website

Pratically up and running:

www.rachelchristensen.com

Artist Statement (In Progress)

My work often centers around ideas of process and accumulation. My interest in fibers and textiles runs parallel with my fixation on the act of making. I employ many processes including knitting, weaving, dyeing, sewing and silkscreening to actualize often scientific or mathematic information in a tangible form. By having a hand int he work from start to finish I am able to manipulate the knowledge that informs each decision. There are layers of understanding in my work, though it's not necessary that the specific information be revealed to the viewer initially. I find that the action of creating transcends the resulting object and becomes the art piece. Currently my work focuses on the performative labor of the art making process, exploring the potential of repeated actions in relationship to the final art product.

currently untitled abaca portfolio

This is my papermaking independent study final. I created a portfolio of translucent abaca sheets with inclusions. The fiber was beaten for over 8 hours, resulting in transparent sheets with a rattle (much like tracing paper). I created one sheet, then placed my inclusions. I collaged found photographs, cut into intricate patterns, with other handmade sisal paper (which I had chemically dyed red and teal using MX dye). I then created another sheet of abaca and couched it on top of the first, trapping the inclusions between the sheets of paper, which when pressed because a single sheet. I was working very much within my own system of mark making -- I had rules governing what shapes I was cutting and their locations. Overall I think the portfolio speaks to pattern and accumulation, similar to what most of my work has been about lately.

active installation: work in progress

Some images from my final Multi Media Event crit. The show isn't until April but we all showed our works in progress. I'm creating an active, performative installation that references the process and labor of making garments. I used this crit as an opportunity to test the waters and see how my choreographed performance was received. From here I can move forwards with additional garments and more performers. Shout out to Tommy, Caitlin and Katy for being amazing performers. Video documentation to come soon.

abaca collages

These are some "sketches" for my independent paper-making project. Tommy and I beat premium abaca for 8 hours to get really translucent sheets. I used the 12x18" wove mould and couched one sheet then placed the collages cut from photos (from a book about Canada) on the wet sheet. Then I couched a second sheet on the first, sandwiching the pieces of photos. After being pressed and dried, the two sheets become one solid piece of paper with collage inclusions. I plan to include other handmade paper and pulp painting in these collages as well as experimentations with natural dyes in the pulp.

MME: Experimental Fashion, Crit 2

The accompanying audio track for the installation: (uploaded soon)

I'm not sure how I feel about this right now, so I'll write more about it later when I figure some things out.

Costume Distressing Workshop

For a one-week Costume Design assignment, we were to shop (find/buy) a costume and use varying distressing techniques to tell a character's story. I had already planned on being Amelia Earhart for Halloween, so this was a great way for me to collect pieces for my costume while fulfilling an assignment. I used paint, color remover, sandpaper, ink, sole roughers, wire brushes, oil cloths, etc to create a "post-Bermuda Triangle" Amelia Earhart. I wanted it to look like she had been through hell/abducted by aliens (a common theory about the Bermuda Triangle), and dumped down in a crop circle. Photo credit Caitlin Deane.

Summer Scarf

Inexcusably late, terrible photobooth pictures of the scarf that I forgot to post in the summer weaving class entry. It's approximately 4 feet long with twisted fringe. Meant to be worn loosely around the neck once, it's a light, summer-appropriate scarf made of 10/2 tencel with a warp of eggplant and mauve stripes woven with a weft of eggplant.

Weaving Class

I took a week-long weaving class at The Mannings in East Berlin, PA at the end of June. I finally got around to photographing (almost) all of them. Our first project was on a pre-warped counter-balance loom, where we learned basic tabby and twill treadling. We created a few cotton dishtowels. As I was staying on site for the week, I had a lot of spare time in which I experimented with other colors and twill/reverse twill. We moved on to another pre-warped jacquard loom on which we wove a pearle cotton "table runner", which was a glorified exercise in different twill treadling. Each of the 4 vertical sections was warped and threaded in a different pattern, so it was interested to see how the same treadling pattern would create four different patterns. Towards the end of the sample we learned the overshot technique. Each of our original counter-balance looms was warped to a specific overshot pattern, mine being "Church Windows". In my spare time I wove a table runner for my mother (not yet photographed but will be posted later) and the above experiment in color and overshot. I wove my specific overshot pattern by following the tromp as writ instructions, but then also wove according to my neighbor's patterns, including "Star of Bethlehem" and "Wheel of Fortune". Because their patterns were symmetrical, it still produced a visually pleasing pattern despite not being the same as the pattern that had been warped.

I found that I picked up weaving very quickly. As a fibers major I like to think that I'm in the field of "doing monotonous, meticulous tasks very efficiently". I'm glad that I was able to get my feet wet considering my schedule doesn't allow me to take MICA's weaving course until the spring semester.

PS: I'M SO SORRY EVERYTHING IS WRINKLED. I WAS TOO LAZY TO IRON THEM AFTER UNPACKING.

Letterpress, Project 3

For our third project, each member of the class was assigned a month of the year to create a calendar. I wasn't entirely thrilled to get November until I found the most amazing copper plate illustration of a woman kneeling in front of an open picnic basket full of silverware. I also found these great textured and worn rules. Of all the projects, this one feels most like my design aesthetic. Our TA printed bands to wrap around the calendars, and each student was able to keep two sets. The printmaking department will be selling the extra calendars at the MICA Art Market to generate funds for supplies.