Currently on View: Kami Watson – Women’s Work – Interrupted

This exhibition round includes works provided by Kami Watson Studio 258 which will be on view in the First Floor Ramp Gallery from April 3 – May 25, 2024.  Lowe Mill A&E invites patrons and art lovers to join us for Open Studio Night, a building-wide experience when our over 150 studios will be open to the public.  The evening also includes receptions for all seven of our gallery spaces. This series gives the public a chance to meet and interact with visiting artists and discuss their work as it is on display and available for purchase. Come out, enjoy a pleasant evening, and maybe you’ll find that special piece of art that speaks to you!  The Open Studio Night reception is Saturday, May 25 from 5-7 pm.

 

About the exhibit:

Fiber and Textile Art has traditionally been relegated to the domestic-sphere, dismissed as “women’s work”, and assigned limited value beyond use in one’s home. My work seeks to challenge conventional perceptions of “value” associated with these mediums.

This exhibition emerged from the finding of discarded and unfinished, vintage textiles and unused embroidery thread inherited from my mother-in-law. Sorting through the vintage textiles, my own perspective shifted from seeing them as merely unfinished crafts to recognizing their latent artistic and storytelling potential.

I sought to capture the energies of these stories suspended in time, by layering appliques of my handmade felt with the abandoned stitching. The process of methodically stitching together soft fibers and textiles with a needle and thread, and framing them against a backdrop of delicate textiles joined together and woven into sharp and jagged metal frameworks, allowed me to intimately explore each piece through layers of color and texture. As each piece evolved artistically, its story was revealed, and with the use of historical references and selected song titles, brought into a modern context.

 

About the artist;

Kami Watson (b. 1972) is a second generation fiber and textile artist specializing in wet felting, the ancient process of creating a textile by combining thin layers of wool fiber with soap, water, and agitation. Using this labor-intensive technique, she creates both sculptural and flat textile work, combining process-knowledge learned from her mother with her own creative exploration. Upon being awarded a Craft Fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts, she also studied with internationally renowned felt artists to continue to expand her knowledge of her craft.

In Kami’s most recent exhibition work, she is exploring the incorporation of hand stitching and mixed media with her felt. She draws inspiration from the people and places she’s encountered and experienced while living her free-spirited and primarily nomadic life.

Both a working and teaching artist now residing in Huntsville, AL, Kami has a studio located in Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment on 2nd floor South, and has taught at art museums, craft schools, artist facilities, and her studio. Currently, you can find her creating in her studio, teaching workshops at the Huntsville Museum of Art, or as a recipient of a Verdant Fund grant, part of a Regional Re-granting Program by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, providing free felting classes for the local community via the North Huntsville Public Library.

To find the the gallery in Lowe Mill A&E, click MORE INFO below (Tickets are NOT required.)