KL'Espérance

Kristen’s latest series builds on her ongoing exploration of sculptural basketry, evolving into woven armatures that support a skin of plaster. These forms—extensions of her Body Baskets—investigate the tension between structure and void, rigidity and fluidity.

Body Baskets formally examine the interplay of horizontal and vertical axes, generating a figurative presence through moments of expansion and contraction. The grid serves as an organizing matrix, a scaffold from which curves and organic gestures emerge. This dynamic becomes a metaphor for human experience: the reed begins wet and pliable, shaped by hand, and hardens as it dries—mirroring how memories and lived experiences solidify into patterns over time. The transformation from softness to fixity reflects how our bodies and identities are shaped—actively and passively, consciously and unconsciously—by repetition and ritual.

Vermont Studio Center April 2018

Oil Paint