 A solo exhibition by Karen Kimmel. The  show features twenty-three hand-woven, cotton rope ‘baskets’ displayed as a tableau in addition to textile works on the wall. Kimmel’s career ranges from the micro to the macro, with previous works extending beyond the frame of a downtown Los Angeles billboard.  In this new body of work, with subtle praise to the ever-timeless Shaker aesthetic, Kimmel positions her work fitting into life - objects founded in wisdom and gratitude; each one posing with its own reflection.

Kimmel’s  cosmic dance moves beyond the periphery, where the visual language and action (thinking and making) are one. The woven cotton chains become a mediation performing care. Apropos,  a mother of two, Kimmel describes herself as “a  natural untangler; knots in necklaces, hair, family dynamics, mending always.”  We often parallel the act of creating, regardless of gender, akin to birthing. Ideas come into the world as one apprehends them via touch, song, word, and/or movement; and most often, ideas are never what they seem. For Kimmel, that is her muse - to make something  that is more equipped for longevity than the one before. - an unwavering sentiment for a caregiver.

Kimmel’s  assertive commitment to material integrity is most evident (brass, copper, hardwoods, and hand-dyed cotton); the apple crate often found with rusty nails and rickety slats, now finds itself constructed of Ash with chiseled joints, and polished brass finishing  nail. But why? An artist with a similar temperament, Alicia Kwade, said recently in her interview with FRÄULEIN, “I always believe that in order to be truthful, you have to give everything.” The ability to tell one’s story is most vulnerable, and to tell it  with objects is most real. In her refuting of convention, Kimmel is reinventing her own physical and aesthetic lexicon. She navigates assumptions found within our own familiarity and redirects their course. Each object becomes anew, each promoting the inevitability  of change.

Known  for her creative genius in every facet of her output - dance, lyric, videography, costume design - one is reminded of Woman’s  Work,  one of the most celebrated songs by Kate Bush in her lyrics:

Give me these moments back, Give  them back to me, Give  me that little kiss, Give  me your hand

Bush’s  tearful yearning is for a past that is all but forgotten, while ushering in a newness that is inescapable. Kimmel's love for craft and community is expansive, a quest for eternal warmth and compassion where possibility is the constant heart. Basket  As We, Basket As Me  ignites a curiosity from the inside out, where finding yourself never looked so gleefully empty, yet bountiful.