SAND and SEA and SKY
a trio of handspun crocheted tapestries that evoke the sense of vastness and awe of standing on the seashore and basking in the wonder of that experience
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EASE and CONNECTION and AWE
What does the water make you feel?
These pieces were created during the five week OCEAN Virtual Artist Residency program hosted by Moku Art Studio and MANGO.
Join me on Patreon for free to read about the making of this work and my experience with the residency and exploring this theme.
Please enjoy the galleries below for process pictures!
SAND
SEA
SKY
Artist Statement
SAND and SEA and SKY
This trio of handspun and crocheted tapestries is a meditation on the colors and textures that greet me at the ocean’s edge here in Hawaii. When I stand on the shore, I feel a softness in my reflections, a moment of ease and connection. There’s a power that the ocean holds to tell stories of movement, memory, and place. I believe that art does this as well.
My artistic process is rooted in working with color intuitively, so each stage of creating these pieces—from fiber selection and sorting to spinning, plying, and finally crocheting—was an opportunity for me to reflect on my own memories and emotions connected to being near or in the water. Every time those fibers passed through my fingers, as I felt my way through the making of each fabric, it was another opportunity to imbue them with that energy.
It is amazing to me that a piece of art can absorb and hold and carry moments and emotions and memories and experiences with it to share with others over and over again. It’s a very special sort of magic, don’t you think? And so I’d like to invite you to pause and breathe and listen for the quiet pull of your own memories as you view this work. What does it make you feel?
Many thanks to Moku Art Studio and MANGO
for hosting this amazing experience!
Be sure to check out the Open Studio recording
as well as the Exhibition
to see the final pieces from each of the nine participating artists!
You can also go behind the scenes with us in this blog post.
SAND
SEA
SKY
״We are beginning to learn that our brains are hardwired to react positively to water and that being near it can calm and connect us, increase innovation and insight, and even heal what’s broken.״
- from the book Blue Mind by Wallace J. Nichols
Companion Pieces
Deepening the Conversation
These smaller works emerged alongside and after the creation of SAND and SEA and SKY, allowing me to experiment with some of the macroplastics I picked up on our beach visits during the residency. In one piece, I turned some of those plastics into beads, working them in as I crocheted an abstract seascape using some of the leftover handspun from the larger tapestry. The other one… became part of something more. (More on that below.)
Together, these pieces remind me that even the smallest gestures—like picking up a handful of trash at the beach—can ripple outward in ways we might never expect.
Snorkeling at Secret Beach Detritus Series
part of the 2025 Under the Sea Virtual Exhibition
This second, even smaller tapestry holds a precious memory for me: snorkeling alongside my son.
While making it, I considered creating more beads from the macroplastics, like I had done for the first companion piece, but when I sat down to do it, I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of pieces I had collected.
It was just too much.
And so I continued crocheting without them, letting them all sit there in a little clear glass bowl beside me as I worked.
When it was complete, I felt a compulsion to dump that entire bowl of beach detritus all over the top of my pretty little abstract snorkeling landscape.
So I did.
And it was still overwhelming.
It was raw. It was messy. And yet I could still see the beauty of the ocean below and above this literal pile of trash.
Read my full artist statement and see the other works included in the Under the Sea Virtual Exhibition.
Let's Connect
Did something here stir your imagination or speak to your heart? I'd love to know what resonated with you!
You're also welcome to get in touch if you're interested in an original piece, curious about commissions, or just want to say hello.
P.S. The ocean has been inspiring a lot of my crochet designs, too, here lately! If you're feeling drawn to try it for yourself, check out my beginner crochet class on Skillshare.