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ESSENTISLLY UNBOUND
Marianne Kemp -
Marianne Kemp’s passion for weaving—the process, the repetition, the creation of textural form—is evident in her unique sculptural wall textiles. Using horsehair with varying combinations of other materials like raw plant fibers, Kemp works with meticulous precision to create otherworldly forms that seem to organically morph, yet remain abstracted and enigmatic. The horsehair, the warp and the loom are the three fundamental elements of her practice and her primary tools. In weaving, a warp is a set of long, lengthwise fibers that run vertically up and down a textile, stretched in place on a loom before the weaving process begins; the weft is what is woven into the warp to create textiles, and where Kemp’s creativity takes flight.
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Sunny Spells, 2024Horsehair, cotton and pins98 3/8 x 78 3/4 x 2 inches -
Dew, 2024Horsehair, cotton and pins59 x 78 3/4 x 1 5/8 inches
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Electric Move, 2022Horsehair, cotton and pins23 5/8 x 9 7/8 x 3 1/8 inches
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When creating her works, Kemp looks inward for inspiration. Kemp’s ideas grow and morph as she spends time behind her looms. The hours upon days upon weeks that go into her works beget that every decision Kemp makes- creative or technical- is made decisively. Her intimate knowledge of and skill in weaving enables and fuels her creative process. Kemp’s work is less about weaving as a craft and more about the process and effect of creating texture and volume, zones of interest that invite the viewer in. Kemp’s works are truly a viewing experience, and, at first, an encounter with the alien. From afar, they can resemble paintings, tapestries, or indecipherable structures, but as the viewer steps closer, each work becomes an intricate, active surface.
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Kemp uses both traditional and nonconventional weaving techniques to create her three-dimensional environments through her unique practice of molding, knotting, curling and looping the sculptural horsehair fibers. Through properties unique to horsehair and other, largely organic materials, her woven works can appear shiny and smooth, organic and wild, or flexible and stiff. With her increasing experimentation, Kemp’s works feel less and less bound by the textile art tradition and read more as cross-disciplinary sculpture. Her brain is equal parts artist and engineer; when a new idea bobs to the surface of Kemp’s mind, it follows that then each centimeter must be study and planned to bring that idea to life. Kemp’s ability and expertise enables her creativity, just as her creativity fuels her technical practice.
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#1RCK, 2022Linen, cotton, wire, rough plantfibre19 1/4 x 23 1/2 inches
Framed dimensions 20 x 24 1 /2 inches -
#2RCK, 2022Linen, cotton, wire, rough plantfibre19 1/4 x 23 1/2 inches
Framed dimensions 20 x 24 1/2 inches -
Signaux, 2017Waxed cotton, horsehair21 1/4 x 28 1/2 inches
Framed dimensions 29 x 22 inches
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ESSENTIALLY UNBOUND: MARIANNE KEMP
Past viewing_room
