"cloth that is laden"

The work from recent MFA graduate Lauren Louise deSerres Kelischek is very compelling and fraught with emotion. Her use of found fabrics and installation evokes an exploration of human dynamics.



She states this:

Cloth is a substance that is made of thousands of little threads, made of thousands of even smaller threads. I use fiber and cloth that is laden with the history of other people. I use old sheets and old cut-up sweaters, and wool from local farms, and lace from my grandmother’s sewing room and wood (which is made of fibers too). I use these materials because they seem to encompass the gravity and enormity of the human relationships that I am addressing- fibers woven together make a cloth, which is strong, yet pull one string and you can unravel the whole thing. It is easily worn and stained. It can be soft and comforting, but when there is too much of it, it can be stifling and smothering. I’m using fiber as a metaphor for relationships and how they comprise and individual or even a family. I’m using fiber to recreate stories from my own experiences.

I really find her statement to be quite excellent in its clarity and succinctness. As I myself am exploring my own relationships in my work and have always been drawn to fibers for the same reasons I am drawn to understand her work more deeply.


She has work at an exhibit here in Boston and I very much want to make it to the show in time so I can see the work in person.


See more of her work here.