Magazine

Atopos Adaptation focuses on the beauty and diversity of the organisms we live alongside, exploring the inherent aspects of life. What part of this theme resonates most strongly with your work? 

Years ago I had taken a hiatus from making work to show. I kept a studio practice but it was like I was practicing scales on the piano. What drew me back in were the patterns I was finding in nature. Then I started making work based on actual sliced fruit and vegetables which lead me to look at sacred geometry and other micro/ macro views of the world. 

Many of these felted forms start off with grid paper and a compass. I draw overlapping circles to make equilateral triangles to make templates and patterns for the partially felted pieces I use to lay out a hollow form on a circle resist. 

The work in this exhibition draws on design principles found in living organisms through form, color, and movement. In what ways do your pieces reflect or respond to these qualities?

The initial inspiration for the Red Pod Necklace, Green Pod Necklace and the wall mounted sculpture Seedbed was the maple seed. I was enamored with that shape and wanted to replicate it. I was relatively new to the felting process at the time so it took several attempts. I couldn’t quite get the exact shape of the maple seed but one can see the influence and I like where it landed. 

The majority of your works are crafted from wool fiber, fabric, thread, embroidery, and wet-felting. What draws you to the use of fiber and wool specifically when exploring the natural forms and their underlying connections, and what do you appreciate about these materials in their qualities that differ from other mediums? 

I have always said that  felting wool feels magical. The process of laying out loose wispy fibers then adding warm soapy water and agitation transforms it into a solid sheet or shape. The wool itself comes from nature. The process has been around for thousands of years- it doesn’t get any more basic but it’s engaging to work with and it has so much potential. 

The beads in the necklaces and the pods in Seedbed and the Pod Necklaces started out flat but the process brings them into form. I supply the person power and the concepts but the wool does what it naturally does and it’s exciting every time. 

You mention your felt making process is the opposite of straightforward, you describe it as, “two steps ahead and one step backwards. The problem child. The art that acts out but is loved unconditionally.”. Could you expand on this personal process in achieving your desired outcome?

I’ve been making felt for almost ten years. When I first learned about the array of things one can do with felt I was amazed at what can be done with wool roving and warm soapy water. I’m still learning. I practice every day.  I still make mistakes. I still make discoveries.

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I can’t cut corners. It’s like my martial arts training, I’m always reviewing my basics. Did I measure correctly? Did I do the math correctly? If something doesn’t work out I have to go back…what didn’t I do that I should have? I keep a notebook, recording every step. Sometimes the answer is in the math…something like I forgot to multiply by two to account for both sides…I keep track so I can either find and fix my mistake or repeat the process if it works out and I want to make multiples. The one thing felt making has taught me is patience. There are lots of steps to get to the finished piece. I have not even scratched the surface of what can be done with felting.

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‍Your walnut mounts that are exhibited for this show have interesting names such as He Does Not Get to Define Her and She Thought She Was Invincible. Can you discuss the process in creating the names for your works and what meanings some of the works in the exhibition hold?

These particular pieces are based on personal experiences and observations from my own life that represent a female gaze.

I was a little kid in the seventies and it felt like it was the first time little girls were being told. 

“You can be anything you want to be.” The world felt like it was opening up for us and I wholeheartedly believed that it was true. The climate of the community where I was raised was  benevolently misogynist with clearly defined rules and expected behavior. It didn’t exactly feel wrong but I knew I was headed to a different place. I’m from a TV generation and the shows in the seventies had a progressive message challenging expectations about women’s place in the world. It felt like it was really possible to be whatever we wanted to be. I thought that was the collective norm. I thought everyone was on the same page. After college when I went out into the world as a young single woman I realized it wasn’t going to be easy. I saw the injustice, felt the powerlessness and experienced the gender based double standards that contradicted what we had been told about our abilities, equality and potential.

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I think making them anthropomorphic shapes takes away the sting. Heaven forbid I am labeled hysterical or angry but they are still unapologetic in what they are saying about women’s experiences.

Perceiving the forms of geometry, cell structures, bones, antlers, and wings, how do you choose which forms or structures to reference? What speaks most to your visual interests?

I tend to explore an idea from many angles and the next thing I know I have a little series or body of work. All of the beads in the necklaces are built on circles. I’ve been playing with circles for thirty plus years. I like juxtaposition. I like that someone can look at ASTA, for example, and see an antler but someone else will see coral. In the small piece called The Whims of Her Children I was thinking about ribs and how our children are attached to us- especially when they are babies, but the other pieces in that series are also relating to ribs or a skeletal structure. In Whims of Her Children the rib reference is sweet  but in He Does Not Get to Define Her that rib structure is about defiance and strength.  Many times I am guided by my intuition but when I look behind at the trail of art I can see that it’s all related. 

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Atopos Adaptation is on view at InLiquid Gallery through January 10, 2026. You can learn more here and shop the exhibition here. 

RSVP to the second reception to see the exhibition and meet the artists in person.