Lewis Knauss

Artist Statement:
“My interest in landscape originated during my first teaching appointment in Ohio. Feeling disconnected, I was suddenly struck with nostalgia for the fields of Macungie, Pennsylvania, where I was born, and I became increasingly conscious of the importance of place in our lives. The textures and materials of textiles provided a medium to explore my memories of place.

Initially, I used the simple graphics of a plowed field or memories of a mountainside near my parents' home as sources for my imagery. Recently, the mountains of Colorado and the desert and woodlands of the South-west have become most important to my work. From my earliest visits, I began to realize that placing yourself into the vast landscape of the West required time and careful attention. You could not walk unaware of your surroundings. Noticing changes over time and paying attention to details of the landscape allowed one to be part of it – situating oneself by being totally present and then appreciating its silences. I have translated the time spent paying attention into my process and the labor of making; the silence is contained in the meditations that allow these works to happen."
 

Selected collections and exhibition venues:

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York, New York; Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania (Fiber Art from the Permanent Collection); Allentown Art Museum, Pennsylvania (solo exhibit); Society for Contemporary Crafts, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Finnish Museum of Art and Design (Wood of the World); Zoelner Arts Center Gallery, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (Natural Elements: Sculptural Expressions); Museum of Design, Helsinki, Finland; American Craft Museum, New York, New York; John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin; Newark Museum, New Jersey; Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, California (Dorothy Saxe Invitational: New Works/Old Story: 80 Artists at the Passover Table); Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas; Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln (Ledgers, solo exhibition); Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. (Miniature Fiber Arts, traveling exhibition); Musée des Décoratifs, Lausanne, Switzerland (2nd International Exhibition of Miniature Textiles, traveling exhibition).