Artist:
Kristin Kelley-Munoz
Bio:
My name is Kristin Kelley-Muñoz and I have been a handweaver since 2001. Before the pandemic, I was a production weaver and sold my work (wearables and household textiles) through juried shows and museum shops. When covid arrived, the shows I was accepted into in 2020 were canceled – and the abrupt halt prompted me to take stock of my weaving practice, and to realize that I no longer found production weaving fulfilling. I used that pause/time/space to take the plunge into beginning over, and transformed my weaving practice completely to tapestry. Along the way, I was also accepted into the Foundation in Tapestry course at the West Dean College of Arts and Conservation, and am approximately half-way through the two-year program there.
Artist Statement:
Transformation has a very personal meaning for me as I have undertaken a complete shift in my weaving practice. This piece is the result of a year and a half of very intense study – of both tapestry techniques and the elements of composition (line, shape, form, contrast, etc.).
Techniques Used: Handwoven tapestry - which also demonstrates the idea of transformation. As an exercise in creating starting points for abstract art, I created a blind charcoal sketch, visualizing familiar local walks as I did so. I then transformed that sketch using Procreate on my iPad, created a cartoon and wove the tapestry, making design changes as the weaving progressed. This piece represents a series of transformations - from raw material (memories and charcoal on paper) to digital media (Procreate) and back to physical form (woven fiber).
Materials: I used wool, silk, tencel and cottolin weft yarns, and a cotton seine twine warp.
Measurements: 24" x 24" x .5"
