About

Siobhan van Winkel is a disabled cyborg fiber artist and machine maker. Her work merges sculpture, wearable forms, and sensory environments through sewing, piercing, and nailing. She received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she was awarded the John Quincy Fellowship and an exchange scholarship to California College of the Arts (CCA). After graduating, her work was auctioned internationally in three cities through ArtLink Sotheby’s Young Art Auction. She later earned her MFA from CCA.

She opened Siobhan van Winkel FunKtional Art—a woman-owned, mama-powered storefront on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, CA. For nine years, she showcased the work of local artists, created one-of-a-kind pieces in her studio, raised her daughter Hazel, and built a loyal community around handmade, organic, and fair trade goods. The store was featured in Oakland Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle, won Best of the Bay, and was a finalist for the Innovator Award at the Oakland Indies.

Siobhan’s work has appeared at the Live Oak Art Festival (Berkeley), Harmony Festival (Santa Rosa), Elsewhere Gallery (Fairfax), the American Craft Council Show at Fort Mason (San Francisco), Bizarre Bazaar at the Armory (San Francisco), 21 Grand (Oakland), 57th Street Art Fair (Chicago), Backburner Gallery (Chicago), and more.

As a multidisciplinary teaching artist, she has taught courses in Textiles, Sculpture, Intricate Embellishment, Found Object Jewelry, Instrument and Spaceship Building, and Fashion Design. Her practice centers around sewing as both a literal and conceptual process—connecting rescued materials, memory, trauma, and embodiment.

She currently works full-time in her studio creating wearable art, sculptural forms, and large-scale sensory machines. Her work includes collaborative performances, artist-led workshops, and mobile sculptures that invite interactive, embodied engagement.