StorePavlos Mayakis
b.1958
Pavlos Seidenberg Mayakis currently lives in Mendocino, CA where he is the Fiber Arts Coordinator at the Mendocino Art Center. Mayakis is a former advertising and small business consultant. He holds an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Art from Goddard College, a B.S. from Skidmore College, and a certificate in Weaving/Textiles from Mendocino College. He has taught programs at schools, museums, regional arts and crafts centers and at peer attended events including, Convergence, the international biennial conference of Handweavers and Spinners, sponsored by the Handweaver’s Guild of America.
Pavlos has lived or spent extended periods of time in Peru, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Israel. These international experiences have reminded him of the global necessity for attaining environmental justice. Pavlos moderates the Sustainable Natural Dye online group and spearheads the Sustainable (cloth) Napkin Project--a grass roots movement promoting the use of cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. This project allows him to teach others surface design and dyeing while creating functional wipeable art.
His fine art practice consists of creating ready-to-hang assemblages combining hand woven loom controlled shibori with acrylic paint onto canvas.
Pavlos is an artist weaver who creates contemporary intuitive abstract mixed media assemblages. He stitches loom controlled shibori onto canvas and then paints onto them blurring the lines between weaving and painting.
His work is about metaphorically shifting the contemporary paradigm of Western dualism from its present system that promotes competition to more mutualistic way of living. Each assemblage has hand woven components that are realized on a floor loom though the use of a specialized mechanical resist weaving technique, called loom controlled shibori. Paint is then applied to obtain a partially compressed relief effect. These pieces that often resemble the skin of a snake or the bark of a tree are ritualistically shed as the painting itself is eviscerated before being cooperatively stitched together symbolizing rebirth.
EDUCATION
M. F. A. - Interdisciplinary Arts, Goddard College, Plainfield, VT (2010)
B.S., Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (2007)
Certificate – Weaving/Textiles, Mendocino College, Ukiah, CA (2001)
AWARDS/GRANTS
Socially Engaged Practices Grant, Surface Design Association 2014
State of Israel, Excellent with Distinction Merit Award, 2013
Tusher Architectural Group Award-Sublime, Sensible, Serendipitous, Hawai'i Handweavers' Hui, Academy Art Center-Linekona, Honolulu, HI 2011
Scholarship, Skidmore College 2006
Premio Mejor Demonstracíon, Plaza las Americas, San Juan, PR 2005
Best New Weaver, Sonoma County Fair 2001
Mendocino College Foundation Scholarship of Promise 2001
Mendocino College Full-time Faculty Scholarship 2001
PUBLIC INSTALLATIONS
Main Public Library of Schenectady, a collaboration with the children and faculty of Yates Arts-in-Education Magnet School, Schenectady, NY 2012
"Swatches of Gratitude", Historic Proctors Theater, a collaboration with the children and faculty of Yates Arts-in-Education Magnet School, Schenectady, NY 2011
SOLO/FEATURED ARTIST EXHIBITIONS
33/2 Sderot Yerushalayim, Jaffa, Israel, 2013
Schenectady Civic Players' Theater, Schenectady, NY 2012
Easton Mountain Retreat Center Gallery, Greenwich, NY 2011
Northville Library Gallery, Northville, NY 2011
Liminalities, Proctors Theater, Schenectady, NY 2011
Genesis, Mohawk Harvest, Gloversville, NY 2010
Interlacements, Haybarn Gallery, Plainfield, VT 2010
Confluence, Case Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY 2007
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
Teacher’s Exhibit, Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA 2014
