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I create my own fiberglass cloth by crocheting continuous
strands of fiberglass into flat geometric shapes. These are formed
and hardened with the application of polyester resin and the use
of gravity. Small finished units are sewn together with fiberglass
into medium sized blocks which assemble to form a larger unit or
grid structure.
Using traditional methods, I create artwork that has
been contemporized by the use of industrial materials, mathematics,
and the language of art and architecture. This work engages math,
an underlying principle in all of life, as a structural foundation
by utilizing the grid, prime numbers, the Fibonacci sequence, the
numbers Pi and e, and Pascal’s triangle.
The sculptures refer to dialogues dealing with the
nature of being human, of individual and collective identity. The
“Identity Sequence” Series considers identity codes:
internal patterns that code the individual, external codes, and
individuals and masses.
Math is inseparable from nature, from us. Numbers
represent the human search for knowledge, as the search for numbers
went on for thousands of years. The material and process itself
speaks to identity. A body of crochet resonates culture, society,
history, tradition, labor, time. The work is as much about process
as it is about identity. Process of making, process of questioning,
process of abstracting. Identity issues are a tool within the process
of finding a new form.
I like to use sequences from pi, e, and Pascal’s
Triangle. Each new work is created by a system. I choose a number
and define the method for articulating its digits and the color
sequence. Individual units are created and the plan is followed
in order to reveal a code or structure. These are straight forward
interpretations of each digit, a visual articulation of mathematics
as a way to generate a random visual pattern through color distribution.
I use a number sequence large enough that the pattern revealed can
be read as some sort of code or blueprint.
Where possible, I push the number of rows, columns,
or components to the nearest prime number.
I make large, wall-based, indoor, abstract forms whose
conceptual purpose is to articulate narratives of identity in the
language of crocheted fiberglass and to disintegrate and redefine
expectations of a sculptural object.
Guided by specificity of narrative, I crochet continuous
strands of fiberglass with a standard size hook into large geometric
shapes. The fiberglass cloth is then formed and hardened with the
application of polyester resin. Color is added to the resin prior
to its application or painted on later with oil-based enamel.
My work is strongly footed in Post-Minimalism, Art
Povera and process art. My narrative reductions utilize industrial
fiberglass and repetitive, hand-labored, domestic craft of crochet.
The work engages math, an underlying principle in all of life, as
a structural foundation by utilizing the grid, prime numbers, Chaos
Theory, the Fibonacci sequence, the numbers Pi and e, and Pascal’s
triangle.
The material language of crocheted fiberglass is found
not only in the way the resin application controls, restricts, and
gives freedom to the crocheted fiberglass cloth but also includes
a vocabulary of traditional crochet forms (doily, edging), patterns,
and stitches. The translation of narrative from spoken language
to the language of crocheted fiberglass is the abstraction.
Another aspect of fiberglass language that directly
speaks to identity is the translucency of this indestructible material.
Translucent fiberglass, projecting and diffusing the light that
passes through it speaks directly to identity, personality, to human
character, to the thing that we are on the inside, the soul? Are
we behavior? Isn’t behavior a type of projection, a type of
shadow.
The process of crochet and the construction of identity
both involve human history, traditions, groups, constructs, patterns,
memory, and layering and passing of time. All cultures seem to have
their own lace tradition. If identity is a hybrid of our heritage,
then lace is, as tradition of time, labor, and creativity, one tiny
point of intersection that connects us all.
An inherent identity crisis exists in these hybrid
bodies. Are they fiber art, sculpture, painting wannabes? Also,
is the true self the translucent object or the shadow it projects.
Is the purpose of that object, its final destination, the truth
of its identity, the etched shadow?
In summary, I make wall-based, indoor, translucent,
durable, monumental lace that combines the past, the present, and
multiple disciplines. A product of time-based manual labor that
has been contemporized by the use of the industrial materials of
fiberglass and polyester resin, mathematics, and the language of
art and architecture.
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