Bittersweetness and Burning Wood

Abstract

My work has always been rooted in an obsession with process. I searched for something intangible while the material slipped through my fingertips for hours and hours, the final image being born of adaptive movements. In those repetitions, I began to find linkages to memories, writing, tension, and an affinity for nature that now contentedly perches on my shoulder and informs the work. I draw from imagery of unfurling moth/butterfly wings as well as undulations of jelly-like sea creatures and swiftly hunting birds. I am drawn to cyclical, repetitive motions in weaving and in color. I started to explore physical tension within fibers, drawing-like gestures, and the spinning, weaving, mending that I incorporate into the work which translates into cloaking, embodied woven paintings. The metaphorical tension appears in the concepts I think and write about such as memory, trauma, and the relationship of the body to its space and others. In this way, I develop a macrocosm and specific color world from interdisciplinary techniques of fiber arts, painting, and drawing that invites the viewer to ponder conceptual bittersweetness, a feeling of cloaking, and suspension. This thesis aims to clarify and provide a deeper explanation for the body of work.