STATEMENT
I am an artist and maker who draws on the skills handed down to me by my ancestors. They were boat builders, carpenters, seamstresses, farmers, and homemakers. In artmaking, labor is essential to my practice. My work must bear the mark of my hand and my mind. This is a freedom to think and make, to change direction or approach as I go along. It is fluid from my head to my hands. There is no need for sketches, explanations, or directions. It is private until it is not.
I make, and then try to understand why. My process is visceral. The inspiration comes from many places. It could be a remnant of fabric or cloth draped in a particular way when it caught my eye or thought that challenges me, “I bet you can make this lump of clay into a wearable piece of clothing.” It can also be a way of responding to things happening around me.
My work is craft-based, a woman’s work. I incorporate textiles, sewing, ceramics, printmaking, and photography to create sculptures and installations. They are about memory, true, painful, happy, or idealized in an attempt at self-preservation. My work focuses on social, cultural, and political themes such as women’s body image and autonomy, my immigration story, and my community. I weave through the experiences of my immigrant grandmother and mother, seamstresses, and the strong shoulders I stand on. The objects I make are the archeological evidence of my hands.
BIOGRAPHY
Rose Deler is a Dominican/American Latinx artist residing and practicing in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. Her Latin heritage is deeply ingrained in her work. Having immigrated from the Dominican Republic to the United States as an infant, the artist experienced a sense of pride during adolescence when her origins were not readily apparent to others—"After all," she says, "we were supposed to melt, (assimilate). "Nevertheless, the essence of her heritage inevitably shines through in her work, interwoven with the rich narratives passed down from her parents and her trailblazing grandmother, Rosa.
Rose has an MFA in Studio Arts from the City College of New York. Her work has been exhibited at The Morris-Jumel Mansion Museum, NY; the Pen and Brush Gallery, NY; Taller Boricua Gallery in NY; Portal: Governors Island, NY; Hewitt Gallery, NY; the Invisible Dog Art Center in Brooklyn, Byrdcliffe Guild Gallery in Woodstock, NY, The International Print Center of NY, Parlor Gallery, Asbury Park, NJ, GoggleWorks Center for the Art in Pennsylvania, Los Angeles Convention Center, the Vermont Studio Center and Truro Center for the Arts in Massachusetts. Her work is in the permanent collection of Georgetown Peabody Library in Massachusetts.
Rose is an adjunct faculty member at CCNY teaching Intro to Ceramics Design, Mold Making for Ceramics, and Intro to Sculpture. She is a member of the New York Society of Women Artists. A recipient of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Center UMEZ and Creative Engagement grants. She won the Provost’s Prize in Art, the Holly T Popper Award, and the Merit Connor Tuition Scholarship. She has been a resident of the Vermont Studio Center and the Truro Center for the Arts in Cape Cod, MA. Her work has been published in The Nation, The Encyclopedia of Inspiration, Uppercase Publishing and Visionary Hauntology, The Naropa Press.