BIOGRAPHY
Reilly is an artist whose skills span multiple mediums, including dance, film, fashion design, carpentry, and fine art, with a focus on fibers/textiles. He began his research with textile visual art in 2021 after he acquired a vintage Singer Studio knitting machine. The craft was conceived from a loose combination of his strengths in knitwear and his curiosity and desire to create visual scenes that reflect his artistic vision. Reilly has taught himself the operations of the knitting machine, which include techniques such as Intarsia, lace work, and a variety of stitches, in order to actualize his imagination. He creates large-scale pieces so that the viewer may feel surrounded and confronted by the work.
The knitting machine can only reach 200 stitches in width, so Sheriff has learned to embrace the seams in his works. His work is the embodiment of his deep fascination with Flora and Fauna and how the fruits of nature can create fibers in which reflective and introspective images can be generated. Reilly began constructing the frames for his work in 2025. He finds it crucial to the work that the frames that encase the tapestries be an extension of the work.
