What brought you to textiles as an art practice?
My mother teaching me to quilt at age nine was a major influence on my love of textiles. My mom owned a quilting fabric shop in my small town and was an avid hand-quilter. From start to finish, my mom made quilts without the use of a machine. I always found this tactile work so meditative. I enjoyed the slow process and quiet creativity.
When I went to college, I ended up majoring in textile design, where I became fascinated with weaving. I appreciated being able to join the technical and creative sides of my brain to create something. I was lucky enough to be given a four-harness floor loom by my high school art teacher, which once belonged to her grandmother. I still use this loom today to create my pillows.
Your pillows often begin with references that already have a history. What draws you to working with things that feel collected, inherited, or familiar?
My childhood influenced me quite a bit in terms of enjoying items with history. I grew up the youngest of seven kids in a large historic home that once served as a boarding home for a local school (complete with the original school bell). My clothes were often hand-me-downs and told stories of my siblings’ lives.
My parents enjoyed taking us to second-hand stores and yard sales and giving items a second life in our home. This background has really made me love antiques and collecting items that all have different backgrounds and personalities, and finding ways to give them another life in different contexts. This is why I love incorporating traditional weaving techniques into my design vocabulary so that they can still feel attic-found even when made in the 21st century.
What goes into making one of your pillows?
Although weaving can produce many different effects, I have held a long-standing affinity with the overshot technique. Overshot has historically been used in American coverlet design, utilizing wool and cotton to create a lightweight yet warm textile that can be used year-round.
Luckily, many of these designs have well-documented weaving drafts. Most of the ones I work from were originally documented by 19th century historian Frances L. Goodrich. I take these large-scale drafts and rework them, playing with scale, proportion, and repeat to fit throw pillows.
I purchase my yarn from local shops, often originating from Hudson Valley-based spinners and dyers. This is where I get to take some creative liberties to choose yarns that may be bright and fuzzy and bring new life to the overshot technique, or plied and neutral to fit with the historic aesthetic.
Once the loom is set up and yarns are wound, hours of weaving begin. Off the loom, the fabric is submerged in water, giving the fibers a chance to settle, then air-dried and ironed before being sewn into pillows.
What makes an object feel at home in a room?
I have a strong opinion that if you love an item, it belongs. All of the items in my home are things I appreciate for their own personality. Who cares if styles clash or colors don’t match one hundred percent? If you see it and it brings you joy, it was meant to be in your space.
What is an object in your own home that you couldn't imagine living without?
When my parents moved to central New Jersey in my early adulthood, they brought me into a whole new world of antique and second-hand stores. On one of my first visits, they took me to an antique store run out of a former farm greenhouse. Things were not organized. Things were not priced. I came across a pair of figural lamps, one young gentleman, one young lady, positioned as if interacting in conversation with one another.
Even though they were cracked at the base and needed to be rewired, I took them home and have loved them since. They still have a temporary fabric shade on them (I’ll get to it someday, right?) but have moved from apartment to apartment, room to room, interacting in each space and with the other objects around them.
What are you curious about right now, and where do you see your work going next?
I’ve felt compelled to continue a project that I started years ago when studying in London. I had spent the previous summer hiking trails in my small town. I was so drawn to how trail markers are made to stand out against the browns and greens of the surrounding nature. Meant to be visible enough to direct but ideally not distract from the beauty around them. I had created a handmade red knit sweater and wore it while filming myself in the woods, acting as a trail marker of my own. I have ideas to continue with this concept, merging nature, fiber, and performance to create a follow-up work. More on that soon, but more pillows will be made in the meantime!
