Shop Available Works by Kathleen Greco

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Jelly Yarns

Kathleen Greco developed the idea for Jelly Yarn® while writing one of her first knitting books, Yummy Yarns. She wanted to design a knit purse using a waterproof material instead of conventional fiber yarns and liked the concept of crocheting or knitting a glossy texture. Using her industrial design background, she formulated the idea into a contemporary waterproof textile and Jelly Yarn® was born! Bright, delicious neon, glow-in-the-dark, black light colors are named after candies and sweets.

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Artist Statement

Minimalist in concept, I am a visual artist informed by our living history exploring the human experience often exposing social undercurrents. My interdisciplinary studio practice comprises contemporary works on paper and panels, photography and sculpture. Applying knowledge from my industrial design background, I pair relationships of metamorphic materials and transformative techniques letting them guide the investigation including, graphite, charcoal, wax pastels, and flower petals.

I am driven by discovery and process not limiting myself to one medium. I select materials and methods that conceptually and physically respond to the ideas I am exploring guiding the outcome of my body of work. I often use graphite and charcoal as mediums because carbon based materials are the basis of life and building blocks of humans. Choreographing relationships, conditions, and materials to engage and inform, similar to changes we experience in life, my work investigates themes of fragility, resilience, memory, and transition suggesting a bigger materiality lies underneath and within the surfaces.

My influences include painter Mark Rothko, "a painting is an expression of the artist's notion of reality… not a rendering of a particular thing."

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Artist Biography

Her work has been featured in Artillery, Ginger, Hyperallergic, and the Washington Post. She has lectured at universities and colleges including Lafayette College and the Royal College of Art London, England. Greco broadened her studio practice during a three week residency from the Civita Institute in the Etruscan hilltop town of Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy.

Greco's artwork has been exhibited in museums and galleries including the Museum of Art and Design New York, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C., Hayward Gallery, England UK, Woodmere Art Museum, Pennsylvania, Elisabet Ney Museum, Texas, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany, and Schlossmuseum, Linz, Austria. Her sculpture was included in the collaborative Coral Reef Pod World's installation in the Central Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2019, Venice, Italy.

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Education

‍2015
University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
MFA Studio Arts

1979
University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
BS Industrial Design

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Additional Coursework

‍2012
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Cast Drawing, Anatomy, Life Drawing

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Awards and Honors

‍2023
Harry Harris Prize, Woodmere Art Museum 81st Annual Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA

2021
18th Annual Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition and Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art, Mainline Art Center, Haverford, PA

2019
Artist Residency, Civita Institute, Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy

2016
President's Award, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2015 - 2013
Provost Fellowship Award, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2015 - 2013
MFA Scholarship, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2015
The Richard and Patricia Henkels Award, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2014
Faculty Award, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2013-2012
Continuing Education Scholarship Award, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

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Professional Experience

‍2017
Mercer County Community College, West Windsor, NJ
Assistant Professor, Digital Photography

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Visiting Artist Lectures and Talks

‍2021
Studio Arts Graduate Department, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Visiting Artist Lecture

2012
Lafayette College, Easton, PA
Visiting Artist Lecture

Illustration Department, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Visiting Artist Lecture

1999
Royal College of Arts, London, England
Visiting Artist Lecture

AIGA Graphix Conference, Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York, NY
Lecture

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Bibliography

Garbe, Sharon, Local innovation and tradition in the Woodmere Art Museum’s 81st Annual Juried Exhibition, Artblog, July 2023

Stola Contemporary Art, Democracy In Danger, Stola Contemporary Publisher, July 2022

Kittelmann, Udo, Value and Transformation of Corals: Catalogue for the exhibition at Museum FriederBurda 2022, Wienand Verlag Publisher, August 2022

Jenkins, Mark, In My Head, In My Body, The Washington Post, December 2020

Jenkins, Mark, In the galleries: Unfinished Works at Target Gallery, The Washington Post, January 2018

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Collections

Civita Institute, Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy

The Institute for Figuring, Los Angeles, CA

University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Selected Exhibitions

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‍Juried Group Exhibitions

2024 - 2025‍

Seeing the Unseeable: Data, Design, Art, The Institute For Figuring Pod Worlds, Getty’s PST ART: Art and Science Collide Exhibition, Art Center College of Design, Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery, Pasadena, CA

