Wk 12 — Artist OTW — Heather Anacker & Krista Feld
Artist: Heather Anacker & Krista Feld
Media: Fiber, Textile, Weaving
Website:N/A
Instagram:N/A
Heather Anacker and Krista Feld were a collaborative art group at Cal State Long Beach. Krista Feld attended California State University, Long Beach from 2009 to 2013 to obtain her Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Fiber, Textile and Weaving Arts. Since graduating from CSULB, Feld has stayed in Long Beach and is currently working for Art Crating Los Angeles. Heather Anacker is also a CSULB Alumni. Anacker graduated Magna Cum Laude with her BFA in Fiber, Textile and Weaving Arts in 2013. Though Feld stayed in Long Beach, Heather Anacker on the other hand is stationed in Chicago, Illinois. She is and has been a freelance artist since June of 2014, which is on her LinkedIn page.
The duo’s art is very intricate and in the form of necessities such as furniture or clothes. Their textiles are often dyed with either raw foods such as beets or carrots, or different woods that stain different colors. The art in the exhibit was more on the cooler side in terms of color. All the textiles they had stained were a soft and cool color. Everything shown in the video looked super soft but also fragile. It looks like it’d be nice to touch and look at up close, but one tug too hard and the whole thing would fall apart.
Feld and Anacker’s art was mostly created with the intention to not indulge in the mass production of furniture and other necessities. As seen in the video, the duo’s art is dyed with raw materials such as foods, or wood that would have otherwise been thrown away. From what I gathered, their intention is to make everything they need and live off of their creations. As they said, the industrial revolution allowed for the mass production of items, as we see today, but to actually know how to create something out of raw materials. The idea behind the art is sustainability and stepping away from the fabricated art from machines mass producing and to be one with nature and creating things from said nature.
I don’t think this kind of art is appreciated enough because it is so overlooked. Although the art shown in the video may have looked very simple, it is so unimaginably complex to derive a scarf or chair or bag from raw materials as they do. Even if I don’t think their art is for me or my lifestyle I can still appreciate it and what the message is. I also love the resourcefulness that their art captures. Feld explained how she was experimenting with sawdust and the different colors they stain fabric and I thought it was so interesting. I love the idea of turning something that would’ve ended up thrown away used for art or used to its fullest potential.
