Kyle Cottier (b. Louisville, KY 1993) is a sculptor. He holds a BFA from the Art Academy of Cincinnati, 2015 and attended the New York Studio Residency Program in Brooklyn, 2014, and was the artist-in-residence for a year at Arrowmont School of Arts & Craft from 2021-22. His interdisciplinary practice blends traditional textile and woodworking techniques spanning sculpture, installation, photography, painting, illustration, writing and performance. Kyle creates work informed by the convergence of the natural and made world, exploring the synthesis of personal and social transformations.

Currently, Kyle is living and working as an artist in Knoxville, TN and is a 2025 MFA candidate at the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s Sculpture program.

Artist Statement

Nature is abundant with sturdy patterns, constantly circulating between function, desire, growth, and decay. My labor-intensive studio practice is rooted in the metaphysical study of these underlying patterns and principles in nature, focusing the mind on the beauty of transient and impermanent existence. My sculptural work choreographs compelling spatial narratives, exploiting the tension between negative space and form to achieve a potent sense of ephemerality.

In my studio I’m working towards representing the fleeting feeling of the human experience through investigations into the cyclical rhythms of the natural world. Essential to my practice is the exploration of the spiritual and convalescent functions inherent in organic material. Illumination of the vascular infrastructure shared by trees and the human body is vital to my material foundation. Wood, more than any other medium, testifies to a visible human presence in nature. Establishing dialogues between destruction, creation, order, and entropy, I work with wood-scrap from industrial processes to ignite the senses and reinforce a profound relationship to our environment. By combining woodworking and textile techniques, I’m transforming my materials and creating biomorphic forms that blend nature and human action into a seamless whole.

​When I’m making my work I’m thinking a lot about connection—to each other and to our environment. The physical foundation of my work is centered around the arrangement and construction of modular units that create complex structures. In the studio, I’m milling reclaimed material, drilling, and instinctually weaving the handcut units that form textile-esque sculptures. This process for me, through material use and form, simultaneously reflects how we are tied together as humans and the impact we have on nature.