Bettina Matzkuhn - Artist Statement
Fibre interests me as a visual language. Textiles have a long history of incorporating social and personal stories. I see my work as a part of this continuum. The versatile threads and textiles that I use form a vocabulary I have cultivated since childhood. While this medium may seem archaic, I use it to speak of contemporary issues.
My work is about places I have encountered in person, and how the human presence –including mine– affects them. I grew up around sailboats on BC’s coast, and hike in many corners of Canada, which translates into a love of charts, maps, symbols, weather and landscape. My interest in local ecologies represents an ongoing learning and increasing alarm as the climate crisis intensifies.
I gather drawings, notes, newspaper clippings and diagrams in my sketchbooks along with photographs and test samples I make before and during the project itself. I have been fortunate to work with mentors f rom different disciplines such as sailmaking, meteorology and biology. Materials –from synthetics to recycled clothing to assorted threads– serve the concept and bring their own histories and connotations. I use a sewing machine as a construction tool, but hand embroidery lends itself best to extreme detail. Details allow me to convey an intimate sense of a place or a surface. The sheen, colours and textures of my materials convey opulence. I can think of nothing more opulent than the living world.
