Variation within systems
Abstract
Inspired by the organization and variation found in nature’s systems, my work aims to create an environment that is alive. I am fascinated by multiples, moving, stretching, tangling, growing, following the rules of the natural world, yet each in slightly different ways. I am equally intrigued by our human emotional response to nature and its role as a significant contributor to our wellbeing. Research has shown that the natural world satisfies emotional, cognitive, and spiritual needs, attributing color, shape, and visual relationships to positive states of being. Today, more than ever, we recognize the importance of nature and its influence on our daily lives.
Working within the repeating structure of the Jacquard loom, I aim to create upholstery fabric that mimics the movement, purposeful details, and organic regularities, and irregularities, found in nature. The collection as a whole lives and breathes together, yet each fabric represents a different interpretation of the rules set forth, creating countless variety within one fabric and among the collection.
The work was developed with an urban home environment in mind. In a city, there is so much going on, but there is little access to the natural world. As a result, we tend to get caught up in our own lives as humans and as individuals, losing sight of the bigger world we inhabit.
We often forget that there is life beyond human life. I hope that my work will help reinstate an appreciation of the natural world and offer a perspective that will help all of us, including other forms of life, to thrive.
Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the vexations or concerns of their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment and to renewed excitement in living. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
- Rachel Carson, biologist, ecologist, author [1]
The more we know of other forms of life, the more we enjoy and respect ourselves. Humanity is exalted not because we are so far above other living creatures, but because knowing them well elevates the very concept of life.
- Edward O. Wilson,socio-biologist, Pulitzer Prize-winning author [2]
We have entered the urban century, with two-thirds of humanity projected to be living in cities by 2050… There is an awakening underway today to many of the values of nature and the risks and costs of its loss.
- Gretchen Daily, director of the Natural Capital Project at Stanford University and a senior author of a recent paper arguing that the cognitive and emotional benefits of nature should be factored into economic ecosystem service models [3]
[1] Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder (New York, NY: Harper and Row Publishers, 1956), 100.
[2] ------- “News Stories: Social ecologist examines human need for kinship with nature in new book,” Yale Bulletin and Calendar News Stories, Volume 26, Number 9 (October 20 - October 27, 1997). Online. Available from: http://www.yale.edu/opa/ybc/v26.n9.news.08.html
[3] Robbins, Jim, “Ecopsychology: How Immersion in Nature Benefits Your Health,” Yale Environment 360 (January 9, 2020). Online. Available from: https://e360.yale.edu/features/ecopsychology-how-immersion-in-nature-benefits-your-health
