I have been inclined to make things with my hands since I was a child, a practice that eventually found focus in working with textiles, primarily knitting. I have found overwhelming fulfillment through the process of knitting. In seeking language to express what knitting has come to mean to me, I have found numerous accounts of individuals who share similar feelings, of both the all-consuming nature of the process, and of the deep personal connection to the materials and the craft. It is not only the production of a finished object, but in the act of creating where individuals find meaning. My work aims to explore the ways in which hand making facilitates connections between body, process, spirit, and materials.
I am interested in how our relationships with objects change based on our relationship with the materials and the processes that made them. I hope to illuminate how the nature of this connection has immense power. I believe deeply in the power of hand making and the meaning inherent in handmade objects. Through this body of work I am trying to find mechanisms to communicate visually, verbally, and materially the ways that individual and community wellbeing are affected by our ability to make and our connections to the materials that we make with.
All of the materials used in this project came from post-consumer waste, sourced from thrift stores, reuse centers, and trash cans.
-Andrea Arts
Photo by Jules Davis, 2020.