Woven Stories: Contemporary Tapestries, Ann Street Gallery, Newburgh, NY 2012
Saratoga Arts Council, Saratoga Springs, NY 2011
Sublime, Sensible, Serendipitous, Hawai'i Handweavers' Hui, Academy Art Center-Linekona, Honolulu, HI 2011
Good, Good, Good, Good Fibrations, T.W. Wood Gallery, Montpelier, VT 2010
Woven Transformations, Mendocino College, Ukiah, CA 2009
Focus on Surface Design: Teachers’ Exhibit, Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA 2008
Art Fair Now - UGallery, NY, NY 2008
Teachers’ Exhibit, Peter’s Valley Craft Center, Layton, NJ 2008
Hotel 30/30, UGallery, NY, NY 2008
Showcasing Grand Inspirations: Leaders’ Exhibit, Convergence, Grand Rapids, MI 2006
The Men’s Show, Pumpkin Seeds Gallery, San Rafael, CA 2004
Invitational Holiday Gift Show, Artisans, San Rafael, CA 2004
The Best of the West: Leaders’ Exhibit, Denver, CO 2004
Fiber Display, nominated, Slocumb Gallery, East Tennessee University, Johnson City, TN 2003
Invitational Holiday Gift Show, Artisans, San Rafael, CA 2002
National Juried Show, Artisans, San Rafael, CA 2002
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Fiber Arts Coordinator, Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA 2015
Artist-in-Residence, Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA 2014
Surface Design – Open Studios, Facilitator, Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA 2014
Teaching Artist: Yates Arts-in-Education Magnet School, Schenectady, NY 2012
Moderator: Sustainable Natural Dye Practice 2011
Teaching Artist: Yates Arts-in-Education Magnet School, Schenectady, NY 2011
Teaching Artist: Aesthetic Education, Capital Region Center for the Arts in Education, Albany, NY, 2008
Teaching Artist, Pro Bono, Mendocino College, Ukiah, CA 2008
Arts Workshop Faculty, NY State Museum, Albany, NY 2008
Arts Workshop Faculty, Peters Valley Craft Center, Layton, NJ 2008
Arts Workshop Faculty, Convergence, Grand Rapids, MI 2006
Artist-in-Residence, David and Julia White Artists’ Colony, Costa Rica 2005
Artist-in-Residence, Polytechnic University, San Juan, PR 2005
Arts Workshop Faculty, Mendocino Arts Center, Mendocino, CA 2004
Arts Workshop Faculty, Convergence, Denver, CO 2004
Guest Artist/Lecturer: Arts and Crafts Marketing Class, Mendocino College, Mendocino, CA 2004
Show Coordinator, Innovations in Fiber Art, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA 2003
Guest Artist/Lecturer: Arts and Crafts Marketing Class, Mendocino College, Mendocino, CA 2003
PUBLICATIONS/BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bjornland, Karen. "Weaver Inspired by Mediterranean Colors to Exhibit at Theater". The Sunday Gazette March 2012: E4
Minor, Rodney. "Micropolis at the Market: Gallery Displays Art in Gloversville". The Leader Herald 26 June 2011: C1
Mayakis, Pavlos. “Pavlos Mayakis Balances Crafts with Community”, The Crafts Report, July 2011:37
Minor, Rodney. "Weaving Art: Gloversville Artist Overseeing Project that’s Going to Proctors". The Leader Herald 11 March 2011: C1,C5
Brackmann, Holly. Surface Design Handbook, 2007.
Dalton, Joseph. "New Galleries Keep Painting our Towns." Times Union 12 March 2006:B4
New York Threads, “Pavlos Mayakis-Fiber Artist, Weaver & Dyer.” Fall 2006:1
Rivera-Lassen, Carmen. "El Arte del Shibori." El Nuevo Día 6 February 2006: magacín 6
Rivera-Lassen, Carmen. "Anticipo Artesanal en Plaza." El Nuevo Día 14 January 2005:1
"Student Success: Emerging Artist.” Mendocino College Foundation News Spring 2003:2
New Art International, BAP, 2002/2003 edition, pg. 26.
Mayakis, Pavlos. "Shaving Cream Dyeing." Surface Design Newsletter Process Shoptalk Winter 2002:8
Zephyr Mendocino College Online Journal of the Arts May 2002
"Work by Mayakis featured during August-Hudson Valley Arts Center.” Hudson Valley Register-Star 2 August 2002:A9