ARTIST STATEMENT

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If the nature of architecture is fixed and permanent then the opposite would be a textile, collapsible and movable. Further consideration would show more common links than differences. Both mediums define space, create shelter and allow privacy; a textile however, has the advantage of flexibility. It is a semi two dimensional plane that has the ability to fold, drape, move and change to its surroundings. It is pliable.

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My work uses cloth construction as a fundamental center, a place to start from and move back to. With a background in weaving, I see myself as a builder drawing clear connections between the lines of thread laid perpendicularly through a warp and the construction of architectural spaces.

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Formally, my work takes shape through a pallet of building materials either paired with or mimicking handmade textiles. I found a wonderful tension between building materials like concrete and the structural patterns of cloth. By pairing these seemingly opposite worlds together I invert material stereotypes, using the ‘delicate’ material to exhibit strength or exposing the ‘structural’ materials’ instabilities. These gestures allow for a reinterpretation of material identities leaving the viewer to confront their understanding of these everyday utilities.

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Shapes of Stillness and Force

This series combines knit silk with cast pewter embedded in concrete. Unlike woven cloth, a knit textile uses a looped structure system, creating a semi two-dimensional plane (fabric) out of a single line (thread). Each loop depends on the stability of its neighbor for durability and support, and when linked together make up a system that is incredibly strong as well as pliable and flexible. Once the knit is whole, molten pewter alloy is introduced. When heated the metal alloy takes the form of its surroundings and meanders through the individual loops of the knit cloth, cooling, hardening and provoking the knit to become inflexible. Finally, these gestures are embedded into concrete giving the piece weight, permanence and stillness.