Molly Sydnor

ABout the Artist

Molly Margaret Sydnor (b. 1993) is a Dallas-based multidisciplinary fine artist with an eye for fiber. She received a BFA in Fiber from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2015. Originally brought to Dallas for a career in product development specializing in interiors and textile design, Sydnor has traded in her 6 year corporate design career for creative marketing in nonprofit spaces. Her current position is focused on higher education and job vocation for adults with disabilities. On the side she directs an LGBTQ+ community planning events and creating queer space. Molly has a few pretty big 2022 projects in the works. It was just announced she will be one of the featured artists preparing an install with the new Sweet Tooth Hotel location in Dallas. Additionally she has two solo shows headed to Austin at the end of the year in 2022.

On May 18th, 2019 Molly curated a group show called Like A Girl. The concept for Like A Girl included;

“You play ball like a girl” from the 1993 film “The Sandlot” portrays women as less than. The insult “like a girl” follows the often negative stereotype of women being weak, unskilled, talent-less, and not as good as their male counterparts. Historically, art has been and continues to be dominated by men. Art history is full of male interpretations of the female nude for their own gaze, fetishization and in the general interest of men. Marketing and advertisement use women’s bodies to make money, yet a woman selling her own body is illegal. In this collection of work, Like A Girl is a celebration of being a woman, creating as a woman, and girl power.

May 2022: HYSTERIA delves deeper into the Like A Girl concept. HYSTERIA is a mixed media solo exhibition that studies the juxtaposition of color, texture, technique, and material playing with the idea of “women’s work” and “girly things” filling a space. The expansion of the "Pussy Party" installation from Like A Girl, found objects, and an accumulation of works interweave both the exploration and side effects of being a woman or being perceived that way. HYSTERIA visually questions what “girly” or “feminine” mean continually throughout this body of work. Studies show the word masculine evokes rough, rugged, strong, aggressive, edginess, and feminine evokes the opposite… soft, cushy, timid, and hysterical. Even the history of the word hysterical has negative connotations toward women. The word itself derives from the Greek word hysterika which means uterus. It was a “wandering uterus” that was believed to be the reason for excessive emotion, or hysterical behavior. This exhibition visually challenges feminine vs. masculine, what it means to be “like a girl.”