Date of Award

Spring 5-18-2018

Author's School

Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts

Author Department/Program

Graduate School of Art

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Art

Degree Type

Thesis

Abstract

My art practice consists of drawing with fibers within handcrafted frame looms. I position these drawings as expanded, three-dimensional “drawing spaces,” creating medium-scale installations. I wish to expand drawing’s definition beyond its traditional material limits to simply be the process of leaving marks. Fiber is my medium, and the space within the frame loom’s warp and weft becomes my support. I see the drawing process to be the gestural residue of thought, and call these works my “fiber drawings.” While I use traditional weaving methods and materials as I work, I do not call myself a weaver. I see myself, first, as one who draws. I share conceptual and material “threads” with Sheila Hicks, Anne Wilson, and Anni Albers, among others.

In making these drawings, I seek to collapse the distance between childhood memories, places I long to recover, and where I am now in the present. While I acknowledge the futility of this task, my fiber drawings exist as my fragile attempts to pin down, to tie together, and to observe these longings into and within a physical, knotted form.

For me, fiber carries an inherent understanding of home, of memories, and of making. Stitched material implicitly evokes the hand, and I incorporate wool and other natural materials into three-dimensional frame looms, creating large-scale fiber drawings that suggest domestic space. My fiber drawings act as traces of my thoughts, memories, and gestures—all made visible through thread. Each pass with the fiber through the weft strings is my effort to grasp at something just beyond reach—as if I could affix those intimate moments into the spaces between the frames. Using the three-dimensional thread as a stand-in for the abstracted thought, the woven object imparts a material presence to the untouchable memory. By first recognizing the desire for the unattainable, to transitioning into a state of celebrating that longing, my weavings hold within their tenuous fibers the trailings of my experiences.

Language

English (en)

Program Director

Patricia Olynyk

Program Director's Department

Graduate School of Art

Thesis Advisor

Monika Weiss

Studio/Primary Advisor

Jamie Adams

Studio/Primary Advisor

Richard Kreuger

Committee Member

Patricia Olynyk

Committee Member

Patricia Olynyk

Artist's Statement

My art practice consists of drawing with fibers within handcrafted frame looms. I position these drawings as expanded, three-dimensional “drawing spaces,” creating medium-scale installations. Various natural fibers are my medium, and the space within the frame loom’s warp and weft becomes my support. I call these works my “fiber drawings,” and see the drawing process as the gestural residue of thought. While I use traditional weaving methods and materials as I work, I do not call myself a weaver. I see myself, first, as one who draws. I share conceptual and material “threads” with Sheila Hicks, Anne Wilson, and Anni Albers, among others.

In making these drawings, I seek to collapse the distance between childhood memories, places I long to recover, and where I am now in the present. While I acknowledge the futility of this task, my fiber drawings exist as my fragile attempts to pin down, to tie together, and to observe these longings into and within a physical, knotted form. For me, fiber carries an inherent understanding of home, of memories, and of making. My fiber drawings act as traces of my thoughts, memories, and gestures—all made visible through thread. Each pass with the fiber through the weft strings is my effort to grasp at something just beyond reach—as if I could affix those intimate moments into the spaces between the frames. Using the thread as a stand-in for the abstracted thought, the woven object imparts a material presence to the untouchable memory.

Permanent URL: https://doi.org/10.7936/K77D2TKV

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