Portfolio – Collaborations

Kusari-doi: Resonance of Rain

A cross-country collaboration involving Lyn Christiansen from Massachusetts and Barbara J. Walker from Oregon created a site-specific installation for a historic setting, the Sukodo, Iga Ueno, Japan. The melding of three disparate fiber techniques—ply-splitting, kumihimo (Japanese braiding), and felting—culminated in three rain chains, each with a different aesthetic: the challenge of a lifetime. Give and take, ups and downs, anticipation and excitement during eighteen months of work pushed our creativity beyond our perceived limits.

Ply-split vessels, ‘water’ and ‘chain’ interlacements, sound, and wet felted ‘stones’ comprise three rain chains.
Dimensions average 10’ H x 3” to 6” D. Felted stone bases average 12” L x 12” W

Christiansen: ‘Water’
Narrow-band interlacements made on Japanese braiding stands, remote controlled rain sound WAV files
Artist-dyed silk, rayon, paper, and specialty yarns, wire, ribbon, monofilament, embedded speakers

Walker: Vessels
Ply-splitting, kumihimo, wet felting
Artist-made 4-ply linen and cotton cords, wool fleece

First came Alice’s cloth and book. Then I worked to capture the essence of her cloth to design cords and create the book’s ply-split band. The book structure determined whether I created the band and sent it to Alice, or Alice’s book came to me to attach cords and ply-split the band in situ.

Aristotle’s words describe our books best: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”