Mimm Patterson is a multidisciplinary artist working in fiber, sculpture, wax, and found objects. Rooted in autobiography, her work explores the “energetic imprint”—the unseen residue of touch, use, and memory embedded in the materials that shape our lives. Through vessels, constructed forms, and encaustic photography, she investigates what is held, carried, and left behind, with an eye toward the sacred and the ephemeral. Her work is exhibited throughout Virginia, and she maintains Studio 6B at McGuffey Art Center in Charlottesville.
Statement
My work accepts vulnerability, aging, loss and change as inherent conditions. It acknowledges shared history and connection, recognizes impermanence and decay as inevitable, and examines how the past informs our engagement with the present.
I build nest-like vessels, intuitive weavings that break the rules of warp and weft, and assemblage structures from repurposed materials. Plaster, wax, fiber, distressed fabric, and rust are my materials of choice. Printed and handwritten text, photographs, and collected ephemera as anchors.
The frayed edges, loose threads and rusted pins in my work are intentional challenges to the idea that art must be stable and durable. Disorder and distortion are more interesting to me. They reflect the passage of time and the flawed nature of memory.
I’m interested in the invisible traces left by touch, story, and lived experience and why we assign meaning to what we keep. What compels us to save old ticket stubs from movies we’ve forgotten, broken keys to long lost diaries, or toys from our childhood?
What makes an object precious?