Katie Mongoven/上秋莲 (b. 1995) is a Chinese American fiber artist from Washington, DC, currently based in metro Detroit, MI. Rooted in fiber processes, her work investigates and fortifies the space between cultural dichotomies through embroidery, papermaking, weaving, and hand-dyeing. She received her BFA from the University of Michigan and MFA in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art with the Surface Design Association’s Outstanding Student Award (2024). She was a Roman J. Witt Visiting Artist at the University of Michigan (2024), a Windgate University Fellow at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts (2023), and is the Barstow Artist in Residence at Central Michigan University with a forthcoming solo exhibition (2024-2025). Other solo and group exhibitions include the University of Michigan Medicine (2023), Playground Detroit (2024), Art Clvb (2024), ROY G BIV Gallery (2023), and Vermont Studio Center (2020). She has public and corporate commissions at the Cranbrook Art Museum, PayTile, and Cross River Bank. Her work is held in public collections at Summa Health and MetroHealth and in numerous private collections throughout the United States.
Through the blended use of various textile mediums and materials, I operate in the space between loss and gain, here and there, fate and free will, and past and present. Fibers allow for process-based work where the methodology can contribute to my investigations of globalization, identity, fragility, and autonomy. The processes of embroidery, beading, hand-dyeing, machine sewing, paper-pulling, and weaving construct the cultural third space of a Chinese adoptee and immigrant. I explore this space, seeking and sensing what it feels to be swept into the in-between.
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