SULO BEE
[they/them]
My work explores the oscillation between reality and otherworldly places, manifesting as a need to transform my surroundings into enchanting spaces to express the evolving nature of my identity. Pastel dreams, stardust, and flowers blooming on trellises emerge as spectral echoes of semi-corporeal creatures in an in-between place—a dream-like mezzanine where these elements intersect with reality to create an alternate realm called $P4RKL3_FiLTH_CL0UD_NiN3.
Using vibrant colors and intricate constructions, binaries blur as I layer and transform elemental algorithms that shape this realm through blind contour drawing and experimental metalworking. Stones, minerals, and sticks combined with industrial materials and high pigment paints recode found organic detritus into ethereal technologies used by the realm’s inhabitants to fabricate artifacts of its existence.
Through making and storytelling, I align myself with the creatures of this self-made realm and the stories they tell, recoding their shared properties into proximal energy to create relationships between them and the outside world.
This process results in clarity and reveals a new visual language, allowing me to decode the elemental resonance of these artifacts in tandem with the complexities of the world around me, and how they relate to the queer subtleties in the evolution of my gender identity—or lack thereof.
Sulo Bee is a creature maker and world builder based in Central Texas. They hold a BFA in Metals and Jewelry from Texas State University in 2018 and an MFA from SUNY New Paltz in 2022. Sulo has exhibited their work nationally and internationally with various galleries, and Jewelry Weeks in Budapest, Milan, and New York. Sulo has lectured at various universities across the country such as the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, University of Louisiana in Lafayette, and the University of North Texas, as well as with Art Jewelry Forum for the “AJF Live” Series.
They are a co-founder of Queer Metalsmiths where they seek to uplift queer voices in the field of metalsmithing and craft. During NYC Jewelry Week 2022 they served as a panelist on "Identity Adorned: The Intersection of Jewelry and Queerness" at the Museum of Art and Design while exhibiting their work with Sienna Patti Contemporary at R&Company. Sulo was named one of ten artists in the nation for the 2022 Emerging Artist Cohort with American Craft Council and later received the esteemed Marzee Graduate Prize at the International Graduate Show with Galerie Marzee. As a recipient of the Graduate Prize, they were invited by Galerie Marzee for a residency on the Ravary Estate in Nessonvaux, Belgium that culminated with a group exhibition at Galerie Marzee in Nijmegen.
Throughout 2023, Sulo was a participant in the GEMz talent programme with Current Obsession Magazine and developed a body of work for exhibition at the Nieuwe Instuut in Rotterdam, Netherlands for the OBSESSED! Jewellery Festival on display through January 2024. They were awarded “Best in Metal” at the 2024 Materials Hard + Soft Craft Competition at the Greater Denton Arts Council.
They were commissioned by Barbara Paris-Gifford to create a piece for the Museum of Art and Design. This work was presented to the Collections Committee and purchased in 2023. The acquisitioned work debuted at the Museum of Art and Design in April 2024 for the “OUT of the Jewelry Box” exhibition where Queer Artists from the Museum’s permanent collection was presented alongside a large donation of work from the Porter-Price Collection. To celebrate the opening, Sulo spoke on a panel “OUT of the Jewelry Box: In Conversation” at the Museum of Art in Design alongside fellow queer makers.
Currently, their work is on display at R&Company for the groundbreaking triennial “Objects USA” curated by Kellie Riggs and Angelik Vizcarrondo-Laboy. The major survey exhibition challenges traditionally understood boundaries between fine art, craft, and design and captures the diversity of individuals propelling handmade processes in compelling new directions.
Sulo is currently a Lecturer in Metals and Foundations the School of Art and Design at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.
Shop their work in-person and online with Sifuentes Metalsmith, the Metal Museum gallery, and in-person only at Kendal Reiss Gallery in Bristol, Rhode Island.
Sulo is represented by INTRO by Galerie Marzee in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Sifuentes Metalsmith in San Antonio, Texas.
