Curious Clouds

This project began in 2022 as a journey to seek material knowledge in its various forms, from explicit verbal explanations and visual expression in historic objects to the tacit material understanding embodied in the hands of a maker.

Along the way, I became enamored with some tiny cloud-like figurations in a 17th-century Indian kalamkari floorspread and began tracing their stylistic origins back through Persia and Central Asia to China. A new body of work is beginning to emerge from exploring these charming shapes as well as the material process of historic chintz/kalamkari.