Several Titles

Ripples
2019
Cotton and silk thread on cotton Aida, bamboo hoop, 26.5 x 26.5 cm

There Would Be No Stars
2019
Cotton thread on cotton Aida, bamboo hoop, 21.5 x 21.5 cm

So Much Surface Area for Hubris
2019
Cotton Thread on cotton Aida, plastic hoop, 24.5 x 24.5 cm

Embrecord 1
2018
Cotton thread on cotton Aida, plastic hoop, 24 x 11.5 cm

With Half-opened Eyes
2019
Cotton thread on cotton Aida, bamboo hoop, 26.5 x 26.5 cm

Mother
2019
Cotton thread on cotton Aida, plastic hoop, 24 x 11.75 cm

It Appears Outside as Fate
2019
Cotton thread on cotton Aida, bamboo hoop, 24.5 x 24.5 cm

Recently I have been exploring embroidery and crochet, mediums I
learned as a five year old from my grandfather’s twin sister. I remember
sitting on the floor of my grandparents’ living room, watching cartoons,
stitching loop after loop. The act of creating something voluminous from
simple thread, feeling how the piece would steadily grow under my busy
fingers, still soothes me.

I create without an end-goal in mind, but rather to see what will emerge
out of a seed idea. I establish geometric rules for a piece before I begin
to stitch. I pick a color and a length of thread, synesthetically linking it to
an occurrence or emotion I want to dwell on or delve into. I orient it on
the fabric in relationship to where I feel it in my body, and then I use my
body compass to sew.

As the piece grows and gains depth, I learn more about the subject
matter: I see how the geometry of it feeds back into its meaning and vice
versa, creating a new dimension in which I can understand the topic. I
celebrate the “mistakes”, the accidentally-broken rules, knowing they
lead me “astray” yet closer to what I was trying to achieve. They
illuminate different facets of the story simultaneously occurring at both
the micro and macro level—literal string theory.
The front of the piece illuminates my conscious practice, the reverse side
my unconscious. Through the use of mirrors in my installations, the
viewer is able to see both sides at once, opening up a multi-dimensional
experience of the work.

The end result is a quantum map of my experience and my knowledge
during that period of time. I can look at a shadow of color three layers
down and remember what I was thinking about in that instance; the act
of sewing while ruminating secures those memories in my brain, stitch by
stitch.

“I surrender my will to form.” Scott Hessels

Fact Box

Several Titles