Katrina Craig

I had a gallery show! AHHH! so exciting. It was at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax NS.

It was a collaborative show with my friend Darren Pottie, who is a super talented and awesome art history and photo student.

This is the dream it was based on:

In a secluded field a pregnant woman goes into labour. Expecting her first child, she is appalled by not an infant, but several metal spider like creatures. Her partner, disgusted by the creatures thought they should be taken into town for medical attention. Instead, she lowered the creatures into a large glass aquarium with an electric current. As the spiders sunk, they transformed into infants. As the mother rescues the infants from the water, one of them catches her gaze. Its eyes flash red for a moment. Its obvious that they are not as innocent as they seem.

This is my Artist's Statement about my work:

Dreams are moments of unrestrained creativity gleaned from personal experiences. My textiles work in ‘Oh, I See Queen Mab Hath Been With You” aims to represent the nature of my inspiration, rather than a visual depiction of specific imagery. In this case, the inspiration was from an unusual dream I experienced. The Mood is eerie and unsettling, with the transformation from an inhuman creature to a corrupted infant who is seemingly typical on the outside, but with its secret corruption still hiding inside. By creating an emotional response in a viewer through the depiction of the atmosphere of the dream, it allows them to understand the work in a way beyond appreciating craftsmanship or surface designs.

The colours of the garments shift from white to a deep red. White is commonly associated with innocence, and in this case that remains. Accompanying this are wire forms that eventually transition from uncomfortable claws and legs to a constricting garment. The wire interrupts the white silk to show the breakdown of innocence, with the red appearing as the spiders become more human. Humans are one of the only creatures that create their clothing, so garments are linked with humanity for me. The wire then becomes a garment to show the shift from monster to human, but also a reminder to the viewer of what once was.

Gallery Show: Oh, Then, I See Queen Mab Hath Been With You

Another Capsule Wardrobe