Textile Society of America
Date of this Version
9-2012
Citation
Published in Textiles and Politics: Textile Society of America 13th Biennial Symposium Proceedings, Washington, DC, September 18- September 22, 2012.
Abstract
Knitting shapes have long been defined by the human form. By moving the context of knitting from clothing geometry to sculpture, knitting becomes a medium with a link to a rich and complex fiber tradition that has the power of history behind it. Aspiring to dissolve the boundaries between craft, art and politics, I knit to rejoin the frayed and unraveled places I see around me. As I work, I am responding viscerally to the constant assault of the unsettling news that pours out of the radio in my studio. To protest recent wars, I have often worked with body and flag imagery. My most recent work A House Divided responds to the national political logjam and was knit in summer of 2011. This is a disassembled and knotted flag, an image of which I will be sending to all members of Congress as a protest of current partisan politics. Marrying a background in anthropology with a passion for textiles I have also consulted on (and been inspired by) knitting projects in Bolivia and Peru where the local economics are entwined with political realities. While the structure of my work is knit, I use whatever tool suits the material to achieve desired effects. This includes knitting machines, needles or even a jig for heavier gauge wire work. I am interested in technical excellence and all my work is knit to shape.
Comments
Copyright 2012 by the author(s).