‍Coral Seas and Other Attractions, A Collaborative Project by Christine and Margaret Wertheim and the Institute for Figuring Inspired by Mathematics and Climate Change, Schloss Museum, Linz, Austria

2024
Voice of the People, InLiquid Gallery, Philadelphia, PA‍

New Now VII, InLiquid Gallery, Philadelphia, PA‍

InLiquid Toasts 25, Off the Wall Gallery at Dirty Franks, Philadelphia, PA‍

The Naked Show, InLiquid Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

2023
‍The Woodmere Annual: 81st Juried Exhibition, Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Juror: Doug Bucci, artist

‍Paper Works, Site Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Juror: Julia Halpern, Executive Editor ArtNet

‍Roe 2.0, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL

2022
‍Value and Formation of Corals, Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany Invitational

‍Democracy In Danger, Stola Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL

‍Uncommon Prints x Common Matrices, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL

‍Believe In Tomorrow Outdoor Garden Sculpture Exhibition, Mainline Art Center, Haverford, PA

‍My Body / My Choice, AIR Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2021
‍REEMERGENCE: 18th Annual Betsy Meyer Memorial Award Exhibition, Mainline Art Center, Haverford, PA

‍Fresh 2021, SoLA Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA

‍The New Normal, Payne Gallery, Bethlehem, PA

‍UNDEFEATED: Canvas(s)ing the Politics of Voter Suppression Since Women’s Suffrage, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV

2020
‍Suffrage Now, Elisabet Ney Museum, Austin, TX

‍Right To Vote, Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI

‍In My Head In My Body, Target Gallery, Alexandria, VA

‍Conversations 2020, Puffin Cultural Forum, Teaneck, NJ

‍UNITI: Separate but United, Civita Institute, Seattle, WA

2019
‍May You Live in Interesting Times, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy Invitational
‍Artwork part of the collaborative

Crochet Coral Reef Project, produced by artists Christine and Margaret Wertheim Crochet Coral Reef, Lehigh University Art Gallery, Lehigh, PA
Invitational

‍Shame, Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI

2018
‍Patterns, La Bodega Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

‍Under the Surface, 440 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

‍Black + White, Site: Brooklyn Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
Juror: Rosario Güiraldes, Assistant Curator at the Drawing Center New York

2017
‍Interlude: Unfinished Works, Target Gallery, VA
Juror: Betsy Johnson, Assistant Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC

‍MFA National Exhibition, First Street Gallery, New York, NY
Juror: Dorothea Rockburne, artist

‍Feminist Opposition, Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI

‍The Personal Is Political Feminist Exhibition, Art Rise Gallery, Savannah, GA

2016
‍Peace Among the Savages AKA The Gun Show, Amos Eno Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

‍Obscure, President's Gallery University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Two Person Exhibition Invitational

‍12th National Exhibition, Ceres Gallery, New York, NY
Juror: Carmen del Valle Hermo Assistant Curator, Collections Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

2016
‍Icebreaker 7, Ice Gallery, Denver, CO

2015
‍MFA Biennial, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Art, Wilmington, DE

‍Old Enough To Know Better, Crane Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Curator: Eileen Neff, artist

‍Art Unleashed, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

‍Coral Reef, New York University Abu Dhabi, Dhabi, UAE Invitational

‍The Five Obstructions, Crane Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Invitational

2012
‍Bound, Phoenix Gallery, New York, NY Curator: Associate Curator Cora Rosevear, Museum of Modern Art

‍Sticks, Hooks and the Mobius, Williamson Gallery, Lafayette College, Easton, PA
Invitational

2011
‍Photography as Art and Photographer as Artist, Phillips Mill Gallery, New Hope, PA

‍Reefs, Rubbish and Reason, Art Center College of Design, Williamson Gallery, Pasadena, CA
Invitational

‍Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.
Invitational

2010
‍Toxic Reef, Science Gallery, Dublin, Ireland Invitational 2009 Coral Reef, Track 16, Los Angeles, CA Invitational 2008 Hyperbolic Coral Reef, The Hayward Gallery, London, England UK
Invitational

2009
‍Coral Reef, Track 16, Los Angeles, CA Invitational

2008
‍Hyperbolic Coral Reef, The Hayward Gallery, London, England UK Invitational