Featured Artist: Carolyn Halliday

From April 14th, to June 2nd, we present "Refuse/Re-seen" during which we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog.  Today, we're pleased to introduce to you:  Carolyn Halliday

I use the vocabulary of textiles to create sculptural forms that often reference body or nature.  Hand knitting wire and other nontraditional materials, usually re-cycled, is my primary technique although I incorporate other needlework and fiber skills into my work.  Simple elements of my daily existence:  a found stick, a scrap of metal, or coffee beans may become the seeds of a piece. I intend to magnify nature, reference concepts of the feminine through body and domesticity, and examine life’s daily debris.

Bilateral Distal Radius Multiple Fractures 18 x 12     2011

On July 28th, 2009, I tripped on a raised sidewalk while running, and broke both of my wrists.  I ended up having to have surgery on both wrists; three surgeries on my dominant hand.  During this experience I had no use of either hand for weeks and had to rely on others for my every need.  What was the most profound discovery for me, was the necessity to be able to define my identity as an artist.  I have always had a certain insecurity around getting to claim myself as an artist, to identify as a a legitimate artist.  But during that experience, the surprising words that tumbled out of my mouth as I moved between medical professionals, were “I am an artist;  I have to have my hands.  I am an artist;  when can I use my hands?”  The piece holds paraphernalia from my medical care which includes  photo transfer of ekg on ace bandages and embroidered, temporary cast, gauze, medical bracelet, and bandages.