Karyl Sisson

Statement:

"Patterning and texture are intrinsic to my forms. They create a tactile and suggestive quality that evokes physical and psychological themes of deep interest to me.  For years I have rummaged through junk stores and scoured flea markets salvaging cloth, sewing notions and related items from domestic life. My focus has been the transformation of these familiar objects through the building of form and the development of structures that suggest living organisms, indigenous architecture or ceramic vessels.  These collectibles serve as building materials while any number of basketry and needlework techniques provide the method of construction."

Karyl Sisson

Selected collections and exhibition venues:

Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York (permanent collection); Erie Art Museum, Pennsylvania (The Tactile Vessel, curated by Jack Lenor Larsen, catalog, permanent collection); Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Japan; Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France; Crafts Council, UK (Contemporary International Basketmaking, traveling exhibition); M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California (The Art of Craft: Works from the Saxe Collection); Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Bellingham, Washington (Trashformations: Recycled Materials in Contemporary American Art and Design); Renwick Museum, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; Barbican Centre, London, England; Charles A. Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, Wisconsin; Craft and Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, California; Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, California; Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock; (Craft in America: Expanding Tradition, traveling exhibition); Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin (Basketworks: The Cotsen Contemporary American Basket Collection); Oakland Museum, California (HELLO AGAIN! A New Wave of Recycled Art & Design).