SETTINGS & FINDINGS N.12 WITH LISA KLAKULAK
by matt lambert
"The physical work of Lisa Klakulak revolves around the materiality of felt. Her deep and expansive exploration of felt for its technical properties and three dimensional abilities has allowed for a rich deep knowledge. This knowledge is clearly reflected in her numerous conceptual investigations reflecting on the vulnerability of the body and its relationship to its environment as well as passing on her knowledge through STRONGFELT where she provides in depth information and offers public education and courses. Here Lisa shares and reflects on some of her latest work from 2022." ml
Lisa Klakulak
"The making is the marking of a phenomenon, an accumulation of what has been felt. Wet felting provides a unique sense of agency, not just in the push, pull or organizing of a material, but in the actual making of that material simultaneous to ones touching it. The full range of pressure and agitation applied to mat the fiber is analogous to human behavior; how we encourage and impact others (as well as ourselves) with the gentlest of nudging and nurturing to heated agitation and intrusive pressure that makes one recoil and feel small. I am intrigued by systems and interference, methodology and chance, structure, damage and repair. I am attentive to the porosity of materials, the space within and between, and processes that modify that internal space. These micro-environments provoke memories of spacial relations in my lived experience and conjure material empathy. A relation of individual fibers and space,felt and the felting process is full of apropos social metaphors; what has been felt by a person or group of people in relation to the space they take up, move in, are forced into or excluded from. A skin-like material made of animal hair that, like our own, responds to atmospheric changes, felt visually conveys vulnerability depending on the density to which it has been agitated/felted. The finding of a mass of calcified worm tubes on a beach, my first adventuring out during the isolating restrictions of COVID, instigated this Mechanoreception Series. The patterns of growth, witnessed in the decay are a swirl of isolated individual lives, separated, but intertwined, having coexisted in close proximity. Further research identified them as Serpulidae, a family of sessile (fixed in place) tube building annelid worms of the class Polychaeta. They have an operculum, a door that shuts tight sealing their tube in a recoil from danger, but are fantastically ornate with color and two spiraling fans when they emerge to feed. What has been felt in these pieces of jewelry is informed by the colors and structure of the tube worms from the family Siboglinidae that are found in the deepest depths of the ocean and that grow to heights comparable to an adult human. Through their grasping, clasping entanglements and efforts to extend beyond, I infer what the body has felt through the gesture of the jewelry." Lisa Klakulak
IG: @feltstrong
Lisa Klakulak encourages the exploration of what is felt in finding a material for expression.
F2F workshops & online courses in the Felt Jewelry Series: Material, Technique & Impact
(Scholarships available for the Course 1: Foundational Structure)
www.strongfelt.com
"The physical work of Lisa Klakulak revolves around the materiality of felt. Her deep and expansive exploration of felt for its technical properties and three dimensional abilities has allowed for a rich deep knowledge. This knowledge is clearly reflected in her numerous conceptual investigations reflecting on the vulnerability of the body and its relationship to its environment as well as passing on her knowledge through STRONGFELT where she provides in depth information and offers public education and courses. Here Lisa shares and reflects on some of her latest work from 2022." ml
Lisa Klakulak
"The making is the marking of a phenomenon, an accumulation of what has been felt. Wet felting provides a unique sense of agency, not just in the push, pull or organizing of a material, but in the actual making of that material simultaneous to ones touching it. The full range of pressure and agitation applied to mat the fiber is analogous to human behavior; how we encourage and impact others (as well as ourselves) with the gentlest of nudging and nurturing to heated agitation and intrusive pressure that makes one recoil and feel small. I am intrigued by systems and interference, methodology and chance, structure, damage and repair. I am attentive to the porosity of materials, the space within and between, and processes that modify that internal space. These micro-environments provoke memories of spacial relations in my lived experience and conjure material empathy. A relation of individual fibers and space,felt and the felting process is full of apropos social metaphors; what has been felt by a person or group of people in relation to the space they take up, move in, are forced into or excluded from. A skin-like material made of animal hair that, like our own, responds to atmospheric changes, felt visually conveys vulnerability depending on the density to which it has been agitated/felted. The finding of a mass of calcified worm tubes on a beach, my first adventuring out during the isolating restrictions of COVID, instigated this Mechanoreception Series. The patterns of growth, witnessed in the decay are a swirl of isolated individual lives, separated, but intertwined, having coexisted in close proximity. Further research identified them as Serpulidae, a family of sessile (fixed in place) tube building annelid worms of the class Polychaeta. They have an operculum, a door that shuts tight sealing their tube in a recoil from danger, but are fantastically ornate with color and two spiraling fans when they emerge to feed. What has been felt in these pieces of jewelry is informed by the colors and structure of the tube worms from the family Siboglinidae that are found in the deepest depths of the ocean and that grow to heights comparable to an adult human. Through their grasping, clasping entanglements and efforts to extend beyond, I infer what the body has felt through the gesture of the jewelry." Lisa Klakulak
IG: @feltstrong
Lisa Klakulak encourages the exploration of what is felt in finding a material for expression.
