(Portrait courtesy of Sarah R. Bloom.)
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The constant barrage of text + image combinations in our Digital Age substantiates the importance of artistic explorations therein; visual culture’s rapidly shifting output implies an in-flux, stratified manner of interpreting complex visual and verbal semiotic systems. My language-based work uses visual language and verbal language on a level playing field such that their synergy facilitates poetics and scaffolded meaning.
My selections of text come from personal experiences as a queer woman in the USA. I use words from emotionally charged memories, phrases spoken to me by men, or edits of such moments to make their power dynamics more explicit. My imagery frequently comes from symbolism, using text as image, or the interstitial negative space resulting from actual or implied grids. Language – how we use, relate to, and relate through it – is far more powerful than US American culture typically concedes. My manner of using both visual and verbal language engages how language uniquely serves as a simultaneous metaphor for both the individual and the systems at play within a culture. Linguistic relativity asserts that one’s native tongue shapes their cognitive and cultural worldviews. Throughout human history, language embodies the power to incite nascent machinations of war and terror, whether through fervent speeches, propaganda, or weaponized vocabulary to dehumanize a group. Language can facilitate community or eradicate it. For all reasons stated above, decoding power structures which underlie language use is dire – because few things are as powerful and political as language. |
Bio:
Dawn Kramlich is a queer artist and writer who (though unfortunately born and raised in Texas) is from Philadelphia, PA and currently lives and works in Chicago, IL. After 10 years of teaching as an adjunct at Muhlenberg College, Pennsylvania State University, and Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, Kramlich moved from Philly to Chicago in 2023 to take her position as the Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at Elmhurst University. With over a decade of experience teaching painting, drawing, sculpture, art appreciation, and art theory at the collegiate level, five years of experience working in the non-profit arts organization sector, experience creating wall-hanging 3D design pieces for clients such as The Logan Hotel in Philadelphia, and knowledge from working with galleries at major art fairs such as Pulse Miami, Volta NY, and Expo Chicago, Kramlich brings immensely versatile expertise to Elmhurst’s tight-knit liberal arts environment.
While earning her BA degree magna cum laude from Muhlenberg College as an Art and English double major, Kramlich produced the first cross-major creative honors thesis (paintings + poems) in the history of Muhlenberg’s English and Art departments. At this time, she also became a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a national honors society. Kramlich then moved to Philadelphia and earned her MFA summa cum laude in Studio Art from Moore College of Art & Design.
Kramlich’s artwork has always been language-based, combining visual and verbal languages into a complex signification system, and it most often takes the form of mixed-media encaustic paintings – though she also works in 3D with installation art. Her artistic practice involves research on semiotics, poetry (especially ekphrasis), Post-Structuralism, Linguistics, Intersectional Feminism, and the history of text-based American art.
Kramlich regularly lectures at institutions including PAFA, has artwork appear in publications, and has her artwork shown widely across the US. She has also exhibited work internationally in Spain, France, and Ireland. Recent solo exhibitions of Kramlich’s work include “A Capitalist Plaid” in 2024 at Pink Noise Projects in Philadelphia, PA and "Mark My Words" in 2023 at the Barbara Crawford Gallery. In 2022, the PHL International Airport commissioned Kramlich to create a painting which was scanned and printed at mural scale (7.5ft x 22ft) for the connector hallway just before Terminal F where it remained for over a year and a half. Notably, her work was included in group exhibitions such as Woodmere Art Museum’s 2023 Juried Exhibition, Maus Contemporary's "Capitolism: The Normalization of Political Violence in the United States" exhibition in 2021 (with Willie Cole), Rowan University Gallery's exhibition entitled "Dialogic" in 2013 (alongside John Giorno, Jaume Plensa, Jenny Holzer, and Glenn Ligon), and the 4-person installation-based exhibition entitled "PaperScapes" at the Philadelphia Art Alliance in 2017 (with Sun Young Kang).
While earning her BA degree magna cum laude from Muhlenberg College as an Art and English double major, Kramlich produced the first cross-major creative honors thesis (paintings + poems) in the history of Muhlenberg’s English and Art departments. At this time, she also became a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a national honors society. Kramlich then moved to Philadelphia and earned her MFA summa cum laude in Studio Art from Moore College of Art & Design.
Kramlich’s artwork has always been language-based, combining visual and verbal languages into a complex signification system, and it most often takes the form of mixed-media encaustic paintings – though she also works in 3D with installation art. Her artistic practice involves research on semiotics, poetry (especially ekphrasis), Post-Structuralism, Linguistics, Intersectional Feminism, and the history of text-based American art.
Kramlich regularly lectures at institutions including PAFA, has artwork appear in publications, and has her artwork shown widely across the US. She has also exhibited work internationally in Spain, France, and Ireland. Recent solo exhibitions of Kramlich’s work include “A Capitalist Plaid” in 2024 at Pink Noise Projects in Philadelphia, PA and "Mark My Words" in 2023 at the Barbara Crawford Gallery. In 2022, the PHL International Airport commissioned Kramlich to create a painting which was scanned and printed at mural scale (7.5ft x 22ft) for the connector hallway just before Terminal F where it remained for over a year and a half. Notably, her work was included in group exhibitions such as Woodmere Art Museum’s 2023 Juried Exhibition, Maus Contemporary's "Capitolism: The Normalization of Political Violence in the United States" exhibition in 2021 (with Willie Cole), Rowan University Gallery's exhibition entitled "Dialogic" in 2013 (alongside John Giorno, Jaume Plensa, Jenny Holzer, and Glenn Ligon), and the 4-person installation-based exhibition entitled "PaperScapes" at the Philadelphia Art Alliance in 2017 (with Sun Young Kang).