Born in Buffalo, NY, Kaylee Blesy makes figurative ceramic works to challenge expectations placed on women and discuss what these expectations mean today.
The position of being quiet and submissive is placed on women from an exceedingly early age. In Kaylee’s artwork, however, she finds her voice to be quite loud and sarcastic. She fights to reclaim her voice by utilizing imagery from art history and in turn, reshaping narratives. Over-saturated colors are used to demand their presence and create a sense of an alternate, surreal reality- one in which women do not comply with preexisting notions of how they should act.
Additionally, she discusses the difference in internal and external reactions that may occur in response to injustices. Repression in contrast to feeling, being loud in contrast to complying, and the reality that these are all valid responses to the mistreatment of women. Many of her works discuss sexual assault, in which sometimes being the hero is not always a possibility. Overall, her work uses the female form throughout history to critique problems in western society such as objectification and sexual assault, and the unrealistic expectation of a woman’s response to such injustices.
Kaylee Blesy
Studio Artist