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kelsey merreck wagner เคลซี

@trash_weaver

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textile artist + anthropologist
🌲🐘 🌈🧵🦣🍉
on view at: @daisychainfields @cva_msudenver @swbid @raleigh_arts @flyfrompti @kaleideum @hellenicmuseum

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super psyched to have my woven weaving 𝙩𝙞𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙚𝙨 in the RE(USEFUL) exhibit at @sawtoothschool in collaboration with @theartshac -- two of my favorite art orgs in winston-salem 🧡💙🧡

#fiberart #creativereuse #plarnweaving #publicartist #ecoart

CRAFT IS SEXY shirt by @kitt.ta.khon taken in Sawtooth School for Visual Art by @trash_weaver

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3 months ago

note to self

[woven textile made with sparkly stuff]

🌟 shiny tinsel courtesy of @corrieincolor

📷 pics courtesy of @petrasalazarpoet

#textileart #fiberart #weaving #thoughtdaughter #craftivism taken in Winston-Salem, North Carolina by @trash_weaver

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6 months ago

creativity//community//change (the only way out of this mess is together)

thank you to every single person who believed in my work and showed up to support my process and pull off the magic required to adorn the trees @c3presents @livenation @daisychainfields @oliviarodrigo @lil_ebmilton @schumann_william & all the peeps who give me trash to repurpose @corrieincolor @goodwillnwnc @jimthompson.fabrics

can't wait to soak up the power, solidarity, and joy tomorrow & be part of a festival that reminds us we all have a voice and the capacity to show up for eachother to build a better world

#daisychainfields #artivism #ecoart #handwoven #fiberart taken in Orange County, California by @trash_weaver

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2 months ago

taking suggestions for titles because my creative juices disappear once the rush of making an artwork is done...gimme your best ideas guys 💙🧶💙🧶💙

this is another twilly willy from my 𝙬𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 series...this bad boy consists of 34 individual weavings made on my 4-harness floor loom. each of the weavings were woven together (like strips of paper) to create this pattern from my fave book by g. h. oelsner, 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴.

i've got a crazy amount of work to do before i leave in november for bangkok where i have an exciting project ahead with @warinlabnomad & @of_times_and_places ....so i just finished this piece and have another in progress that will be exhibited at @greenhillnc in their winter show, which i am so excited to be a part of this year!

#handwoven #twillpattern #quilt #fiberart #textileart taken in Winston-Salem, North Carolina by @trash_weaver

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6 days ago

🧶 🗑️🌼 welcome, welcome, @trash_weaver 🌼 🗑️ 🧶

kelsey merreck wagner @trash_weaver is a textile artist, visual anthropologist, curator, and environmental activist that makes weavings from recycled materials. She will be at the Ghoul Moon Festival with her weaving loom doing demonstrations and inviting visitors to sit down and weave with her. The completed weaving will be part of her Winston-Salem Public Art Project that will be installed at the Benton Convention Center later this fall! An assortment of her woven goodies will also be available if you want to take home a treasure for yourself.

We’re beyond excited to welcome Kelsey and can’t wait to try out trash weaving 🙌🏼

Thanks to @tb.realty.team + @visitwinstonsalem @westsalemproud + Aurora Actuarial for your support!! taken in West Salem Art Hotel by @trash_weaver

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8 days ago

felt cute, might delete later (jk but really i decided i hated this woven pattern and undid it) but for real this is how i make work for my 𝙬𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 series...all the tiny weavings get woven together just like you would do to make a weaving with strips of paper. this design is inspired by the welsh caernarfon patterns i love so much but it just didn't work on a small scale so i scrapped it (pun intended because all of my weavings are made using scraps cause yay for creative reuse) taken in Winston-Salem, North Carolina by @trash_weaver

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10 days ago

my final @trash_weaver post for SDA, thanks so much for following along!⁠
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it’s been a joy to share my practice with you all. i am in constant awe of the magic and creativity in the SDA community, and i’m so grateful for all of the lovely in-person and online interactions i’ve had with so many of you over the years. please look me up if you are ever stopping through winston-salem, i’d love to have you to my studio and talk textiles together 🧶💓⁠
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currently in exhibits at: @cva_msudenver @hellenicmuseum @swbid @raleigh_arts @flyfrompti @kaleideum @hellenicmuseum @culturews⁠
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upcoming exhibits at: @warinlabnomad @of_times_and_places @visionsmuseum @greenhillnc @mekong.art.worms @cityofwinstonsalem (+ some places i can’t share yet, so stay tuned!)⁠
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more on my website at: kelseymerreckwagner.com⁠
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all the best,⁠
kelsey merreck wagner by @trash_weaver

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19 days ago

@trash_weaver takeover continues!⁠
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this is “chromophobia”, another public art project near and dear to my heart, all made possible by the SEEK raleigh fellowship, an experimental public arts program of @raleigh_arts each of the 4 weavings in are made entirely from recycled materials collected through environmental clean-ups and community contributions in the raleigh area, including plastic bags, old clothes, housewares, technology cords and cables, holiday decorations, and other post-consumer waste. all of the weavings are nearly 50 feet long and are suspended from 30 foot ceilings at the abbott’s creek community center in raleigh.⁠
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the title comes from a fantastic book by @chromochrome, where he defines chromophobia as the western world’s “varied attempts to purge colour from culture, to devalue colour, to diminish its significance, to deny its complexity” of non-western societies via colonialism. i read his book while writing my dissertation for my ph.d. in cultural anthropology, and couldn’t help but draw parallels to florida’s “don’t say gay” law and a myriad of other ways the lgbtq+ community is silenced and ostracized. the act of rejecting vibrancy and joy, and codifying it through cruel legislation is shameful; but art is always a way to fight back, even if it’s just a provocative title and a ceiling filled with rainbows in a southern state 🌈🏳️‍🌈⁠
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Photo credit: @raleigh_arts by @trash_weaver

