Click on an image to see a larger version.
Karel Krystin Hendee
Artist Statement:
I fell in love with silk and silk-painting when I was in my mid-twenties. After years of drafting and computer graphics in the Landscape Architecture Program at the University of Oregon, I was thrilled with the free expression of dye oozing onto silk and the vibrant luminescent colors. My silk-paintings have evolved into art quilts through the years. I love combining the different fabrics with the silk to add contrasting texture and tone. Quilting the silk helps create angles and texture to catch the light in different ways. Piecing fabric together, like collage, is a very satisfying synthesis process. The end result of both silk-painting and fabric collage is unpredictable and mysterious. Each piece of art becomes an adventure.
My goals and aspirations as a fiber artist are both personal and communal. I find art to be the most helpful tool for me to explore and feel connected with the natural world, and to convey to others the beauty and fragility of our living environment. When I work with fabric and piece things together, I feel an integrative healing power come alive inside me. I love to combine unusual fabrics and create hints of a mysticism. I enjoy celebrating the mysterious and miraculous qualities within and all around us. If my work expresses the spiritual beauty and playfulness of the natural world to others, then I feel my mission is accomplished.
As a yoga and dance teacher, I am convinced that art plays an important part in helping us grow spiritually as individuals and as a global community. We are all looking for connection and harmony, and I dedicate my art toward a vision of cultivating peace on earth. I devote half of my career life to art and creativity, and the other half to teaching yoga and healing fitness classes for seniors. I also help people in their gardens and homes, so they can be surrounded with living beauty and grace. This balance of art-making and community service is the yin yang of my existence.
Wild Women:Benedict Church Durham Ericson Hansen Jordan Knous Orr Prodaniuk Rappa Teske Uriu Wallis
Reno 2009 Guests:Berg Donohue Hendee Rosser