Kiley Mann
she/her
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Kiley Mann is an interdisciplinary artist and author raised in rural Michigan. Mann handcrafts sculptures and wearable pieces using a combination of experimental and archaic techniques, often imbued with a sense of her poetry and prose.
“Inside my garden
I gather careful touch'd
and move the soil
as it smothers the roots.”
What does being queer mean to you in relation to your material choices? Is it something you consider?
“The choice of silver as material for most of my work is reflective of equally my queerness and my entire being; though they are one and the same. A perfect in between point, silver somehow perfectly captures both the state of something solid and the perpetually fluid. I often describe the material as existing within a sort of transmorgrification, in the most literal sense of the word: "‘to transform in a surprising or magical manner’. It is able to adapt and alter its form to the next, and the next, no matter how you work the material, breaking itself down and resurrecting itself all over again. I personally feel more of a subconscious pull to such materials than anything deliberately considered. My own sexuality also is best defined by existing within a sort of liminal state; remaining somewhat open ended until I am able to give it definition, in which it inevitably slips back into a shapeshifting state. Because of this inherent lack of definition, and though a deep subject of inspiration, my sexuality is something that still remains a deeply uncomfortable soft-spot within myself."
"My Dove, My Lover, and I", Sterling silver, 6"x 8", 16" chain is 16", 5"x 3" pendant, 2024Is the work queer because the maker is queer, or is it queer because the subject matter is queer?
“My own work holds an inherent queerness because of the togetherness of the unique principles of my own queer identity to my innate existence. The discomfort I hold with my sexuality shows me exactly where my heart can open, and this love presents a lot of opportunity for inquiry in my work, even if it is very inadvertently hidden. My contemplation on my own queerness, sexuality, and expression of passion as a whole provides a different sort of catalyst than other kinds of relationships I hold with part of myself. This is because everything in pain is stirred up, and I find that where my emotions are disturbed and aroused, I make the best work. This type of relationship with myself is a something that has always remained torn, and I find that despite the internalized difficulty I hold with it, my queerness has found place within my art, and is not something that I can separate my work from."
Anything else you would like to share about this work? This can be an important part of the process, sourcing materials, or research.
“I've found a crucial part of my process to be sitting with materials in front of me and letting them guide me to what they might become. I start making some fragments without a final scope, to begin with. I always try to keep myself free of too many ideas at the start of the process, because I know it to be the death of me to take on too much at once, and then with careful pruning, it starts gradually growing and building up into something that feels right. I like to make many scrap pieces, which most get abandoned, remelted, or used later down the line. Sometimes when I’m lucky these forms magically align with some collected thoughts or research I’ve been doing at the same time. Sometimes a poem comes about as I'm working, such as this piece where they equally inform each other. They show me a clear line I can follow all the way to the end into something solid. These techniques allow chance to factor centrally into the works, and so they take on a sort of prophetic quality in this process. I think that adds a certain energy or spirit that you can't always necessarily see with your eyes, but can definitely feel in some way whether you know it or not. At least that’s how I feel."