Sentimental & Tactile by Samantha Woodard

Abstract

The comfort of textiles and working with fibers comes from its materiality, the familiar experience of surface texture. By collaging different surfaces we gain new experience and feeling from the contrast of neighboring materials. Focusing on objects that are found in domestic settings such as quilts and curtains, and removing the functionality from them transforms them from objecthood to image, then back to object-hood. Working with various existing archives such as the digitized Cooper Hewitt Collection and recontextualizing textiles through the lense of printmaking, we can discuss what is worth remembering and what is deemed insignificant. However, we can choose what we give importance to, including the things in our everyday lives. I am taking items associated with the home such as quilts and reforming them into abstract depictions of comfort. Using documentation of process and archives as tools, we can explore the role of comfort in craft.