Mimi Czjka Graminski’s work invites us to slow down and look closely. Using fabric, light, found objects, and even logs, she creates sculptures and installations that feel alive with movement. In this interview, Mimi shares how curiosity, play, and a love of making have shaped her creative journey from childhood to today.
Can you tell us a little about yourself and how you first found your way to making art?
I live and work in New York’s Hudson Valley and have created artwork throughout my life. In college at Bard, I focused on printmaking. Since then, I have done work with natural materials, like flower petals and logs. But I keep returning to my love for sewing, knitting and working with fabric.
Were you creative as a child? What kinds of things did you love to make?
As a child, and still today, I loved creating something where there was nothing before. I loved drawing, painting, making things with fabric, wood, wire, clay – anything I could find.
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I made clothes for my dolls using fabric scraps and findings from family friends who brought them from the garment district. I remember making a sculpture from the innards of an old piano. I took photographs with my Instamatic camera. My childhood interests still seem related to the work I do today.
What drew you to working with textiles and soft materials?
My childhood forays into handwork – sewing and knitting have definitely influenced me.
As an adult, I have been searching for ways to create three-dimensional forms with translucent materials. Fabric is one of the materials that answered that quest and allows me to explore the interplay of light, color, and movement.
Where do you usually find inspiration for your pieces?
The fabrics and found objects that surround me in my studio inspire me with their colors and textures. I am also inspired by nature.
Wherever I am, I spend time walking: in the woods, near fields and streams, at southern beaches and mangroves. The patterns and shapes in the trees, vines, leaves, and shadows subtly make their way into my work.
Are there certain colors, textures, or shapes you are always drawn to?
I have always been interested in translucent materials. Bright and neon colors have been attracting me lately.
Describe your creative space.
My studio is on the second floor of a building close to my home. It looks out into the surrounding woods. It is filled with bolts of fabric, found objects, sewing machines, and drawings.
Are you someone who plans your work ahead, or do you figure it out as you go?
I often work intuitively and figure things out as I go along. Other times, I need to plan ahead, especially when creating installations.
Can you walk us through your process from idea to finished piece?
I begin with an inkling of an idea and make several versions, which often become part of a series. I tend to make three-dimensional sketches of ideas rather than drawing them. This helps me to work out technical issues and envision what a larger piece will look like.
Many of your pieces feel connected, like chapters in a larger story. What draws you to working in a series rather than making one-off pieces?
I enjoy working in a series so that I can continue to explore the ideas that grow out of each successive piece.
Do you start a series with a clear idea, or does it grow naturally as you work?
I usually begin with one idea and let it organically develop as I work intuitively, and allow for chance.
Has a series ever surprised you or taken you in a direction you didn’t expect?
Since I don’t usually plan my work beforehand, it can often surprise me. I had an idea to try sewing seams into circles of fabric to create bends and folds. I was pleasantly surprised to find it worked well, and it turned into the Hover installation.
You work with a range of materials. What guides your choice of medium for a piece?
Often the material leads the way guiding me into a project.
Recently I have been working with two series – one ‘soft’ – with translucent fabric, and the other ‘hard’ – large, heavy logs on which I have made lace patterns.
Have you ever combined materials in a way that changed how you think about your work?
Recently, I experimented with threading copper wire into my long fabric tubes. (They had previously been soft and free-falling).
The metal allowed me to manipulate the fabric into new shapes and opened up an entirely new possibility. It enabled me to create sculptures that could hold their shape while being suspended.
Is there a material you haven’t tried yet but would love to explore?
So many! I would love to try working with cast glass, porcelain, latex……
Do you ever take apart your work and start again?
I sometimes repurpose elements of installations and place them in new configurations.
What role does experimentation play in your work?
Experimentation (or play) is a fundamental aspect of my artistic practice. I sometimes think of my studio as a laboratory – filled with many different materials, that I combine in unusual ways, to see how they will interact with each other.
How would you describe how your work has evolved over the years?
It seems that my work has evolved organically. One thing seems to flow into another naturally.
How do you challenge yourself to grow as a maker?
I explore one idea through to its final incarnation.
I try to be open to exploring media that is new to me. A few years ago, a curator invited me to be in an outdoor sculpture show, and at that point, I had not made outdoor sculpture. The invitation resulted in an exciting new way of expressing myself, and I have continued making outdoor work.
I was recently invited to create an artist’s book, which was a new medium for me. I rose to the challenge, creating three which are now in traveling exhibitions heading to Hawaii, Argentina, and beyond.
What are you exploring in your work right now?
I’m working on two different themes – soft and hard.
With the ‘soft’ work, I’m creating elements to make a large-scale installation that you can enter into and walk through. With the ‘hard’ work, I am creating larger-scale outdoor sculpture with stacked logs and lace patterns.
Where can people see your work?
Instagram @mimigraminski
Website mimigraminski.com
Rapid-Fire Fun:
Favorite color right now? The blue of the summer sky and green of summer trees.
A material you can’t resist? Translucent fabric, lace.
Messy studio or tidy space? It starts out tidy and becomes gradually messier as a project progresses.
Favorite way to recharge? A walk, a good book, time with a friend.
A dream project you’d like to make someday? I’d like to take over a museum and install my work throughout the interior and exterior.
Interview posted July 2026
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