Artist Statement

 

In today's world, we are propelled through life with accelerating speed. There is
always a list of things to do and worry about. Yet, every day we are given
invitations to pause and take notice of the space immediately surrounding our
physical being, to breathe and allow our minds to stop spinning, to find that
moment of Samadhi, that moment of bliss and spiritual balance. How often do we
accept this invitation? How often do we “stop and smell the roses”? My work
involves exploring different ways of using and manipulating spun or felted fibers
to shift the experience of such moments.

 

Whether sculptural or functional, my work is intended to open a window through
which the viewer or the one who wears it may break away from the beige
monotony of the everyday and have a moment of reflection, self-examination, and
reconnection to our natural, organic and vibrant world. In our fast-paced frenzy of
technology, this visual and tactile experience offers participants a chance for
grounding, to be reminded of our organic origins.

 

I've always been drawn to working with fibers. The tactile and meditative aspect of
spinning an animal’s coat, twisting the fibers together using a hand and foot-
pedaled spinning wheel, or felting them by agitating and matting them together,
then turning it into shape-able fabric, for me is magical. To take a pile of fibers,
dye them, spin or felt them, to transform them into something beautiful and
functional is what gives me joy.

 

I honor the gifts of our earth by creating beautiful things for people to wear and
enjoy. Among my creations are felted scarves and other garments that allow the
wearer to feel and manipulate the fibrous reminder of our beautiful, organic world
as they forge ahead through their daily routine. With my wearable art, the wearer
carries a fiber talisman from the earth with them as a beautiful reminder of where
we all come from. My creations include displayable fiber art pieces incorporating
both representational forms, as well as abstract designs. All of my work uses only
organic, natural fibers and dyes.

 

From woven or felted fibers, I also build spaces in which to experience hand-made,
organic fiber art. When it’s complete, my upcoming installation will feature a
knitted room offering a soft space of pause within an ordinary space of motion,
where the viewer can have that moment of thoughtful musing while surrounded in
woven fibers. 

 

My art is made from the fleece of alpaca or sheep and even from rose bush stem
fibers, all of which are used to insert something soft and beautiful into everyday
life. My fiber creations, both wearable and for display, manifest an ethereal
intervention for the person experiencing my work. These creations impart to
wearer and viewer a potentially magical moment to pause the perpetual motion of
moving through life, a hiatus of thoughtful, tactile consideration of this organic
pelage in its different manifestations.

 

I work with organic, fibrous materials while knowing in future years it will begin
the process of decomposing, returning to the earth from which it came. However,
for those who wear and see my fiber creations, their experiential memories of those
moments of pause will remain with them. Though the work itself is temporal, its
impact on an individual or even a community is woven into those memories and
the shifts in experience of the quotidian that radiate outward forever, like ripples
through time and space.