Bio:
Carrie, a visual artist living in Hoquiam, Washington, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Whitman College. There she was first introduced to Book Arts, which became the springboard for all permutations of her art-making. Carrie’s work has been exhibited in solo shows locally and juried shows nationally and is held in Washington’s Art in Public Places Program, installed at The Evergreen State College. Her artist’s books are included in the Cynthia Sears Artist’s Book Collection at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, as well as various university libraries.
At home she scoots outdoors often, wears out her library card and enjoys the company of her husband John and a couple of cats, who like to investigate works in progress.
Artist Statement:
A foundation in the making of artist books informs my mixed media pieces, from consideration of concept to an infatuation with papers and, often, the use of thread or cord to “bind” disparate bits together. I am drawn to processes and materials that invite touch, celebrating tactile qualities that encourage us to connect with one another. My focus remains on the idea of shaping a cohesive whole from various fragments—a process that can feel like an act of healing or an attempt toward unity.
Works from the stance series, realized at a Hypatia-in-the-Woods residency, grew out of thoughts around current societal divisions and upheaval. I have been considering our culture wars, our tendency to “other” and perceive issues in rigid terms. When nuance and complexity are left out of a dialogue, our connection to one another—particularly those we disagree with—erodes, threatening to disappear entirely. We lose sight of our commonalities, our shared humanity. In this series these musings have been translated into my particular abstracted visual vocabulary.