My work explores the temporary nature of crocheted fibers and the ability to preserve a record of each piece by transforming it into clay. I investigate themes of femininity, gender, and the relationship between art and craft. 

Using cotton yarn I crochet each of my forms, occasionally filling them with material to create specific postures. Each piece is then soaked in porcelain slip colored with Mason stain. I delicately remove the excess clay and finish it by firing once in a gas kiln to cone 4. This process burns away any organic material and leaves behind a finished porcelain form.

I started by crocheting an amphora and other historical pot forms. Throughout the construction of each piece I became interested in how others interpreted my work. They would reference their grandmother’s fondness for crochet or how cute and sweet it was before quickly moving on. I understood how they could see the fiber art as inherently feminine, but their comments came laced with hyperfeminine assumptions about myself as the artist. 

While the comments weren’t surprising, it pushed me to examine my relationship to my work. I don’t perceive myself in the intensely feminine terms my work was being described, but I fully identified with each piece and felt as though they were an extension of myself. I began to research how work made by women was viewed and valued. According to a study published in 2021 by Renée B Adams, “In a sample of 1.9 million auction transactions in 49 countries, paintings by female artists sell at an unconditional discount of 42.1%.” As an AFAB person I can confidently say fuck that and the systematic problems that perpetuate inequality.

I decided to lean into my gender fluidity and let the masculine and feminine aspects of who I am shine through my work as a way to challenge stereotypes I had consistently encountered. I expanded my work by crocheting male genitalia and transforming them into clay, followed by a crocheted neon green strap-on I fitted to a sculpture of my own hips and lower body.

The reception to my newest pieces has been electric. My work has been presented in a space of consensual nudity, and everyone has their own way of where they would enter, start, or join the conversation when it comes to sex, sexuality, and gender. As a quietly queer person, I have enjoyed challenging the expectations someone brings when they experience crocheted phallus on a female nude self portrait.

My work aims to challenge that "women's work” is actually, “a women’s work” and has value culturally, artistically, and monetarily. I seek to reclaim what being born an AFAB person means to me, and artistically express my experiences as a gender fluid person.

Relevant Sources:

Renée B Adams, Roman Kräussl, Marco Navone, Patrick Verwijmeren, Gendered Prices, The Review of Financial Studies, Volume 34, Issue 8, August 2021, Pages 3789–3839, https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhab046