ardele monk

BIO
Ardele Monk is a multidisciplinary artist passionate about the unusual, the cute, and the uncanny. Her work explores ideas surrounding personal taste, humor, sadness, and the obscure. Visionary worlds, history, pop culture, cinema, and domestic adornment influence the objects and environments she creates.

Born and raised in Washington, DC; she now lives and works in Detroit, MI.
Monk holds a MFA in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and a BFA in Fine Art from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI. Ardele was chosen as a resident in the summer of 2023 at Benton Projects in Benton, Wisconsin. She was the finalist in 2021 at The Detroit Artists Market Annual Scholarship Show. Her work has been written about in The Detroit News and Runner Magazine. Ardele is a member of the Surface Design Association, Detroit Fiber Club, and the Detroit Theater Organ Society/Senate Theater. She is also the co-founder of Mouse: a gallery, an experimental basement art space in Detroit, MI.
Forever In loving Memory of Gerold P Washington II (1982-2019)
 

ARTIST STATEMENT:
My creative process involves a blend of diverse interests and the use of various materials and processes. I create physical objects, videos, installations, and wall hangings by combining found objects with new materials; making things that are both familiar and but also, pleasantly surprising.  This fusion of materials and mediums enables the creation of immersive worlds, evoking objects and environments from both the past and the future.

I embrace a versatile approach to my work, free from the constraints of a single material or process. Instead, I explore multiple outcomes and compositions through creative experimentation.
I enjoy exploring the interplay of the absurd, the magical, and the grotesque. My art is the convergence of these three elements, offering an entry to imaginative realms.