Kimberly Hamill will be in this year’s Beyond The Fringe. Here she is weaving on a backstrap loom.
What drives you to create?
Creating is moving through uncharted territory. Creating visual imagery for me is like dreaming. I’m not sure where it comes from or why it is so important. Weaving is a little different for me than painting. It is such a slow process, the images I make are more planned, more charted. The weaving process takes so long, is so deliberate and unforgiving; allowing subconscious images to arise is a challenge. However, I am drawn to weaving in an almost archetypal way. My fingers, mind and soul feel they were born to explore and understand weaving structures and histories. As a painter AND a weaver I am right now working on merging my artistic sensibilities of both mediums. That is uncharted territory for me, and I am still quite unsure what will come of my efforts.
Why did you choose fiber as your medium?
As I said I feel connected to weaving in an archetypal way. I feel it is connected to my soul’s history and intrinsic being. It intrigues me both artistically and intellectually. It’s really hard to explain exactly why I choose to weave. It just feels like it’s what I am supposed to do.
What kind of materials do you incorporate into your art? Where do you find them?
I dye most of my own yarn with natural plant and insect dyes. I use wool yarn that I buy in large cones. I also spin my own yarn from wool that I collect from local sheep, llama and goat ranchers. I really enjoy carving my own weaving tools from sticks and dowels.
How much time do you typically invest in a piece?
Many, many, many hours that I never count.
What is your process to turn your artistic vision into the finished piece?
When creating a woven piece I usually sketch it first. Sometimes I graph everything out exactly, although I am trying to get away from that lately. Usually when I dye yarn I just use what materials I have in abundance at the time: onion skins, chamisa flowers, indigo, madder roots, cochineal and other things. Then when I start setting up a weaving I usually look at the colors of yarn that I have ready rather than dye for a specific piece. I tend to look at what I have and try to imagine what it can become. My weavings are usually products of visions that I have had in my head for quite awhile. When something stays in my mind for a long time I know it is worthy of being woven.
What is the special meaning or message behind your work?
I guess I just don’t know. All I can say is that I believe that making art is vital for the evolution of humanity and of the Earth’s society as a biocentric whole. Expressing ourselves in ways other than words is how we push the boundaries of current reality. I think the universe has so much that is so far not defined by mainstream human consciousness. The act of creating art is a way to bring some of the undefined universal truths into human reality and consciousness.
Some artists create their art for therapy purposes. Does that apply to you?
I look at it more like if I am not creating art I am not fully myself and therefore am not very healthy.
What artists do you admire most?
Nilda Callanaupa Alvarez of Peru, indigenous weavers all over the Latin American highlands, Rachel Brown, Odd Nerdrum.
Where do you find inspiration?
I am most inspired by studying weavings of the Peruvian and Bolivian highlands. Also by looking at trees, mesas, canyons and mountains and dreaming.
Do you have any upcoming projects or art shows this year?
Beyond the Fringe, raising my son, going to school for a K-8 bilingual teaching license.
How can people contact you?
kwhitneyh @ gmail . com
Manos Weaving School
This piece is called “Thank You To All That Is”.
