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STATEMENT:
My work is queer.
It’s both straightforward and unclear.
It’s a processing of identities - many of them.
It’s about how we communicate; the words we use and don’t use.
It’s about unlearning what we’ve been socialized to understand and expect.
It’s nonsensical sense.
It’s the space in between definitions.
My art is soft whimsy tinged with a biting reality. I reclaim methods of making typically coded as feminine (i.e. fiber, sewing, knitting, and dyeing) in combination with original poems to broach complexities in identity, understanding, and unlearning.
Existing beyond neatly defined borders and categories, my work explores communication and settles into the spaces we can hardly find words for; asking us to push through discomfort and find ease in uncertainty. I write poems, at times in concert with the community, and translate them into soft sculptural objects reminiscent of learning tools.
I work mainly with fabric - dyeing, cutting, sewing, stuffing, knitting, and suspending it to create soft and inviting environments. Informed by elementary learning devices and play, the forms and visuals are reminiscent of concrete poetry, word searches, ball pits, MadLibs, mobiles, bubbles, and soft children’s books. These visual cues invite viewers into a nostalgic conversation that ultimately challenges understanding and stirs more questions than it provides answers.
The color and material choices underscore my interest in conversations around identity. Fabric, historically associated with “women’s work,” is ripe with associations I ask viewers to question and unlearn through my practice. Similarly, shades of pink and blue offer an entry point into evolving conversations around gender.
I’m fascinated by language, word choice, and the fine line between individual and collective interpretations. My work considers etymology and the shifting meaning of words over time. My practice is a means of exploring the breadth of associations we both collectively and individually have with words. I look for the tipping point between clarity and nonsense; personal and collective (mis)understanding.
My work ranges in scale from intimate hand held fabric books to large public installations. At times the final form is dictated by the language and at other points the form invites the language of the work. The range in work is the result of a responsive practice that seeks the best vehicle for communicating the underlying idea.
BIO:
Anna Warfield (they/she, b. 1995) is based in Binghamton, New York. Her predominantly text-based fiber works engage with the body, unlearning, communication, and identity.
Their recent solo exhibitions include, Antigravity: Fast Colors Make A Slow Eye at the Rockwell Museum (2025-2026), Relearning Play at the Everson Museum (2025), UNDOINGS at SUNY Oneonta’s Martin Mullen Gallery (2024) and Placid Thoughts from Inside Her Eyelids at Roberson Museum’s Sears Harness Hall (2023-2024). Warfield has exhibited with MAG Rochester, Finger Lakes Community College, Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Site:Brooklyn Gallery, Schweinfurth Art Center, Cayuga Museum, Ithaca Print Shop, Artisan Gallery, Evelyn Peeler Peacock Gallery, and the Vestal Museum amongst other spaces.
In 2025, Warfield received a NYSCA Individual Artist Grant, Corning Museum of Glass Residency, and first place in the Idaho Falls National Juried Exhibition. In 2024, they received a BCAC Artist Residency, a United Cultural Fund Project Grant, and an Arts in the Community Individual Artist Commission Grant. In 2023, Warfield received a NYSCA Individual Artist Support Grant, a Saltonstall Residency and Fellowship, a Community Foundation for South Central New York Women’s Fund grant, as well as an Honorable Mention in the Southern Tier Biennial. Their work received the Juror’s Choice Award in the 2021 Southern Tier Biennale as well as a NYFA/NYSCA Artist Grant in 2020, and a HYPE Award in the Arts from the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce in 2019. Their Public Art debut was coordinated with Jessica Arb Danial Art Advisory in 2020. Warfield holds a B.F.A. and B.S. in Communication both from Cornell University where her 2018 thesis received the Charles Baskerville Painting Award.
Warfield spoke as a panelist in the 2023 Text and Techne Conference at Trinity College, Dublin and has contributed as a consultant and guest speaker at NYFA, Alfred University, Cornell University, Binghamton University, and SUNY Oneonta. They have worked on projects with and for a number of artists and institutions including; Na Chainkua Reindorf (Venice Biennale, Ghana Pavillon, 2022), Carrie Mae Weems (The Shape of Things, Park Avenue Armory, 2021), and LUMA Projection Arts Festival (Production Director, 2020 - 2022; Consultant, 2023; Small Works Curator, 2024).