Polly masaryk has lived and maintained a studio in Salt Lake City, Utah since 1997. She grew up in northeastern Ohio and attended the College of Wooster where she studied art and graduated in 1980.
During these formative years Polly apprenticed in New York City with one of the founding mothers of the feminist art movement, Mary Beth Edelson. Here she witnessed textile-making in an urban, academic community by women artists like Edelson, Miriam Shapiro and Judy Chicago.
Closer to home, in Ohio, Polly observed a more traditional but equally interesting approach to textile production in the Amish of Geauga and Holmes counties. Quiltmaking was, and still is, a highly valued, community-building activity among the women. Brilliant, jewel-toned cottons, strong geometric design and expert craftmanship raise these works into the realm of art.
Since 1980 Polly has used fabric and fibers in one form or another to create sculpture, clothing, quilts and textile works for the wall. In 1984 she began to dye her own fabrics using wax resists and vat dying. Most recently she has experimented with shibori to create the one-of-a-kind textiles in her current work.
