Kathryn A. Roe | Wool 'n' Work
Kathryn A. Roe's grandmother and mother believed that "idle hands are the devil's playground" and taught her to embroider when she was in kindergraten. She was sewing doll clothes as soon as she was tall enough to stand up to her mother's Singer Featherweight and knitting slippers when she was not much older.
Ms. Roe endeavors to honor her mother and grandmother, and the often anonymous work of women everywhere by using the so-called "womanly arts" to create unique pieces of contemporary artistic work.
Working with pure wool, silk, and cotton fabric, wool fibers, and thread, Ms. Roe uses many of the skills she learned as a small child. Her work encompasses representational work depicting the rural scenery of Iowa, and non-representational work expressing emotions and dreams or whimsical work that reveal her sense of humor and imagination. She combines needle-felting, applique, machine "thread sketching", crochet, and hand embroidery in new ways - ways that set her work apart from traditional fiber arts. Because of this, her work is often categorized as three-dimensional by traditional guidelines. However, the most dimensional pieces of Roe's work fit in a shadow box, allowing it to hang on a wall.