"Through my work with fibers and mixed materials, I make vibrant and tactile sculptures and installations. By pairing traditional practices like weaving and knitting with modern methods, I experiment with texture, color, and scale to explore how we relate to ourselves, one another, and to our environments. The ideas of community, healing, and renewal are in alignment with the processes of my work, taking many parts that come together to make a whole. A desire to elicit a multi-sensory experience while engaging the audience's desire to investigate and play is at the heart of my practice.
I began exploring the labor-intensive and meditative process of darning in the interest of mending my partners’ tattered and well loved jeans. Since then I’ve continued mended clothing for others. My hands move through the fabric, weaving thread over and under to rebuild. The wonderful textures created through mending are what influenced me to create giant magnified versions. Increasing the scale of the thread to that of large, stuffed knitted tubes, created a new way to explore shape with linear forms. Weaving these elements under and over allows the space inbetween to amplify the round plushness and texture of the work. Evoking a desire to touch and play, the familiarity of these textile forms brings a collective sense of intimacy, warmth, and joyfulness." - Katrina Sánchez