Meet Carmen Mardonez: Upcycling Textile Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Carmen Mardonez and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carmen, as a parent, what have you done for you children that you feel has had the most significant impact?
One thing that I really care about is transmitting to my son a lot of confidence, helping him to develop his autonomy, and making him feel free to explore and to find by himself the things he enjoys the most. Sometimes this implies more work for me, because it requires dialogue and providing reasons instead of just giving orders, but I totally think it’s worth it. He is already very assertive in telling me what he wants, explaining when something upsets him, and demanding to be heard. We are also trying to let him explore his creative side, so sometimes he wants to play with my threads and we end up embroidering together, or he wants to make some music with his dad and they enjoy playing guitar together. We let him screw up if that’s what it takes to learn that he can explore and learn from his own errors, including knotted threads and broken strings. Since most of the time I embroider with my son around, I always tell him when I finish a piece where I’m submitting it, and share if I got into the show. We celebrate together everytime it happens. I want him to understand that I have a career, that I am his mom but also an artist, and that being successful as an artist is important to me. 

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am really proud of the itinerary I have walked and where I am now with my work. The last few years have been a time of intense creative work, and also of building networks with artists, galleries, and art lovers in general, in a place I was just getting to know. Of course there is still a long way to go, but I feel that I have started to be recognized for what I do, my peers like my work, for the first time I have received invitations to exhibit my work without applying for it, and I am looking forward to collaborating with a couple of artists I really admire in the upcoming months. Getting to this point was not easy at all, but with ambition, perseverance, and the support of my inner circle I am starting to see results and I am really happy about that. I think my recent work stands out for the use of colors, the unusual format of my work, and the materials I use. Embroideries tend to be small and shine in details, this is how an embroidery artist show their skills; in my case, I feel like my work shines in the use of colors, how the threads merge with each other, and that’s especially evident in the oversized pieces I do, like embroideries on bed sheets. Previously I was working on lemon bags I got from my own groceries, but with the pandemic I started collecting discarded bed sheets, pillows and blankets from my neighbors. I feel there is something really special about transforming bedding that my neighbors were ready to trash into pieces of art. I also feel this is a small way to make a political stand in relation to the climate crisis we are facing, a way to raise awareness about our wasteful way of life. What I would love to do in the future is to reach more people with my art. I’ve always felt that some of my big pieces would look great in public spaces or in places where people transit, like restaurants and hotels. Just imagine a hotel showcasing an embroidered bed sheet upcycled from their own discarded bedding, that would be so cool!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is kind of an emotional question, because we planned to visit Chile a few months ago and had friends coming to visit us, and everything got cancelled because of COVID. So I’d take this as an opportunity to be hopeful of a better situation during the next year. Los Angeles is an enormous city, and I feel that I just know a tiny part of it, but I definitely have my favorite spots. Of course, any visitor would want to stop at Santa Monica beach, go to Venice canals, and visit the Original Farmer’s Market food court. Everyone should stop at the Getty museum lookout, where you have a beautiful panoramic of the city. A really fun place to visit if you’re into manga and comics is Pulp Fiction Comics at Culver City, they have a great selection of classic and contemporary manga. To eat, I’d definitely recommend the street tacos and the fruit carrito in Sepulveda and National. Another place we love to stop by is Mateo’s ice cream in Culver City: they don’t only have the best fruit popsicles, but also great sandwiches and fruit smoothies for a casual lunch. Finally, anyone visiting LA for more than a couple of days should spend at least a night camping in one of the natural parks surrounding the city. I really like Sandy Flat campground, which is less than three hours away.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
This is a hard question to answer because there are so many people that have contributed to what I have achieved over the last few years. We moved from Chile to Los Angeles three and a half years ago, alone with my partner and a newborn. Without my partner’s unconditional support in my attempt to become an artist everything would have been even harder. And my son has grown surrounded by threads and needles, so he has been part of this adventure too. I am also very grateful to Steve Wong, the first art curator that bet for me and selected my work for a group exhibition at SoLA Contemporary in 2018, despite me being just starting here and having only a couple of creations to show. Other artists have been very supportive, encouraging me and giving advice at different points of my journey: Amanda Maciel, Chiho Harazaki, Kat Popova, Sarah Detweiler, Tara Centybear, Katy Biele, just to name a few. Of course, my collectors have played a big role in making me feel that what I do is valued, it means a lot that my art speaks to them. More personally, I also have my close friends here that have become my new family, especially my neighbors Mimi and Mabe. They are always the first to be cheering me in every opening and sharing my creations in their social media, but more important than that, they have been like an extended family to us, they are the ones that take care of my son when I need help and with whom we go camping. There are also communities of artists that have supported me and my work in different ways, spaces to share experiences that have become even more important during the pandemic: @textileartsla, @theartqueens, and All She Makes.

Website: www.carmenmardonez.com
Instagram: @desbordado
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Carmenmardonezart