Wk 12 — Artist OTW — Heather Anacker & Krista Feld

Artist: Heather Anacker & Krista Feld

Media: Fiber Art, Recycled Materials, Organic Materials

About the Artist: Heather Anacker & Krista Feld are a collaborative group in Cal State Long Beach. They have graduated from Cal State Long Beach within Fine Arts and seem to be friends outside of school as well. Their way of artistic expression is not painting, drawing, or sculpting, it’s organic fibers and materials. In their exhibition, they placed the tools that they use for their art projects, some of the extra materials that came out of their art projects as trash. For example, Feld kept some sawdust from a certain wood in her woodworking projects in a jar to show its color which symbolizes metaphorically that one man’s trash is truly another man’s treasure.

Formal Analysis: In one of their pieces they put in their exhibition was Feld’s room. This room was a small, portable bedroom. It included bookshelves that housed books and blankets, she also had a mat that she used for a bed. The reason why she made this was to have a space that resembled what she wanted and needed but would also be mobile since she was moving a lot looking for a home. She had also shown off some string or rope that she had dyed with natural material. The natural material being wood and the colors definitely showed some potential.

Content Analysis: I think that their exhibition is really based on one setting: creation. Feld explained that she was not a fan of mass-produced products like furniture, so instead of buying all the furniture and items that Anacker and Feld needed or wanted, they just created it. Some of the furniture was also reused. This exhibition also allowed to have a small feel as to how Anacker and Feld lived. Judging from the art that they have made, those two artists are very patient and work very hard in order to create the stuff that they made.

Synthesis: Personally, I can resonate with them somewhat because I also work hard to get the things that I want in life, especially in the academic sense. They are also very inspiring in showing that you can do whatever you want to. They have also shown that making things rather than buying things is fun and could possibly help the environment in the future. Lastly, whatever I decide to make I have control of, meaning if I wanted to make something I could get my exact dimensions and built it to specifically fit them rather than going online to shop or to the store to look in person.