about

Bio
Sydney Roland (b. 2004, MA) is an artist based between Darien, CT and Chicago, IL. She is currently studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a focus in Fiber Arts and Printmedia and expects to graduate with her BFA in Studio in May of 2026. Sydney has been awarded SAIC’s Honors Scholarship, the Darien Arts Center’s Ginny Wright Scholarship, and is also a three-time recipient of the Darien Community Association’s Path to the Future Scholarship. She is currently the Operations Intern for the 312 Collective, a creative platform focused on providing young Chicago artists with opportunities to showcase their art.
Statement
My work explores repetition as a soothing mechanism, reframing the “mindless” or “worthless” action as one of meditation and care. Why use such strenuous techniques as weaving, embroidery, and screen printing when machines have been created to accelerate these processes? Employing both visual and tactile iteration, my work highlights organization and structure as a way to navigate the vastness of the unknown.

My fiber work uses time as a material to unite disparate scraps into a cohesive assembly. Loose remnants of forgotten or pre-loved materials that have slowly accumulated around me find their purpose alongside a newly-sprung family of other refuse. The euphoric yet often excruciating processes behind these works involve hours of repeated motions that give these materials time to coalesce and provide solid ground amidst persistent chaos. My fiber work’s materials and process prove more valuable to me than the final result, inherently challenging the prevailing notion that the visual is superior to the tactile.

While the physical procedures behind printmaking are reiterative, visual repetition also emphasizes different aspects of the iterative process. My prints investigate everyday household items such as hotel furniture, old socks, and fridge magnets, examining the memories and associations these symbols might hold. Not only does my work touch on these inanimate beings, but I also work with images of common–yet underappreciated–lives of animals like pigeons, cows, and squirrels. Often, my print work references the loss of innocence that occurs through the evolution of these symbols’ meanings. Whether executed digitally or by hand, the creation of each print brings me closer to understanding these relationships while also facilitating mass dissemination.