications include Surface Design Journal, Fiber Art Now, the Dutch publication Textiel Plus, and an interview with the NPR radio station WAMC.