Through my work, I seek an authentic experience of beauty amidst the distractions and messes of daily life. My artwork focuses on family scenes, room interiors and still life to create intimate views into one’s interior realm. The restorative, embodying aspects of blending tactile fiber materials are also central to my practice. I love the process of slow-looking and developing layered, nuanced surfaces as a form of active contemplation. But I also thrive on the speed, playfulness and unpredictability of techniques like wet felting.

My approach to fibers is informed by my background in oil painting, with a focus on wool felting and tapestry weaving. My materials include wool sourced from local sheep farms, and domestic detritus like dryer lint and clippings of my children’s hair. I also felt pieces in my washing machine with laundry loads, to acknowledge and make seen the “invisible”, slow labor that accompanies my role as full-time caregiver and homemaker. I want to treat mothering as a serious subject for art-making, and expand the maternal lens beyond its carefully curated forms found on social media. 

While caring for my two young children, these pursuits have found expression in my depictions of the tender rituals and pandemonium of parenthood. Through subjects like messy playpens, doodling children or wedding rings, my work hints at the intersection of ritual and play, monotony and delight in fundamental human relationships.

Read Catherine LeComte Lecce’s interview with Kara Patrowicz.

• Matrescence