Mindy Rose Schwartz is a Chicago-based sculptor and installation artist whose work draws on personal memory and vernacular craft traditions—macramé, ceramics, papier-mâché—to conjure objects that feel both familiar and uncanny. Her practice challenges conventional distinctions between fine art and craft, creating spaces where humor, affect, and critical reflection are held in dynamic tension. Through this multifaceted approach, Schwartz offers a nuanced perspective on the emotional and cultural dimensions of everyday objects, inviting audiences to engage with the complexities of memory, identity, and material culture.
In Rude Awakening, Schwartz presents work that confronts the unsettling ethos of our current moment—marked by environmental crisis, the erosion of social structures, and the failures of systems once thought stable. Here, the “canary in the coal mine” becomes more than a warning; it is transformed into a sentimental object, a fragile keepsake from a world on the brink.
Emerging in the 1990s, Schwartz’s work resonates with the feminist art movement’s emphasis on personal narratives, domestic materials, and the reevaluation of traditional craft. Her engagement with materials like macramé and ceramics aligns with the reclamation of “women’s work” as a valid and potent form of artistic expression. This approach situates her within a lineage of feminist artists who have sought to blur the boundaries between art and craft, challenging hierarchical distinctions and advocating for the inclusion of diverse forms of creative labor. Schwartz’s work can be seen as a generational continuation of this legacy while addressing the unique anxieties of the present—particularly ecological collapse, spiritual disorientation, and the commodification of healing.
Mindy Rose Schwartz lives and works in Chicago. Recent solo exhibitions include: Interstate Projects in New York City, US (2021), Et. Al. Gallery in San Francisco, US (2020), Balice Hertling in Paris, FR, (2017) and Queer Thoughts in New York City, US (2017). Selected group exhibitions include: Artists Space in New York City, US (2025), King’s Leap in New York City (2024),Tatjana Pieters Gallery in Ghent, BE (2021), The Renaissance Society in Chicago, US (2018), Room E-10 27 in Berlin, DE (2018), Carlos Ishikawa in London, UK (2018), Cooper Cole in Toronto, CA (2017), Alter Space in Los Angeles, US (2016), Galerie Hussenot in Paris, FR (2015) and Arcadia Missa, UK (2015).
In addition to her artistic practice, Schwartz contributes to the academic discourse on craft and sculpture as an instructor in the Sculpture Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her course, Extreme Craft, examines traditional sculpture and craft processes in relation to notions of taste, class, gender, and age.
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