Olivia Valentine


My work as an artist is focused on the construction of edges and interstitial spaces. This line of inquiry began with my investigations into the space of the textile edge. Beginning with early examples of openwork embroidery, I traced the transition of lace structures from the center a cloth to its edge. I use the window as a literal and metaphorical threshold between interior and exterior space in several of my studio projects, including The entering takes away. Lace is often used as an edging, defining the boundaries between the private body and the public world.  Windows similarly mediate between interior domestic space and the exterior public world. By constructing windows using the techniques of fabric edging, the threshold between interior and exterior space is expanded.


Nor was I hungry; so I found
That hunger was a way
Of persons outside windows,
The entering takes away.

-Emily Dickinson