Phoebe Clark

Phoebe Clark

Materiality
TAKE TIME is an ongoing body of work honoring craft, memory, and the preservation of slow processes. It honors the artists in my life that have taught me all that I know, prioritizing joyful making through carrying on tradition.

It is designed wholly by me, for myself, in collaboration with past and future selves.

The visual language came from childhood images and colors I grew up around. Patterns came from clothes given to me by my mother, father, grandparents, and others were conceived from the excitement of an antique textile. Fabric was gifted to me by the women that taught me how to sew and weave, and were chosen for both sentimental and sensory reasons.

As an artist, to embody a practice that prioritizes joy, healing, and to use slow mediums feels like an act of protest against the ever-churning capitalist production machine. TAKE TIME is one of my lifelong explorations into all of these facets, forever learning and continuing ancient textile craft.
Image: Early beginnings of research into nostalgia, textile, and my childhood garments.
Image: Carrying on craft passed down for generations, where I built a chair alongside my father and learnt weaving under the watchful eye of my paternal grandmother.
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Ceramic development and prototyping preserving a moment in time. All buttons are made of porcelain and were underglazed, with glazing inevitably deemed unnecessary.

Image: Final lineup, hand drawn and painted with watercolor, gouache, and pencil.
Image: My hometown is full of apple orchards and therefore teeming with apples. I read somewhere when I was young that you can find wishes inside of them, only later finding out that a star is found within if you cut it in half. There's stars everywhere in my life. It's a symbol of the self and a reminder of our connection to the universe.
Image: The half moon skirt; carrying on the notion of preserving a moment in time, this is a garment created to be adaptable and sculptural.
Image: Chair made in my father's woodshop out of reclaim and scrap wood, sourced from the demolition and reconfiguring of the basement in my hometown house. The twelve point silk star cushion sits on it, stuffed exclusively with all the scraps from my four years in the city.
CREDITS AND GRATITUDE

A huge thank you goes out to everyone that was involved in the synthesis of this body of work.

Photos by Emma "Bug" Fernandez @fooodstain

Fellow model and friend Amalia Juliane @amaliajuliane

And others involved in one way or another in getting me to this point: Sharon, Tim, Jay, Muriel, Sariah, Esther, Ruth... Thank you for teaching me what you have and more.

To stay up to date with my work, follow @phoebes_clark on instagram. Link provided in bio below.

Bio

PHOEBE CLARK is a multidisciplinary artist and lover of slow processes from the woods of central Massachusetts, now based in Brooklyn. Their work spans from textiles to woodworking to ceramics and sound, preserving heritage techniques passed down through their family.

They love the deep connection to makers of past that can be found in learning and practicing textile techniques and strive to continuously learn as much as possible about reviving ancient textile craft. Having been steeped in nature from the start of their life, they are a lover of the outdoors and draw much inspiration from the complex relationships between human and planet. All these facets interlock into one another and are the foundation for PHOEBE CLARK’s practice.

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