F2F workshops & online courses in the Felt Jewelry Series: Material, Technique & Impact
(Scholarships available for the Course 1: Foundational Structure)
www.strongfelt.com
Pictures List & Credits
Image List | All Works Completed in 2022 | Photo Credits: Steve Mann
1 Mechanoreception 1
varies between 23ʺ and 19ʺ circumference with clasping alternatives
pendant: 4ʺ x 3ʺ x 1.25ʺ
merino wool fiber, Serpulid worm tube mass, wire; cochineal dyed, needle and wet felted, hand
knotted and stitched
2 Mechanoreception 2
varies between 22ʺ and 19ʺ circumference with clasping alternatives
central pendant: 3.5ʺ x 1.25ʺ x 1.5ʺ
merino wool fiber, Serpulid worm tube mass; cochineal dyed, needle and wet felted, hand
knotted
3 Mechanoreception 3
varies between 24ʺ and 20ʺ circumference with clasping alternatives
9.75ʺ x 7ʺ x .75ʺ to 9ʺ x 7ʺ x.75ʺ
merino wool fiber; cochineal dyed, needle and wet felted, hand knotted
4 Mechanoreception Earring #E389
2.5” x 3” .5ʺ
merino wool, cotton thread, wire, sterling silver hoops; needle and wet felted, naturally dyed
with cochineal, machine stitched
5 Mechanoreception Earring #E391
1.5ʺ x 1.5ʺ x .5ʺ
merino wool fiber, cotton thread, Sterling Silver hoops; cochineal dyed, needle and wet felted,
free-motion machine embroidered
6 Mechanoreception Earring #E393
1.5ʺ x 3ʺ x 1ʺ
merino wool fiber, cotton thread, Sterling Silver hoops; cochineal dyed, needle and wet felted,
free-motion machine embroidered
7 Mechanoreception Earring #E394
1.25” x 3” x .25”
merino wool, cotton thread, wire sterling silver hoops; needle and wet felted, naturally dyed with
cochineal, machine stitched
1 Mechanoreception 1
varies between 23ʺ and 19ʺ circumference with clasping alternatives
pendant: 4ʺ x 3ʺ x 1.25ʺ
merino wool fiber, Serpulid worm tube mass, wire; cochineal dyed, needle and wet felted, hand
knotted and stitched
2 Mechanoreception 2
varies between 22ʺ and 19ʺ circumference with clasping alternatives
central pendant: 3.5ʺ x 1.25ʺ x 1.5ʺ
merino wool fiber, Serpulid worm tube mass; cochineal dyed, needle and wet felted, hand
knotted
3 Mechanoreception 3
varies between 24ʺ and 20ʺ circumference with clasping alternatives
9.75ʺ x 7ʺ x .75ʺ to 9ʺ x 7ʺ x.75ʺ
merino wool fiber; cochineal dyed, needle and wet felted, hand knotted
4 Mechanoreception Earring #E389
2.5” x 3” .5ʺ
merino wool, cotton thread, wire, sterling silver hoops; needle and wet felted, naturally dyed
with cochineal, machine stitched
5 Mechanoreception Earring #E391
1.5ʺ x 1.5ʺ x .5ʺ
merino wool fiber, cotton thread, Sterling Silver hoops; cochineal dyed, needle and wet felted,
free-motion machine embroidered
6 Mechanoreception Earring #E393
1.5ʺ x 3ʺ x 1ʺ
merino wool fiber, cotton thread, Sterling Silver hoops; cochineal dyed, needle and wet felted,
free-motion machine embroidered
7 Mechanoreception Earring #E394
1.25” x 3” x .25”
merino wool, cotton thread, wire sterling silver hoops; needle and wet felted, naturally dyed with
cochineal, machine stitched