Artist Statement:

The intersection of fine art and craft has long been an interest of mine, and in recent years, the  textile traditions of weavings and quilts have provided fertile ground for me to consider  geometry and color relationships.  

In 2014, I began an ongoing collaboration with weavers Licha Gonzalez Ruiz and Agustin  Contreras Lopez of Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico to create tapetes (Spanish for “rugs”).  The warps and wefts of the woven tapete structure inspire designs composed of horizontals  and verticals, and the intense hues of the woolen yarns, hand dyed by Licha and Agustin,  contribute to the works’ highly saturated palettes.  

I use gouache and watercolor studies as a jumping off point for the tapetes. I often select the  rug’s colors in person, based on the dyed yarn that they have available in their workshop. This  frequently leads to shifts in color from the original design, but it is the observation of color  relationships that engages and stimulates me throughout all of my art making processes. 

My quiltmaking incorporates a similar process of observing “readymade” colors whereby I  gather reclaimed fabrics, study their colors and consider potential pairings, and then piece  them together. The construction of the quilts is much more improvisatory than the tapetes,  which I design but do not weave. The resulting compositions present rhythmic geometric  arrangements of varied colors, textures, and patterns where the fabrics’ origins contribute to  narratives and histories behind each quilt. 

Anni Albers’s discussion of the “pliable plane” and textiles relationship to architecture inspires  these works. That they may function as floor or bed coverings, or as wall hangings creates an  open-endedness that I love. I enjoy seeing my work function in both realms, for it blurs the  borders and flattens the hierarchies between art and craft.