Pattern & Place

Klebes explores the common feeling of loneliness or isolation while surrounded by a group. She creates their surroundings with organic patterns in a cool palette to highlight their disconnection from the group, from nature, and from the viewer.

Klebes’ work has been featured in national and international exhibitions, and in publications including Creative Quarterly, Into the Void Magazine, Chaleur Magazine, and Creative Boom: Art & Design. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Arts from Lesley University College of Art and Design in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2017.

Miettinen challenges the viewer to consider their culturally conditioned perceptions of the world because reality is much more intricate than moving from point A to point B. Her patterned compositions are reminiscent of textiles, but openly reveal the natural imperfections of the artist’s hand. “Where the configurations start falling apart and the imperfection of the hand become visible, I see vulnerability but also delicate tension and confusion.”

Visual artist and scholar Maija Miettinen is an Adjunct Professor of Art at Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally and has received numerous awards and grants including the University Fellowship from the Ohio State University and Alec Abels Memorial Award in Painting from Temple University. She has taught at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio and at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  She received her Master of Fine Arts degree, with a graduate minor in Comparative Cultural Studies from the Ohio State University in 2015.