To check out http://www.spinhandspun.wordpress.com/, the Web site of this week’s featured artist, is to observe Lawrentian artistic creativity at its finest. The site, featuring the knit and felted designs of Kristin Boehm, allows you to view pieces for sale, such as the cell phone case featuring an impeccably felted Morton Salt Girl, while also allowing you to read about and admire Boehm’s public art pieces.
Said the senior studio art and psychology major, “Recently, I’ve been interested in merging the intersections between technology and the handmade, between art, craft and design and between the gallery and public realms. My most recent projects involve tagging street signs with knitted cozies – antlers on a ‘deer crossing’ sign, for example.”
So, how does one become interested in the “human-idea-to-human interactions involved with artistic display, want[ing] to encourage these discussions in more average, overlooked settings, such as our roadsides”? This is a fair question, as this does not seem to be an artistic mission close to the heart of the average 22-year-old American.
According to Boehm, she has been “using her hands for as long as [she] can remember,” and while that might not seem all that out of the ordinary – hands do tend to get heavy use – it was her early penchant for all things crafty as well as her parents encouragement of her creative curiosities that truly shaped this artist.
While Boehm lists such artist co-ops and collectives as “Reclaim the Streets” and “The International Fiber Arts Collective” as inspirational, she plans to take a few years off before getting her master of fine arts degree and joining the ranks of professional artists.
Until then, you will either find her working at a family camp in Minnesota, “making sure people don’t get stranded on non-motorized watercraft. After that, I’ll most likely be moving back into my parents’ basement … knitting and making sure my parents don’t get stranded in non-motorized retirement.
Artist Spotlight
