Material Inspiration: The Practice-led Research of a Craft Artist

A tangible material is a primary element in the everyday creative practice of any craft artist. Although craft artists implicitly understand the expressive aspects of the tangible material they use to create their artworks, they rarely discuss or give a written account of them. In this paper, I present a way in which my practice-led research on the expressivity and materiality of a fiber material can shape the total artistic process as well as the resulting artworks and their meanings. The research generates the conception of materialness in fiber art, which can assist fiber artists and other craft artists in creating aesthetic and meaningful artworks.