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19 days ago

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@trash_weaver back again for the second day of my SDA takeover!⁠
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as a public artist, i prioritize projects that synthesize creativity and sustainability with community-engagement, and there is no better example than “woven together”, my recent Art Rx project with @swbid in washington DC. working with the southwest business improvement district’s team, we sourced recycled materials to weave with, and organized a series of community workshops to make artwork to beautify the neighborhood’s southwest duck pond.⁠
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in june, i brought my loom to public spaces in the southwest neighborhood and invited the community to sit down and weave together. we reached a wide audience across multiple locations, making sure everyone could contribute to the artwork and make new friends in the process! with the community’s involvement, we made 16 vibrant weavings, which i took back home to my studio to prepare for installation. in august, i returned to DC, and my incredible team of assistants helped install the weavings with a massive (and scary) boom lift at the southwest duck pond. each of the weavings are wrapped around tree trunks at the four corners of the duck pond, where we hope they bring joy to the neighbors and ducks alike 🦆🪿⁠
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an extra special part of the “woven together” project was converting folks who had never seen a loom before into fiber fiends! knowing i got people hooked on weaving was such a full circle moment: in 2016 i encountered the @blueridgefiberguild at a local festival and the rest was history! i am so grateful for the women who invited me to take free weaving classes at our community center and became some of my dearest friends and mentors, and it is an honor to pass that on to the next generation.⁠
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photo credit: @swbid @lil_ebmilton by @trash_weaver

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next up for my takeover, i am sharing a project from my new series, which i am calling “woven weavings”.⁠
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despite being mostly restricted to rag rug-esque plain weave because of the irregular sizes and textures of my wefts, one of my favorite books to peruse is g. h. oelsner’s “a handbook of weaves”. there are so many incredible drafts in the book, but there is one twill pattern (figure 670; page 144) that i could never get out of my head. after staring longingly at the draft one too many times, i decided to create my own version by making a weaving out of weavings, using the same method as weaving with strips of paper.⁠
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over the next few months, i made 72 individual weavings, each of which are 2 inches wide x over 6 feet long. once that daunting task was complete, i transcribed the draft row by row in my sketchbook; and enlisted my dad to help build a massive wood frame to attach the weavings to. after laying out each vertical row of the white weavings, my mom patiently read out each row of the blue weavings (over 3, under 2, over 1, under 2…) until the pattern was complete.⁠
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as a textile artist, one of the best parts of weaving is having such a rich history to learn from and experiment with and innovate upon. i’m obsessed with making these skinny little woven strips now, and my heart is so happy knowing i can finally play with elaborate patterns that i never imagined being part of my practice. i have exhibited other work from this series at @sawtoothschool and @sccfineart & two new pieces will be exhibited at @greenhillnc for their winter show from december 6-february 2027.⁠
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photo credit: @megrybicki by @trash_weaver

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19 days ago

this first project is an installation i made for the daisy chain fields festival in irvine, california. founded by olivia rodrigo & inspired by the lilith fair; the festival featured all women musicians, visual artists, vendors, and businesses, and raised over $20 million for charities supporting women and girls.⁠
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my installation “arachne” comprised 8 weavings suspended from the trees on the festival grounds, which were activated by the summer breeze and the best girl power vibes you could dream of.⁠
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the title comes from the greek myth about arachne, the human weaver who challenged the goddess athena to a weaving competition and won. arachne’s weaving–which was aesthetically brilliant and featured imagery critiquing the corruption of the gods–enraged athena, who punished her by turning her into a spider. as an eco-artivist, i love how this narrative demonstrates the role that art plays in speaking truth to power, and is a reminder that despite the risks, protesting and advocating for change in our communities is the only way to create a more just world. 🕷️🕸️⁠
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thank you to @daisychainfields @oliviarodrigo @c3presents for all their support and for inviting me to contribute to such a powerful event. fellow exhibiting artists included superstars like @jennyholzerstudio @guerrillagirls @rachelbhayes (i screamed & cried i was so happy). recycled treasures thanks to: @corrieincolor @goodwillnwnc @jimthompson.official & more⁠
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photo credit: @aliveco @emmawanniephoto @lil_ebmilton by @trash_weaver

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20 days ago

since i can’t have you all over to my studio, i want to show you where all the magic happens (and also the not-so-magic when i catch a mistake after sleying the reed and threading 300 heddles, because after all, half of weaving is unweaving!)⁠
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over the past ten years of weaving i’ve accumulated seven looms, but my favorite is my 1957 newcomb studio art loom who is named june after her original owner. this was the first loom i learned to weave on through my fiber guild, and i feel so lucky she gets to live with me forever. i use maysville cotton 8/4 rug warp for my weavings, and my studio is full of overflowing bins of recycled materials that become my weft. from plastic shopping bags and donated clothes to shiny tinsel and feed sacks to balloons and old fishing nets, it’s almost impossible for me to say no to something i can cut into strips and weave with.⁠
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it’s so fun to have a big space where i can spread out, work on multiple looms at once, map out new projects, curse at my sewing machine, and flip through my art books & SDA journals when i need inspiration. my studio is in a building filled with lots of other artist studios, and i love the creative energy and stream of friends stopping by to chat.⁠
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now that you’ve seen the photos, consider this your official invitation for a studio visit in the future (please call in advance and schedule a time with my studio manager, my beagle clementine) 🐕⁠
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photo credit: @monster_teeth @artfolk.doc by @trash_weaver

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