I make sculptures and embroidery collages from heirloom clothing, yarn, reclaimed fabrics, and other materials. The language of textiles is also that of connection, threading together identity, history, biology, and personal experience. As human beings, we are part of an interacting, breathing membrane, transmitting and receiving the stuff of life between social and psychological systems, ecosystems, solar and cosmic systems. We flow, physically and emotionally, into our surroundings. The materials I use have their own histories, sometimes directly linked to mine, as in the case of familial clothing, sometimes not. Organic patterns in vintage laces and other textiles speak to one another, and seem to pulse with life. Always trying to minimize waste, I bundle together the scraps and ends from my crochet and embroidery pieces, to form new soft sculptural bodies. In this way, my work process literally begets new work, reproducing like a live organism.
Artist Biography
Rachel Blythe Udell works with fibrous materials to create biomorphic sculptures, embroidered textile collages, and installations. Udell has had a solo show at Grounds For Sculpture and exhibited in a three-person show at the Perkins Center for the Arts, both in New Jersey. Her installation, "Hypnagogic Habitat" is currently on view at the Philadelphia International Airport. Recently, she exhibited her work in the juried showcase section of Art14C, an international art fair in Jersey City, NJ. Udell has created installations for the Philadelphia Department of Parks and Recreation at Lemon Hill Mansion, and The Atlantic Highlands Arts Council Gallery in Monmouth County, NJ. Her work was selected for inclusion in the New Jersey Arts Annual in 2018 and the Fiber Philadelphia International Biennial in 2012. She is also a poet, and creates digital soundscapes and songs. Udell graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in Art History, and has studied art and art therapy at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives and works in Mantua, New Jersey.
Education
2006 - 2007 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Graduate Studies in Art Therapy
1998 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA Bachelor of Arts in Art History Summa Cum Laude
Bibliography
2016 Featured Artist, Textiel Plus
2014 Featured Artist, Knotwe.com
News Post, The Art Blog
Work featured in "A Cosmos of Patterns". Director: Jeremy Newman
2012 Rosenberg, Amy S. "Fiber With Feeling", The Philadelphia Inquirer, Interview
Friday Picture Post, The Art Blog
2010 Interviewed as Featured Artist, Manufactured Dissent
Featured Artist of the Month, Philadelphia Women's Caucus for Art
Affiliation
2019 InLiquid Member Artist
2018 - 2019 Strobe NJ
2009 - Present Handmade Philly
2009 - 2012 The Women's Caucus For Art
Professional experience
Professional Development
2017 Creative Capital Professional Development Program
Exhibitions
Solo
2023
Hypnagogic Habitat, Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia, PA,
2020
Pocket Dimension, Inliquid Vestibule at Old City Publishing, Philadelphia, PA,
2014 The Shapes of My Dreams and of My Nightmares, Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ
2013 Spring Forward: Contemporary Art in Historic Houses, Lemon Hill Mansion, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, PA Installation
Group
2023 Again and Again, Inliquid galleries at Parktowne Place, Philadelphia, PA
2022 The Art of Whimsy: More Than Meets The Eye, 1040 Creative, Philadelphia, PA
Ancestral Intersections, New Hope Arts Center, New Hope, PA
Exploring Emotions Through Color, The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA
2021 Clique21, Perkins Center For The Arts, Collingswood, NJ
2020 Unprecedented Times, University City Science Center, Philadelphia, PA
Strobe Signature Artists, Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville, NJ
Fragile Beauty, Salem Art Bank, Salem, NJ
2019 New Now III, The Inliquid Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Interwoven, BSB Gallery, Trenton, NJ
Summer Whimsy, Jed Williams Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Art Underground, The Basement, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Arts Annual Exhibition, New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Rowan University Art Gallery, Glassboro, NJ Jurors: Ysable Pinyol, MANA Contemporary Jodi Throckmorton, PAFA
Knot Up To You, High 5 Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Threads of My Identity, Atlantic Highlands Arts Council, Atlantic Highlands, NJ
The Earth Speaks, The Barron Art Center, Woodbridge, NJ
Opening Up, High 5 Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2017 Mi Corazon, Eye's Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2016 Growing Creativity, Jed Williams Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Stand With Standing Rock, Eris Temple Arts, Philadelphia, PA
3rd Annual Day of the Dead Show, Eye's Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2015 Small Works, Da Vinci Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
Spaces Between, The Perkins Center for the Arts, Collingswood, NJ
2014 Flora Fauna, Jed Williams Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2013 Bigger Bits and Pieces, Metropolis Collective, Mechanicsburg, PA
2012 Outside/Inside the Box, Fiber Philadelphia International Biennial, The Ice Box Project Space at Crane Arts, Philadelphia, PA Jurors: Elisabeth R. Agro, Bruce D. Hoffman, Judith Weisman
Bits and Pieces, Metropolis Collective, Mechanicsburg, PA
Stitch Witchery, Nichols Berg Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
More Stitch Witchery, The Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
Gender Games, International House, Philadelphia, PA
Jouissance:: Play, Et al Productions, New York, NY
2011 The Ragdoll Project for Human Trafficking Awareness, Multiple locations, Philadelphia, PA
Synthetic Zero and {SØNiK} Fest, Bronx Art Space, New York, NY
Collaborate: Collaborator, Eris Temple Art Space, Philadelphia, PA
Women and Water, International House, Philadelphia, PA
3rd Street Gallery Invitational, 3rd Street Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2010 Art for the Urban Collector, Highwire Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Plexus, Rocket Cat Cafe, Philadelphia, PA
Devotion, Highwire Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Women, International House, Philadelphia, PA
2009 Various and Sundry, The Skybox at 2424 Studios, Philadelphia, PA
Girls Gotta Run: Bodies in Motion, Holy Family University, Philadelphia, PA
2008 Grand Small Works, F.U.E.L. Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Collaborative Projects
2013 Yarn Bombing Los Angeles, Installation at The Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Embroideries featured in short film "Splendor". Director: Jeremy Newman
2012 Yarnbomb Consortium, Manchester, United Kingdom
Fiber Artwork and Performance featured in "Girl Gangs," by Lora Bloom and Bonnie MacAllister Classwar Karaoke: 0017 survey/29th February
2010 Women's Caucus for Art and Arise Charter High School, Philadelphia, PA
