Katya

Please join me and 5 other artists for a Day of Fiber Workshops this Sunday June 12th at the Textile Arts Center. I will be teaching a 'Large Scale' knitting workshop using non-traditional materials. I've got some great things in store, including giant knitting needles and various 'yarns'. In addition there will be Sculptural Crochet, Wet and Wild Felting, Telephone: Exquisite Corpse and Free-Style Embroidery, Playing with Plastics, and Needle Felting.

If you think you would like to join, please sign up. We'd like to plan the materials and stations according to the number of people coming. You can use this link to sign up for the day, it's only $20!
Tell your friends! :)
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PLAY: Day of Workshops
BROOKLYN LOCATION
code: PLAYWkshps-061211 / $20.00
1 Session(s)
Sun 1-5PM, June 12
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I will also be doing a slideshow & talk including these wonderful artists during my workshop
Environmentally conscious product designer Christien Meindertsma
Austin TX based installation knitter Magda (KNITTA PLEASE) Sayeg
Polish born, Greenpoint based performance & installation crocheter Agata (OLEK) Oleksiak
New York based extreme knitter David Cole
Danish Fashion Designer Isabel Berglund
Koren based industrial designer Kwangho Lee

artist's statement

My family immigrated from Minsk, Belarus to the suburbs of Cleveland in 1992, when I was 11 years old. This major transition made me feel like a fish out of water for most of my awkward teenage years and it really wasn’t until I embraced my roots that I felt like I could develop my own voice.

I am a fiber artist. I use thread and yarn as three-dimensional image-making tools. Embroidery and knitting are timeless forms of human expression that have a hidden history. Seen as mere women’s work, and solely utilitarian, they were not welcomed into the gallery world. My work seeks to build on these notions of femininity, family and tradition, while introducing fiber arts into the contemporary art realm.

I feel empowered to use art-making techniques taught to me by my grandmother, and through disciplines I learned in art school, transform them and create something new. For one, I enjoy using a once-silent, “women’s art form” to create dynamic portraits of women in my life who inspire me. The slow meditative process and repetitive motion of the art form feel natural and organic and I see it almost as a form of resistance against the pace of contemporary life.

-Katya Usvitsky
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artist's statement

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