The Blog

Karen Searle is an artist after my own heart (you can see an interview video with the artist embedded on the home page of her website)!  She embraces things I also love in her artwork:  wire, fiber techniques and sculpture.  Here’s an artist statement from her website:

I utilize the techniques of “women’s work” to present the feminine view.  My imagery is inspired by women’s lives and women’s bodies, and by the feminine impulse to nurture.  My sense of humor enters into the creation process and becomes integral to many of the pieces.  I think of my wire sculptures as 3-dimensional line drawings in space.  The line and movement of the object and its shadow suggest the energy of a human presence.  I think of my work with birch bark and other national materials as a metaphor for womens’ work and women’s lives: all involve scavenging, mending, piecing-together, and adorning.

TextileArtist.org has a wonderful in depth interview with the artist.  Knitting and crochet techniques are wonderful fiber processes to bring into art education curriculum.  Using an unusual material, like wire, allows the work to have a different kind of integrity and become sculptural.