Bio
Kyle Cottier (b. Louisville, KY 1993) is a sculptor. Currently, Kyle is living and working as an artist in Knoxville, TN, (traditional territory of the Tsalagi, Tsoyahá, and Shawnee peoples,) and is a 2025 MFA candidate at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. They spent a year living in the Smoky Mountains from 2021-2022 as an Artist-In-Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts & Craft. They hold a BFA from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, 2015 and attended the New York Studio Residency Program in Brooklyn, 2014. Kyle's interdisciplinary practice blends traditional textile and woodworking techniques spanning sculpture, drawing, and performance. They create work informed by the convergence of the natural and made world, exploring the synthesis of personal and social transformations.
Statement
Beginning with the body or the individual requires locating it within the broader context. In my interdisciplinary practice, I explore how people and their surroundings are connected. As a sculptor I prioritize the handmade object, valuing the autonomy in intentionally using materials from the environment. I have a devotion to traditional craft practices like basketry and I study the vessel as a symbol for embodiment, combining form and thought. Vessels, a fundamental form in craft, epitomize the intersection of practical utility and symbolic meaning, embodying the relationship between individuals and their surroundings, while craft serves as a means to empowerment and self-sufficiency in a mass-produced society, nurturing resilience and independence.
I’m interested in concepts of ruin and repair, the gravitational pull of my thinking toward ecological transformation. Working primarily in wood and fibers, I process my material to form modular elements, employing patterns and repetition to ignite an awareness of the synthesis between the natural and built environment. Though transforming gathered materials is crucial, I'm mindful of their displacement from their original context, reminding me to maintain an inherent emptiness in my work. Similar to vessels, my sculptures reflect the movement of my body around a central void, evoking impermanence and longing.
I’m interested in concepts of ruin and repair, the gravitational pull of my thinking toward ecological transformation. Working primarily in wood and fibers, I process my material to form modular elements, employing patterns and repetition to ignite an awareness of the synthesis between the natural and built environment. Though transforming gathered materials is crucial, I'm mindful of their displacement from their original context, reminding me to maintain an inherent emptiness in my work. Similar to vessels, my sculptures reflect the movement of my body around a central void, evoking impermanence and longing.
Education
2022-25 MFA Sculpture Candidate at University of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville, TN 2011-15 BFA Print Media Major, Sculpture Minor from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH Selected Exhibitions 2024 Modular, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH Moment by Moment, Relay Ridge, Knoxville, TN (solo) In Cahoots, Gallery 1010, Knoxville, TN TO BE NO(W)HERE, Gallery 1010, Knoxville, TN (solo) Points of Departure, Queen City Clay, Cincinnati, OH 2023 NCECA Juried Student Exhibition, 57th NCECA Conference, DAAP Reed Gallery, Cincinnati, OH This Never Happened, Mighty Mud Gallery, Knoxville, TN Dogwood Arts Regional Exhibition, Emporium Gallery, Knoxville, TN Student Scholarship Exhibition, OU School of Visual Arts Spotlight Gallery, Norman, OK Tennessee Triennial for Contemporary Art Student Exhibition, Gallery 1010, Knoxville, TN It’s a Trap!, Gallery 1010, Knoxville, TN Functional Beauty, Gallery 1010, Knoxville, TN 76th Annual Student Art Competition, Ewing Gallery, Knoxville, TN UTK Graduate Student Senate Awards Banquet, Student Union, Knoxville, TN 2022 Vessel: Embodiment, Autonomy, and Ornament in Wood, The Museum for Art in Wood, Philadelphia, PA The Shape I'm In, 44th Annual Tri State Sculptors Conference, Richardson Arts Center, Spartanburg, SC Mid-South Sculpture Alliance Scholarship Artists, K Space Gallery, Corpus Christi, TX Octocalypse, Downtown Gallery, Knoxville, TN Your Hand in the Shape of a Cup of Tea - Just This, Able Trade Gallery, Knoxville, TN Party of Five, Sandra J. Blain Galleries, Arrowmont School of Arts and Craft, Gatlinburg, TN One Year Later, Appalachian Center for Craft, Cookeville, TN 2021 Longue Durée, Holland Tunnel Gallery, Newburgh, NY Artists-In-Residence, Wolpert Gallery, Gatlinburg, TN 2020 Earthbound, Stride Art Gallery, New York, NY Collective Expeditions II, International Society of Antiquaries Collective, BSB Gallery, Trenton, NJ 2019 Unchanging Window, Geoffrey A. Wolpert Gallery, Arrowmont School of Arts and Craft, Gatlinburg, TN (solo) Collective Expeditions I, International Society of Antiquaries Collective, SUNY Ulster, Stone Ridge, NY If Wishes Were Horses, Queen City 15 Gallery, Poughkeepsie, NY 2018 Up Close, Lazy Susan Gallery, New York, NY Time Travelers, Dorsky Museum, New Paltz, NY Labor & Materials, 21c Museum, Bentonville, AK 2017 Dusklittle, Orange County Arts Council, Newburgh, NY Green Space, Newburgh Open Studios, Newburgh, NY Dusklit, Seligmann Homestead, Sugarloaf, NY Dia, Matteawan Gallery, Beacon, NY 2016 Re-Union, B Minus Gallery, Santa Ana, CA Labor & Materials, 21c Museum, Oklahoma, OK 2015 Pop Stars, 21c Museum, Cincinnati OH Convocation, The Carnegie, Covington, KY On Labor, Pearlman Gallery, Cincinnati, OH (thesis) 2014 Foreign Bodies, Contemporary Art Center, Cincinnati OH Intermission, Chidlaw Gallery, Cincinnati, OH Honorable Mention, New York Studio Residency Program, Brooklyn, NY Residencies 2021-22 Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN 2014 New York Studio Residency Program, Brooklyn, NY Grants, Award, & Fellowships 2023 International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award Nominee 2022 National Basketry Organization, Panel Presenter, Unusual Suspects: Constructing Form + Concept Mid-South Sculpture Alliance, Scholarship Award Mid-South Sculpture Alliance, Confab, Panel Presenter College of Arts & Sciences Graduate Fellowship, University of Tennessee Knoxville First Year Fellowship, University of Tennessee Knoxville Summer Fellowship, University of Tennessee Knoxville 2018 The Carter Center Live Auction Commissioned Sculpture, Atlanta, GA, (18’, 19’, 22’, 23’) Publications 2024 Manifest Exhibition Annual, Retrospective Season 18 2023 Phoenix Literary Arts Magazine, Spring Issue 2022 Basketry+, Summer Issue 2021 Divide Magazine, May/June Issue No. 3 2020 Under The Bridge, Installation - Autumn Issue Art Market Magazine, June Issue 48 2019 Friend of the Artist, Volume 9 2018 Chronogram, December Issue, Hudon Valley, NY Artrepreneur, Art Business Journal, November Issue, New York, NY Roll Magazine, TIME TRAVELERS, June Issue, Hudson Valley, NY |