BIO

Dee Clements (she/her) is an artist working in sculptural basketry, ceramics, and painting, with interests in ethnography, feminism, and craft. She holds an MFA in 3D Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA in Fiber & Material Studies and Sculpture from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. From 2010 to 2023, she was the founder and designer behind the textile brand Studio Herron. In fall 2024, she founded a new school for basketry and fiber art in Chicago, called The Weaving Workshop. Her work is in the permanent collections of Cranbrook Art Museum, The Anderson Collection at Stanford University, and Yale University Art Gallery. She is represented by Mindy Solomon Gallery and works regularly with Library Street Collective. She lives and works in Chicago with her sweet dog Frieda.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My basket weaving work is both a reclamation and a gentle rebellion that centers on the entangled histories of domestic labor, emotional inheritance, and undervalued craft traditions. Exploring personal history, themes of feminism, ethnography, patriarchy, weaving, and craft hierarchies, I ask: what do we carry? And who is asked to carry the most? I aim for my basketry work to refuse tidy categories of traditional craft or fine art, rather echoing the language of the basket as a container and a structure for holding, but also a symbol of strength, labor, and lineage. My work speaks to the undervalued legacy of craft, particularly fiber work and basketry, and its quiet resilience in the face of patriarchal dismissal.

*While Studio Herron, the design company, is officially closed, the name is still legally active, and Dee often still uses it as a DBA in her professional practice.