Collection: Kimber Gada

Art + Craft processes are a place of deep listening for me. As a mental health professional - turned - artist, I currently find myself in a chapter of coming home to the language of craft in such a way that makes space for not only my own voice, but the voices of the materials I am working with. When crafting with my hands, I am also creating a space for continued self- growth while simultaneously developing relationships with the community of collaborative mediums I’ve come to know in this work, including clay, fiber, fire, and warp tension, among others. 

The combination of ceramics and fiber arts is one that evokes a sense of tension for both me and the viewer. Simultaneously engaging in ceramics and fibers processes constantly reminds me to balance & rebalance support and tension with the ultimate goal of radical acceptance for the outcome of these processes. These creative processes show me through-lines to the larger work at hand in the world, including unearthing hidden strengths in others, taking time to be with the process instead of focusing on the product, the value of slow making/building, appreciating what nature has to offer and say, and the power of community when each collaborator can contribute something unique and precious in the larger network.

In a time where those of us who live in the United States find ourselves faced with aggressive oppression, political violence, ethnic cleansing, and ultimately the day-to-day experience of living under power-hungry capitalist tyrants that leads to all of these atrocities, the essential nature of building connection and trust with each other becomes more and more necessary. For me, this work asks us several questions: who are you bound to? How is that connection supportive or tense? How is there beauty and pain present in both the support and tension? How do you make those connections sustainable despite the pain, and how do you hold space for both the grief/loss and hope we are faced with?