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Ivy
Borden
fáilte!

This is my website, where I am trying to collect my various creative pursuits and passions. I code it myself (with the help of many other people's code) to keep my online presence free, hand(ish) made, and thoroughly caught up in a web of digital relationships. For this reason, you may notice a few glitches here and there. I'm still learning, and solutions don't come instantaneously around here. I think this glitchy construction in many ways is an extension of the way I approach materials, stories, and relationships in my artmaking practice.

Artist Statement

In my weaving practice, I like to slow down and learn about the environment I inhabit, listening closely with all my senses to the memories and movements carried by the materials I encounter. The tool I work most intimately with is a backstrap loom, constructed using hazel I harvested in Co. Clare. This ancient form of loom relies on the physical tension of my own body pulling against another body to keep the threads taut for weaving. Most often, this other body is a tree, sometimes it is even another person. Thus, the process of weaving becomes literally tethered to a tangible relationship. The displaced, disembodied memories of the fibers and objects I weave with find a new place, become re-embodied, and are activated through their transformation into an art object. I see this transformation as a playful and spiritual process, one that invites a viewer to pay special attention to the arrangement of things, inviting life-affirming imagination, an opportunity to re-ignite the stories of their journey through the world and into the gallery, to notice the ways we all may share a kinship, and therefore, a responsibility of care.

MFA Art & Ecology | Burren College of Art

From Alabama, U.S.| Based in Co.Clare, Ireland

CV

EDUCATION & TRAINING

  • 2027 M.F.A, Art & Ecology, Burren College of Art

  • 2025 Specialised Certificate, Penland School of Craft---funded training program in tapestry weaving instructed by contemporary artist Erin M. Riley

  • 2024 M.A., Art History, The University of Alabama, summa cum laude

  • 2023 Specialised Certificate, Oigawa Kuzu-fu Studio---funded training program in kudzu fiber processing and weaving in Shimada, Japan

  • 2023 B.A., Art History and Southern Studies Double Major, Minor in Blount Scholars Program, The University of Alabama, summa cum laude

EXHIBITION & RESIDENCY EXPERIENCE

  • 2026 collaborative performance art and tapestry installation, “Inland Among Stone” group exhibition at KAVA, Kinvarra, Ireland

  • 2025 sand, stone, salt, interactive weaving-based performance in collaboration with Alex Rigg, “Running Up That Hill” Arts Funding Conference, University of Galway

  • 2025 Multi-tapestry installation, group exhibition “From the Earth: Kudzu” at the Kentuck Art Center, Alabama, U.S.

  • 2025 Selected Artist in Residence, Stones River National Park, Tennessee, U.S.

  • 2024 dining among friends on the outer terrace, surrealist ink drawing, “All In” exhibition and zine publication hosted by FRESH SALAD, London

  • 2024 Heart Eyes < 3, quilted sculpture, “Fan Art Exhibition” at the Tuscaloosa Public Library, Alabama

  • 2023 Look Closely Please, interactive performance and fiber installation, “Arts of War: Hearts of War” Exhibition at the Mildred Westervelt Warner Museum, Alabama

CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE

  • 2024 Assistant Curator, “From the Earth: Kudzu” Exhibition at the Kentuck Art Center, Alabama

  • 2024 Curatorial Assistant, “Stand Up: 10 Mighty Women Who Made a Change by Cathy Ann Johnson” interactive art exhibition and city school event at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center, Alabama

  • 2023 Assistant Curator, “Arts of War: Hearts of War” Exhibition at the Mildred Westervelt Warner Museum, Alabama

  • 2021 Head Curator, “Hostile Terrain 94 Art Exhibition” at the Collaborative Arts Research Initiative of the University of Alabama

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • 2025 Workshop Leader, kudzu fiber harvest, process, & weave workshop, Alabama

  • 2025 Arts Workshop Leader, Alabama School of Fine Arts, Alabama

  • 2024 Artist Assistant, Goldsmiths, University of London MFA Degree Show

  • 2024 Demonstrating Fiber Artist, Burrit on the Mountain Museum and Folk School, Alabama

  • 2024 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama

  • 2022 Gallery Shop Assistant, Kentuck Art Center, Alabama

  • 2021 Arts Programming Intern, Kentuck Art Center, Alabama

  • 2021 Gallery Assistant, Paul R. Jones Museum and Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center, Alabama

  • 2021 Museum Tour Guide, Gorgas House Museum, Alabama

AUTHORED PUBLICATIONS

  • 2026 “Annie Lai-kuen Wan” Published in AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions, awaiting publication

  • 2025 “A History and Context of the Kudzu Vine, & ‘From The Earth Exhibition’ Recap” Published in the Kentuck Art Organization Blog

  • 2024 “Creative Care: Artistic Action in the Stop Cop City Movement” Published in Athanor Journal for Art History

  • 2024 “Entangled Among Things: Kudzu as a Creative Medium in Contemporary Southern Art” M.A. Thesis, Published by ProQuest; delayed release of two years

COMMUNITY AND VOLUNTEER WORK

  • 2024 Vice President, Art History departmental student organization at the University of Alabama

  • 2022 Volunteer Archivist, West Alabama Quilters Guild

  • 2022 Founder and President, Art Forward art activism student organization at the University of Alabama

  • 2020 Volunteer Art Teacher, InToto Creative Arts homelessness and addiction rehabilitation, Alabama

  • Art Teacher, Summer after-school program at the Benjamin Barns Branch YMCA, Alabama

HONORS & AWARDS

  • 2025 Shaughnessy Memorial Tuition Scholarship, Burren College of Art

  • 2025 Full Madelyn Smoak Scholarship to attend Penland School of Craft; Summer Session 4: tapestry on a floor loom

  • 2025 Fulbright Taiwan semi-finalist

  • 2024 Most Outstanding Graduate Student Award, Department of Art History at the University of Alabama

  • 2023 Phi Beta Kappa Society, nominated and inducted to America’s most prestigious academic honor society

  • 2023 Allen Going Phi Beta Kappa Award, merit recognition award

  • 2023 Japan Research Travel Grant