Common Ties

2020-2022

“Common Ties” was developed during my thesis year as a masters in fine art candidate.

“Common Ties” is a body of work that uses knots to create soft sculptures, using larger than life friendship bracelet patterns as points of departure, to explore relationships that inform our everyday existence. 

Using my own frame of reference alongside research on human relationships, this work explores the changing nature of relationships that weave in and out of our lives on a regular basis. This can include relationship to oneself, one another, the community, and interrelationships within society at large. 

Forms twist and weave to highlight both tender and complicated moments within the larger picture of relatedness. Color is chosen intuitively, and while there is no correlation between specific color and meaning, conflict and harmony are expressed by the interaction of color within the forms. Knots express how people and entities come together, stay together, wrestle with another, and part from each other. 

The goal of the work is to capture a snapshot of relational experiences over a defined period of time. The involved parties in each interaction will never be the same again when the relationship comes back into focus, so this work an honest and reflective meditation on the current status and corresponding emotions with the interaction.