Unlaced

This ongoing project aims to challenge conventional interpretations of lace. Traditional lace making techniques combine with atypical materials to create unexpected textiles. By using unusual materials like pvc or metal, lace loses its fragility. In many cases, I have used heat as a mechanism for connecting motifs which makes what would be a traditional pattern chaotic and deformed. In other instances it is enough that the material (i.e. plastic or metal) is so foreign to the conventional understanding of lace. At the core of this project is an intentional refusal to follow a pattern.

I have robbed lace of its desire to be a doily. The lack of intentional patterning creates motifs and movement within a piece that is entirely directed by the lacemaker. No pattern is used except my own intuition. The lack of pre-planned pattern allows me to define the final design instinctively. I am interested in how the textile becomes an extension of the maker. What autobiographical tales are knit / crocheted / tatted / woven into these seemingly random pieces?

The resulting work is familiar and alien.