Karen Crawford, Textile Artist

"Others lost, my... found
Lost, dropped, or thrown away.
Is it detritus, litter, the ephemera of life or fragments of us?
Is it disorder and confusion or ordered confusion?
It’s that heart stopping moment when you look down and find just the thing, the perfect piece. That piece then is truly found, pulled from the rubbish and given the label of ‘mine’.
I walk with my head down. I am conscious of places, I look relentlessly, eyes scanning, dipping quickly to pluck it up out of its lost state, into its new, state of ‘found’.
I gather, find, covet, store and reuse...just waiting, looking, collecting, storing.
The pieces in this exhibition all started with something being ‘found’.
Stuff from the past combined with items from the present, hoping they survive into the future.
I create using a variety of media. If it’s not the right colour, I paint it, dye it or rust it.
If it’s not the right shape I cut it, bend it or mould it.
If it’s not the right texture I burn it, melt it, or wrinkle it.
I want people to look at my work, take from it what they like or just take a glance."

Rusted
Cotton, polycotton, silk, acrylic paint, shellac, metal on plastic form
60x50x14cm

White Noise
Cotton, polycotton, plastic, zips, buttons, paper, acrylic paint on plastic form
60x50x14cm

Gutted
Cotton, polycotton, Lokta paper, interfacing, acrylic paint, silk, tyvek, paper, leather, metal thread on plastic form
60x50x14cm

Shore
Cotton, polycotton, felt, silk, glass, shells, nylon, mulberry bark, acrylic paint, tyvek on plastic form
60x50x14cm

Bookish
Cotton, polycotton, paper, glue, shellac, thread on plastic form
60x50x42cm

Mothers old doilies
Cotton, polycotton, nylon, linen on plastic form
60x50x14cm

formulário com tópicos (form with threads)
Wire, thread
32cmx32cmx32cm
2010


