artist statement

My work addresses the politically charged topic of the environment, with a primary concern for consumer and production waste that negatively impacts our shared planet. The geological Anthropocene era greatly influences my artistic approach and practice. The Anthropocene era's sole focus is on how human activity continues to be the dominant negative influence on climate change and the degradation of the environment.  My studio practice, based in materiality, gravitates towards everyday materials and objects that are familiar and often used in our daily lives. Disseminating information about the harmful consumption of single-use products and fast fashion is the focus of my research and studio practice.

     Discarded and second-hand materials are manipulated and repurposed to make sculptures.  The works tend to vary in form, but the primary focus is on the materials, or conversely, the absence of the materials.  The replacement of plastic products with a fabric/textile stand-in is a means to initiate a conversation around the topic of sustainability. Certain works play with satire and irony through text constructed of beads and sequins, utilizing techniques of craft. The embellishments are used to emphasize the contrast between the fast paced production and consumption of single use products with the labor-intense processes involved in the making of my works. Within this body of work, I also incorporate print media as a means to disseminate information about practical and helpful environmental practices.

     The contextualized objects I choose to emulate and incorporate into my work, like plastic bags, labels and caution tape, have personal and social associations.  Within my work, I use that context to emphasize what I have changed about the familiarity of the objects.  In certain works I use the object's context to bring a new or heightened awareness to things such as clothing that might not typically be read as harmful.  Similar to the Anthropocene era, my work deals with products made from human invention - made out of necessity and/or luxury.  Fast fashion and single use products, although convenient and readily available at lower financial cost, are a significant contributor to the pollution of our shared planet.  This social and environmental concern influences my studio practice, and informs my use of these familiar but also harmful products.

about 

Meredith Coffey is an artist and educator currently living and working in Lexington, KY.  She earned her Associates in Arts from Bluegrass and Technical College in 2017, followed by her BFA in Art Studio and BA in Art History from the University of Kentucky, School of Art and Visual Studies, in 2020.  She is committed to teaching within non-profit organizations, such as, On the Move Art Studio and The Carnegie Center - both with emphasis on bringing art and creative opportunities to under-served local communities.  Her classes, which include elementary through high school age students, aim to provide a contemporary approach to sculpture and drawing. Meredith Coffey's current practice focuses on educational and informative drawing installations for public spaces in Lexington, KY.