kazymyra

Membership Info

Last Name: Fegley
First Name: Karen S.
Media: Textile, surface design, shibori, soft sculpture
Statement: My work as a fiber artist, in whatever form it takes, originates in a deep-rooted need to reconnect with the feminine divine, to explore her nature and roles and understand how they are present in us, and sometimes to protest against those who who offend her. Sometimes the exploration is literal, as in works that clothe a woman, perhaps in her role as protector or priestess, in talismanic armor or ritual robes. Some works also celebrate the primitive, natural settings that seem somehow more appropriate for the feminine divine than constructed environments: a set of rozome-on-silk “stained glass windows” provides a loose, soft, colored window through which we may view the world, a gentler view than that through the hard-edged glass of a stone cathedral. My political works commonly focus on a role often left to and practiced by women in response to war and other atrocities: the defense of innocent victims (a role that I welcome). Two soft sculptures use the concept of “body bag” to express how contemporary American foreign policy has resulted in the death of many non-Western civilians. The first is an adult-sized body bag made of unbleached muslin imprinted with multiple heads of George Bush and Dick Cheney; the second is a sedate, presidential-looking brief bag that hides a dirty truth.

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