Lydia Tjioe Hall, Liminal Dwelling No 3, Liminal Dwelling, Liminal Dwelling No 4, 2022, 2021,2022, Steel wire

LYDIA TJIOE HALL

Lydia Tjioe Hall is a mixed-media artist who works in both textile and metal processes and often employs both in her sculptural work. Currently working in a traditional lace-making technique known as knotless netting or looping, Hall created Liminal Dwellings, three small-scale iterations of the same form, made from plastic-covered colored wire. These dwellings reflect the artist’s time spent at home sheltering in place during Covid. While Tjioe Hall felt safe at home, isolating also seemed like the illusion of safety. The illusion in her pieces is the absence of the home, which once was solid matter and is now infiltrated with negative space. The looping wire insinuates the matter that once was, expressing presence through absence.

I am interested in creating meaning and narrative through form and materials with my sculpture. The materials I use are an intrinsic part of my art making process. By exploring resonances between a single line and densely packed wire, my pieces become metaphors evoking themes of time, change, balance, tension, breath, and decay. These sculptural objects are created through repetitive and time intensive processes such as weaving, netting, and looping. The resulting forms are contemplative sounding boards that echo my impressions and experiences.

I received my art degree with an emphasis on ceramic sculpture from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1998. Following my experience at UCSC, I worked for a Bay Area artist/potter as a slip-caster and mold-maker. During this time I became interested in mold making and metal sculpture. I attended Cabrillo Community College, where I had the opportunity to work with metal on both a large and small scale. I was fortunate to have Dawn Nakanishi as my teacher and mentor, who encouraged me to attend metal conferences and apply to graduate school. In Spring 2011, I received my MFA from California State University, Long Beach, where I studied under Susanna Speirs in metals and Carol Shaw-Sutton in fibers. After graduating I taught both Beginning Metals and Fiber Sculpture at CSULB. In 2013 my daughter was born and in 2015 my son was born. I now work on my sculpture from my studio at home whenever I have a moment to do so. Although the scale of my work has changed over the years due to space and time constraints, the root of my process holds true, and with it I am always keen to break through new boundaries and try new things.

Lydiatjioe.com