November 12, 2004
Kay Kahn - Sculpted Vessels
Kay Kahn creates quilted vessels that combine fiber, drawing, 3 dimensional space and line in symbolic containers. Thirteen Moons Gallery writes about Kahn's work: "The grid, stitched into all of her vessels, suggests order and mapping of an archeological site. Kay says 'The landscape conjures a visual stream of consciousness, things that I relate to each element…. the landscape as a place that holds secrets and hidden histories.'" Click on the images to see details of each piece.
In 2003, FiberScene for an exhibition of Kahn's vessels, described her work: "Kay Kahn's work recalls ancient Greek faience. Her multi-layered images create a traveling landscape. Memories of childhood, wandering thoughts and fleeting moments grace the surface of her vessels."
The construction of Kahn's work is highlighted in a Simply Quilts episode, " By heavily stitching the fabric, Kay forms stiff panels that she "sculpts" into three-dimensional objects. Kay describes her technique as 'stitching with a lot of layers.'" There is also an image of the artist on this site.
Hibberd McGrath Gallery has more images in large format.
Posted by sfenton at November 12, 2004 04:06 PM | TrackBackThank you Serena, for this article and the links!!! I have been decrying lately the lack of good sites that show what machine embroidery CAN be, rather than all the digitised teddies and unicorns crap---it's stretched my own definition and now i'm *really* ready to play with free motion! Thank you, thank you!!
Posted by: arlee at November 12, 2004 04:29 PMWow! what a great blog about Kay Kahn. Also I checked out the other artists at this site and they are all very interesting.
Thanks for changing my email.
Kanti
What wonderful pieces! Thanks so much for the links - I have never seen this sort of work before,
Posted by: Caz at November 13, 2004 05:05 AMI would like to know what Memory Craft model Kay Kahn uses to create her sculptors.
I saw her segment on Simply Quilts and noticed that she uses a Memory Craft.
I need a machine just like that so that I can sew layers and layers like she does.
Please reply or tell me how I can contact her directly
Thank you for your time,
Carol Jones
Posted by: carol jones at February 17, 2005 09:33 AMThis is a very unique artform, is she the first to create such art? What is its orgins? Has she written about her inspiration? Do you have an email or website contact for Kay Kahn? Does she teach this artform to others?
Thank you.
Posted by: Monica at February 17, 2005 12:51 PM