a studio visit with caitlin t. mccormack

last month i had the opportunity to visit the studio of local philly artist caitlin t. mccormack as she prepared for her solo show, 'interhaven' opening at paradigm gallery this friday.

caitlin, a bit smaller than myself, arrived to open her door to me in a bright lisa frank t-shirt. a little silky slip of a black kitten slept deeply on her couch as i settled into feeling comfortable enough to withdraw the eye of my camera & document the landscape caitlin had built for herself. her home, like my own, and nearly every other studio i have visited during the years i worked for hi-fructose was freckled with books. odd objects of inspiration; bones and bell jars and tiny pieces of personal debris were netted together to build a home, to build a place to work quietly in solitude, a place to feel safe. the lingering presence of the quay brothers was found in many a corner and beneath the wilder mann book, max ernst's collage novel, ( & my own personal bible) 'une semaine du bonte' waited like a favorite letter, worn and loved.

like most of the work i am attracted to, there is a certain amount of somberness imbued in these captured skeletal bodies, each formed from long threads which are un-coiled from a spool in caitlin's hands, beneath her quick fingers & hooks. she began this work after losing both of her grandparents, who passed away within months of each other; her grandmother who taught her how to crochet, an inherited, repetitious act of creation & her grandfather who carved life-like bird sculptures. their inspiration is seen in both the medium and the form of her work, beautiful testaments to those beloved.

 at the heart, the work is a testament to these loses, perhaps behaving as conjured ghosts, poetic gestures of antaomy, forever in an inanimate sleep, delicate & honest in the silent tales of life and death they tell.

for currently available work & news about friday's opening, visit here. 
for more insight into the ideas behind her work, visit here.

*supplementary images of the finished works via paradigm gallery*