Meet Evelyn Politzer

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Evelyn Politzer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Evelyn, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

Being a visual artist was always an inescapable part of myself. I would still constantly be making things with my hands whenever I got the chance. I realized I had to pursue art seriously when I understood that it was what I daydreamed about.

I was exposed to many kinds of art classes since I was very young. Out of the three sisters in my family I was given the label of “the creative one.” I could not study art as I wanted, because of the political situation in my home country. Instead I went to law school and worked in that field until I took advantage of a fresh start when we moved to the United States. I decided to finally study art and obtained my Masters in Fine Art in Visual Arts.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am a visual artist focused on conveying nature’s plea for interconnectedness through yarn, thread, and fabric. Using traditional textile methods like knitting, weaving, and embroidery, I mainly work with soft hand-dyed fibers to create unconventional pieces ranging from small two-dimensional tapestries to monumental sculptural forms.

My art practice has roots in my native land of Uruguay, where sheep outnumber human beings. Wool is indispensable to the livelihood of many people, especially women. The relationship between the fibers I work with and the place where I was born evokes the comfort of belonging, no matter where I am in the world.

For me, the most exciting thing is constantly making and exploring to push my materials and techniques to new places. I am proud of the techniques I’ve developed through experimenting. These include: “painting with yarn”, “drawing without paper”, and “free-form weaving.” At the same time, I am always trying to learn established techniques such as wet felting, which I did a lot of in 2023 to prepare for a huge installation at the Fort Lauderdale Airport, Art Gallery in Terminal 2.

Communicating the beauty and fragility of nature- and the need to take care of it- is the main goal of my artwork. Womanhood and motherhood are also recurring concepts in my work.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Three skills that were most impactful in my journey were 1. learning the way I work most naturally, 2. not listening to outside noise or self-doubt that inhibits or stops me, and 3. being spurred by joy and curiosity.

My brain does not allow me to work on one thing at a time. I always joke that I am working hard toward my PhD, Projects Half-Done. I jump from project to project, back and forth until they are completed and sent out.

My studio, and practice, can seem disorganized, but it is a structured mess I understand which facilitates my freedom and play while still making the best use of my time. As a full-time artist I get to work daily on my creations. I never lose interest in being in my studio.

The basis of my work is playing with materials and through that allowing my mind to make connections. For example, my series “Free Spirit” started when I was saving remnants of yarn and realizing that I didn’t want to waste them. I began applying the scrap yarn onto fabric in different arrangements and they grew to become 3 massive colorful pieces. One piece informs the next as the possibilities and ideas branch off intuitively.

I get so much joy from working with my materials. I surround myself with colors, textures, and ideas.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

My advice when feeling overwhelmed is finding the balance between listening to other people’s advice and to your own inner voice.

A sense of community is very important. I surround myself with other artists, so that we encourage and inspire each other. I learned the value of community most in 2020 when I co-founded FAMA (Fiber Artist Miami Association) with two other local artists. Our mission is to advance fiber art as a contemporary art form by educating the general public and our own artists. There are things that we can accomplish when we come together as a group that we could not have reached as individual artists. This concept is shown in my soft sculpture installation called “Every Drop Counts” where I communicate the additive power of many small parts.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Photographer: Daniel Portnoy

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