Invisible Accidents Studio is everything created by and in my hands. Everything handmade is created in the most important way. Made slowly and with intention, human-to-human communication and interaction, and the ever present “I made this for you”.

During my BFA program, I was separating my painting and studio research from my fiber practice. Throughout the journey of obtaining that BFA, there was a constant overlap, bleeding around the edges and the eventual process of exploring my painting themes in fiber form. This resulted in the knit sculptures and paintings or drawings of abstracted knit pieces. The shapes of my paintings found their way into my knitting, and the lines, and meditative motions of knitting found their way into my paintings.

Invisible Accidents is a collection of knit and crochet clothing and accessories that celebrate and are inspired by a fondness for the sanctity of flaws created by the human hand. A handmade piece may have many imperfections that are often invisible to the untrained eye, these are the Invisible Accidents. These pieces are made to last and made to be family heirlooms that keep generations warm and cozy.

Invisible Accidents is also the aim of my studio research which is focused on paintings and fiber sculptures that demonstrate a relationship between the works and the conceptual underpinnings of intimacy and romance. I approach this through my interest in the intersection of reading, writing, and abstraction.

The research is influenced by my reading practice and the veracious embrace of the ardent and all-consuming draw to the genre of romance. The novels span from Austen to Woolf, memoirs, mysteries, beach reads, contemporary and young adult romance, and the occasional cringe-educing paperback. This research has lead me to observe and reflect on the different levels of intimacy found within romantic and platonic relationships.

We often experience a lack of communication or a level of miscommunication in intimate relationships. Whether they are platonic or romantic relationships is of little consequence—miscommunication has no boundaries. It leads me to reflect upon the way romantic and intimate communication was found in the love letters of yesteryear; and how romantic ideals are most often found in poetry, music, and literature. In a realm with the availability of instant and constant communication, miscommunication leads the vanguard into the plight of relationships and leaves a legendary body count behind.

In paintings, communication and miscommunication are translated through the readability of the text. I consider abstracting from text as a type of translation process that must be undergone to create the work. Letters and words are layered over each other, shapes are created from the lines and intersections of overlap, the shapes are formed from the reconstruction and reorganization of the lines, and it becomes unreadable.

In sculptures, the abstraction changes from the readability of the text to the wearability of a garment. Knit and crochet pieces are generally used for the head, the body, or the home. Shapes and textures are easily recognizable because these types of garments have been around for many centuries if not thousands of years. When you are met with something so familiar, yet unidentifiable, unwearable—something that took so long to make, how does that change our relationship with fiber?

Photos of the artist taken with love by her love: Kliness DeButy.