Kara Patrowicz

Kara Patrowicz lives and works in Maynard, MA with her husband and two young children. She has exhibited throughout the U.S. and abroad, including the U.S. Embassy in Geneva, Switzerland, and a solo show at Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA in the Wayside Gallery. She has been a Fulbright Grant recipient in Painting to Ireland, and a Finalist in Crafts for the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowships Program. She has taught art courses at the university level and served as an Artist-in-Residence at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her academic achievements include an M.F.A. (2-D Media) from MassArt, a Post-Baccalaureate (Studio Art) from Brandeis University, and a B.F.A. (Painting) from Boston University.

/STATEMENT

Parallel Play (def.): A stage of development where toddlers play side-by-side, before learning to engage in interactive activities with other children.

My son was 6 months old when the pandemic began, and my daughter was born two years later at the height of social distancing. The concept of parallel play resonates with my experience as an isolated “pandemic parent,” and also describes my life as an artist-mother of two young children. I am often observing and inspired by the explorative, sensory-based play of my children— in tandem and in tension with my own creative practice.

Wool felting has become my primary medium, after years of studying painting and mixed-media. It is the oldest form of textile production and has surprising links to motherhood. Ewes are sheared in the spring right before giving birth, and lanolin, an ointment used by nursing women, comes exclusively from sheep’s wool. I also incorporate domestic detritus such as dryer lint, hair clippings, and clothing scraps. Some pieces are felted in my washing machine, to acknowledge the “invisible” labor that accompanies my role as homemaker, and “make seen” the efforts of parents who are primary caregivers to young children.

I want to treat mothering as a serious subject for art-making, and expand the maternal lens beyond its carefully curated forms found on social media. Messy playpens, laundry mountains, and crawling babies fill my work. Through these everyday subjects and materials, my work hints at the intersection of ritual, play, monotony, and delight in fundamental human relationships.

/FROM THE ARTIST: A BACKGROUND OF WOOL FELTING

Felting is a technique that blends animal fibers (typically sheep’s wool) into dense fabric or 3-D forms. The process involves barbed needles (“dry felting”) or hot water, soap and agitation of the fibers (“wet felting”). Classic examples include shrinking a sweater in the laundry, and crafting decorations with wool and needle tools.

Felting is the oldest method of creating textiles, with documented examples from 6500 B.C. Wool yurts have been used by nomadic tribes in Mongolia for thousands of years, and there are diverse narratives for the origins of felting. My favorite tale is that pilgrims discovered felting while walking through Europe. They stuffed their shoes with wool to soothe their aching feet, and the sweat and friction of walking felted it. This poetic connection between felting and pilgrimage, flesh and spirit, resonates with my faith as a Catholic. The nurturing aspects of wool, historically used for warm clothing and a source of breastfeeding ointments, also appeals to my work.

Supporting a sustainable fiber economy is important to my creative practice. My materials include fiber from the following local sheep farms and organizations:

Wild Air Farm, Bolton, MA
Western Mass Fibershed
Bloom Woolen Yarns, MA
Blue Heron Farm, VT
Iris Creek Farm, CT