Mobius strip I
No Longer Available
Completed
2023
Medium
reed, mortar, paint
Dimensions
44" x 20" x 9"
Description
Reflecting on memories of growing up in the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas-Mexico border, Dallas-based fiber artist Sarita Westrup translates border culture sensibilities into her practice of experimental weaving. Westrup’s basketry mimics corporeal forms: at times her work is fully open and materially transparent while at other times closed off to the surrounding environment. Balancing secrecy and openness, the artist’s woven structures recall connections between plants, animals, and other living things. Referencing the imposing walls and fences along the border of South Texas, her work imagines migratory bodies in abstract forms; by crafting fenced patterns and enclosed structures that appear in cylindrical shapes, she creates channels and passageways out of once impermeable planes. Works like Klein bottle brush and mobius strip I plumb theoretical mathematics to explore abstraction outside of three-dimensional restrictions. These works reference non-orientable geometries, or shapes without boundaries; she highlights the hope within open planes that neither segment nor restrict free travel and cultural exchange. In doing so, Westrup creates a dynamic visual language of and for the borderlands. As she crossed the border into Mexico (and back again), Westrup saw agave plants, rocks smoothed by the Rio Grande, and the raw concrete of immigration checkpoints. These childhood memories surface within the artist’s chosen media of metal, mortar, reed, and Tampico fibers (which come from the agave plant). Traditional North and Central American processes are also employed with cochineal, a vibrant dye derived from crushed cochineal insects. The use of baskets – a domestic tool meant for transporting, carrying, and cradling – conveys tenderness and concepts of home.
About this Artist
Sarita Westrup
Sarita Westrup is an artist living and working in Dallas, TX. Rooted in basketry techniques and bricolage her sculptural basketry works are inspired by where she was born and raised, the Rio Grande Valley of South on the Texas – Mexico border. She received her MFA in Fibers from the University of North Texas in 2016. Her work has been exhibited widely including recent exhibitions at the Nasher Sculpture Museum in Dallas,TX as part of the Nasher Windows Series, the Wayne Art Center in Wayne,Pennsylvania, Kentucky Museum in Bowling Green Kentucky, the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas, Texas, and form and concept in Sante Fe, New Mexico.
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