BFA, Studio Art (Fibers)
Secondary Focus, Jewelry & Metalsmithing

bohneashley2@gmail.com 
https://squid-tan-szkj.squarespace.com/

Artist Statement

In the body of work “Remnants”, I aim to make hand work more precious, give attention to craft knowledge, and promote traditional craft practices. The installation consists of a large woven work and a metal/mixed media piece. I explore traditional weaving and challenge established boundaries by weaving linen to create an open mesh-like material. The piece consists of 3, 9’x2’ woven panels, which allow for additional woven threads to be shaped into silhouettes, that then leave the panel and travel to the next to continue the broken image. This visual language of woven linen allows for inlaid subjects to have low opacity, alluding to traces of presences trapped in time, similar to the lost hand craft processes. I use linen specifically for its ability to decompose, which when contrasted with a longer-lasting material like metal, instigates questions of longevity, not only in the literal sense of the material but in the endurance of its practices over generations. The next piece consists of 80, 1.5” enameled copper ovals, crocheted together with linen thread. On the surface is an image transfer of my Grandmother, a talented quilter, who taught me various fiber craft techniques when I was a child. The knowledge she passed on has come to define my practice and appreciation for hand-made work. The piece hangs off the wall with a mirror behind it, allowing the viewer to read a letter written to my grandmother from my late grandfather. The visual information of the portrait has been scanned, copied, and transferred, resulting in many inconsistencies, and is finalized using the technique of enameling, as a way to highlight the preciousness of this information. This lack of legibility alludes to the knowledge transportation I aim to highlight while using a domestic craft technique, crochet, as a vessel to deliver this information.