Craving Connection

Craving Connection

With the residency now coming to a close, I prepare for a show at the gallery. I don't anticipate much of an audience. After months of many people hunkering down, some are taking the first ventures beyond their bubble. We can't stay cooped up forever and as social creatures, we crave connection. We thrive on it.

I've been working on an artist statement in response to art making and have drafted a little something....

Intertwine

Artist Statement.

For me, artmaking takes a new sense of urgency in the midst of current circumstances. My year long fascination with wet felting, using nature as my informant in the design process, has not deterred, rather amped up. This show, Intertwine, was conceived under different times. I wasn’t even sure this exhibit was going to happen. The high touch, low tech experience has been overshadowed with new mantras of our times. To touch =germ transfer. Here, to touch= connection. Connection to life. Others. Our natural world- which we have become woefully out of sync. Originally, I was to share in a live demonstration how these pieces were created using wet felt techniques. Still, you may participate.  I invite you to take a seat on a cozy stool. Take off your shoes and feel the hand-felted rug on your bare skin. A rug that was made using methods dating back hundreds of years. There are other ‘touchables’ of sample roving, felt, and fleece, but please do not touch the wall art.

On inspiration: Nature has always been an informant. One of my favorite places in Colorado to observe nature’s design is the bristlecones near Mt. Evans. Here, tangled forms dance with the elements over time. Concerning the groupings, some pieces seek to capture clearer, harder forms and edges, while others showcase the unruly side of raw wool. Color shifts, diaphanous forms, and opaque spaces render paint-like effects.

Although my residency year with 40 West is nearly complete, my fascination with wet felting is not. I plan to continue felting with the addition of developing natural dyes. I hope I can still slow down, observe, and disembark from the sometimes inhuman pace the modern world demands and keep making those profound connections.

Intertwine is June 5-27 at the 40 West Gallery, 1560 Teller in Lakewood.
Gallery hours Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 12-4pm and by appointment

Is it durable? Will it last?

I'm often confronted with the question on the durability of felted works and my first response is always, of course its durable! It was good enough for the nomads on the steppe to shelter in and so many other daily uses. Yet felt is truly an ancient material, and with the advent of modern materials and synthetic fibers, most of us don't come into contact with the raw materials anymore.

Most recently, the felted sign out front of the studio was removed for a more modern, 'permanent' sign. The felted one was holding its own quite well, through rain, wind, and snow, it did not lose any integrity. The notion of its permanence gave me pause. Do I mind if it withers and disintegrates over time? Not really. With care, many naturally made materials can last a lifetime. And further, should all materials stand the test of time? How is this helping humanity? Need I mention the oceans filled with plastics that will stand the test of time?

With my residency term half complete, I'm turning my attention to my show in June and how I will best communicate what this time has meant.  Capturing the raw beauty of a very free and ancient material and sharing this finding with the public excites me. I don't see an ecological platform arising in this moment. For now, I will focus creating haptic possibilites with wool fibers. There is beauty in embracing the impermanence