Textile and Fiber Art

I am a self-taught fiber artist/maker, happiest with bimanual craft-based practices. It took me years to find my way to my medium or, I should say, to recognize it, because it was right under my fingertips all along. Fiber and textiles have been magnetic, evocative, and provocative for as long as I can remember. I respond to the “toothiness” of a yarn, the layered color of hand-dyed wool, the feel of a hook or needle in my hand, the sense that a material is doing what it wants to do, and inviting me to assist.

My primary practice is rug hooking, and I admire the ingenuity of the artist/makers who established it in North America in the 19th century. Many of their pieces can be read as autoethnographic text, featuring images, symbols, and materials that held significance for them. I carry this forward in my own work. I can encrypt a rug with signals, symbols, and messages, letting the object become a carrier of meaning (for me), even as it appears to be a decorative, functional item (to others). I welcome that opacity, exploring the possibility of a duality of meaning in shared domestic spaces.

I also celebrate the softness – of my practice and of the rugs. As the world gets faster, demanding and rewarding speed, I have chosen very slow work. The rugs are gentle in their materiality and their function. Through a dialogue of patient, often repetitious gestures, I claim a space of comfort, exploring the thoughts and ideas that arise through my interaction with the materials.

Photography

As an extension of my research, I started to photograph the fibers and textiles that I am drawn to handle and work with. To explore “what my hands see,” I use a digital camera, handheld, and look at the material through a macro lens (no filter). I continue to discover landscapes that are, paradoxically, surprising and familiar. I have written about the process here.