ARTIST STATEMENT
TO THROW OUT A LINE
LAUREN FAHERTY
As a sculptural fiber-based artist, I am driven by the stories and material culture of the objects and textiles we use. Exploring materials through the lens of generational craft, I aim to understand how our lives interlace and move through space with the use of line. The fabric I source acts as a collection of memory where each fiber contains a history of the lives and spaces they traveled. The found individual moments in the materials I use construct narratives that overlap, weave, and intermingle. It is here my materials become alive through their interactions with one another.
Line is a fundamental visual element that creates both a sense of structure and movement in my work. Additionally, I am interested in investigating line through an anthropological lens. Tim Ingold, a social anthropologist, writes: “To throw out a line is to tangle in another.” This body of work aims to document how we are a series of individual lines moving through life and collectively tangling with one another through everyday interactions within our communities.
Last year I put a call out to the Grand Rapids community asking for textile donations. I received items such as clothing, fabric scraps, pillowcases, curtains, and more. Donations I have received make up the entirety of this exhibition. This project connects and celebrates the Arrowhead area community members through the use of these textiles — placing us in the larger context of our community where we can see our stories reflected through our fabrics interlaced with others.
About the Artist
Lauren Faherty is a sculptural textile artist currently working in Northern Minnesota. She grew up in the Twin Cities and attended the University of Minnesota-Duluth, completing her BFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in Sculpture and Ceramics. In 2020, she earned her MFA in Sculpture from Colorado State University. Faherty currently teaches community art classes and has exhibited her work both locally and nationally.
Faherty’s most recent solo show, Interlaced, was exhibited in March 2024 at the Prøve Gallery. Her artwork has been featured on the PBS segment The Slice, and in 2023 Faherty was awarded the Individual Artist Grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council. She recently had a two-person exhibition at the Paul Whitney Larson Gallery in St.Paul, MN, and at the Blo Back Gallery in Pueblo, CO. In 2021, Lauren relocated back to Duluth, Minnesota, where she currently works in her home art studio.