PRACTICING IN PARALLEL
Interviewed September 2025. Photography by James Kramer.
Twin artists, Haylie and Sydnie Jimenez, have built a world together with their art that explores themes of identity and community. They took us through their joint show, Speak of the Devil, and talked about where they’re from and where they’re going. Now based in Chicago, the sisters grew up in rural Tennessee and Georgia, where access to art was limited, but their creative practices were not. Although they say twin telepathy isn’t real, the way their art practices align made us think differently. The closeness that started with sharing rooms, supplies, and eventually a studio shaped their symbiotic creative relationship, which has, in turn, shaped their art.
3: How do your creative approaches mirror each other, and how are they distinct?
S: I do sculptural work mostly, but we both have this figurative thing in our practices. I just think more in a 3D way. I started painting and drawing; I even applied to SAIC with a painting portfolio. But, it’s funny because even then, my paintings were basically just portraits, super figurative, and the way I painted was kind of sculptural anyway. I was always building it up. So, when I moved to clay, it just made sense. I was like, Why am I trying to render something flat when I could just make it in 3D and see all sides of it?
H: I studied mostly comics and animation in school, so that totally feeds into the ceramics I do with the drawings on clay. I’m still kind of thinking in frames. In school, I was drawing frame, after frame, after frame, and that really helped me figure out my style quickly. It’s still in my hands when I’m working now.
Tough to Grow (leaf) (2025) Glazed stoneware, rhinstone, 34.5” x 10” x 10”, Speak of the Devil. Sydnie Jimenez.
3: Both of you reference contemporary and historic fashion. Is physical representation important for both of you in your works?
S: Physical representation is a big part of it. My sculptures pull from ancient ceramics like Mesoamerican and African because I’m thinking about my heritage. My dad’s side is from the Dominican Republic, so I’m looking at Taino history, colonization, the African slave trade, all of that. Those influences mix with modern fashion, which feels like a way to make the figures look like us now. And, honestly, I kind of love the idea that in 100 years people might look at them and go, 'Oh, that’s what people wore back then.'
H: Same. For me, it’s more about storytelling in the drawings, thinking about settings, characters, and the world they live in. When our work is shown together, it helps place Sydnie’s sculptures in that world. And for this show especially, some of the people in my tiles are based on the same friends and family she used in her sculptures, from Chicago and from back home in Chattanooga.
Lake Vibe (2025) Multiple glazed tiles, 25” x 18”, Speak of the Devil. Haylie Jimenez.
3: What does the title of the show, Speak of the Devil, mean to you?
S: We were playing off that phrase for when someone walks in right as you’re talking about them. It’s funny but has a bit of an edge. It also connects to what Haylie said about the South and Chicago having reputations that don’t really match reality; people in both places are actually super generous and community-minded. Because of the history and migration between them, there’s this culture of talking to each other. That sense of community feels like a big thread in our work, too.
3: Is twin telepathy real?
S: Haha, no
H: I wish it were. I would be a comedian.
Read more about Haylie and Sydnie Jimenez in Triple Issue 3.
