I utilize a variety of media to create sculptures and collage. Experimenting with textiles (hand-made and found), imagery (photographed and found), and building materials, I make visceral abstractions. In my latest body of work, I became seduced by cryptogams (particularly lichen and moss) attracted to their lush forms, range of colours, and variety of textures.

Using my camera as a drawing tool, allows me to observe and select, leaving my subjects undisturbed. I print my images direct to metal, which provides physical structure for the unique outline I compose for each image. In cutting the metal, I create the selection of a presence, as I subtract site cues and location identifiers. By isolating these remarkable organisms and shifting their scale, each piece becomes a quiet contemplation.

BIO
Fei Disbrow experiments and plays with a variety of media to form sculptures and collages rooted in embodied experience. Her work prioritizes texture and form, composition and restraint. Disbrow’s pieces are visceral abstractions, emerging from both a rigorous and intuitive approach to making. Her use of materials challenges static notions of a medium’s meaning and purpose.

She earned her BA in Geography from University of British Columbia, her MFA in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Recent exhibitions include a selection of works in Emily Carr University of Art + Design’s programmed space in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Fashion Fictions exhibition and a commission for an outdoor installation at the Art Gallery at Evergreen in Coquitlam, BC. Disbrow has participated as an artist in residence at Listafólkabústaðurin, Faroe Islands; Material Matters department at ECUAD; Vermont Studio Centre; Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity; and Pacific Northwest College of Art, Oregon. Disbrow has exhibited in Canada and the US, and is represented by Gallery Jones in Vancouver and FriesenSolo in the US.