Dr Thayer Hallidayschult and Dr Jessica Beyer
My Collaborating Ecologists/Biologists
Photo from 2014 opening of "The Poetics of Evolution"
About Carolyn
At heart I am a materialist, process driven artist—I respond to tactile materials that I think are malleable enough to knit, and/or are visually intriguing to me. I respond to the texture and allure I find in natural material such as logs or seeds, or conversely in discarded manufactured materials like rusted iron or used dryer sheets. I then think about how I can use needlework techniques to turn this material into a platform for my artistic concerns.
Materiality, textile tradition stretched to the non-traditional, and ecological/evolutionary/biological concerns form the triad that drives my work.I use the vocabulary of textiles to create sculptural and 2-D forms that reflect my experiences with nature. I choose textiles in part because of the implicit references to domesticity and binary gender that informed my upbringing. The quiet repetition of a stitch is essential to my existence and aids me in pursuing the depth of my own consciousness.
The significance of the conversations I have with my son and daughter in law— both evolutionary biologists and ecologists, inform my work. Their rich scientific language as we talk often sounds poetic to me and offers launching points for my work.
Daily walks in my urban environment, immersed in the lush park system of my neighborhood, fuels my spirit and my visual influences. I post what catches my eye on IG (@artknitter) and find that the images intuitively find their way into the art.
Bio
Carolyn Halliday has been showing her work for over two decades, earning a variety of awards. Recent group shows included Madrid Spain and NYC. She was a 2013 fiscal year recipient of a Mn State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant. In 2015 she was appointed the first member and Chair of the newly created National Artists Advisory Council for Textile Center. In 2020 she received Textile Cen-ter’s Spun Gold Award for a lifetime commitment to textile art and Textile Center.Her work is in the collection of Minnesota Historical Society( 2001, 2006) and the Weisman Art Muse-um (2016). In spring of 2014, she was the featured visual artist for an episode of the televised tpt production Minnesota Originals. She was one of the showcased artists in the 2006 tpt production of Textile Center's Artwear in Motion Runway Show. Halliday is a featured artist in the books: Sculpture, Artistry in Fiber, Vol.2; The Language of Mak-ing, Visual Voices from the Textile Study Group of New York Knitting Art: 150 Innovative Works from 18 Contemporary Artists ; and How to Be a Feminist Artist: Investigations from the Women’s Art Institute. Her work has also appeared in Surface Design Journal,Interweave Knits, and Jacquard, cura della Fondazione arte della Seta Lisio, Italy. She was a mentor in the Textile Center Mentor/Protegee program, the WARM Mentor Program, and privately mentors artists. For two decades she has been facilitating the Critical Response format for artists.