Aimee Koran ’13 was recently featured in the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s “Philly Creatives at Work” video series. The series aligns with the museum’s “Mary Cassatt at Work” exhibition, which runs through September 8.
Cassatt, a Pennsylvania-born artist who made her name as a member of the French Impressionists, often explored womanhood, domestic labor, and the relationship between mothers and children in her work. Koran, who graduated from Moore with a degree in 3D Fine Arts and now works as a multimedia artist, spoke about her own experience with motherhood and how it influences her practice.
“Materials are found in the everyday for me—the familiar, mundane moments of mothering really inform the materials that I’m using, mostly because of access to them. I’m surrounded by stuffed animals and my own body material,” she said. “When I think about mark-making, I immediately reference my own body. That’s the first thing I go to: all of the marks that my female body makes in its lifetime.”
Koran described herself as “a proud Philadelphian” whose family has deep roots in the city’s textile industry. One of her grandmothers worked for a hat-making company, while the other sewed military uniforms.
“To be able to be an artist that makes work that is honoring the techniques that they taught me and elevates that craft, that brings me a lot of joy to play a small role,” Koran said.
You can watch the full segment below:
