Rachel Garcia
Thesis Statement
"I broke the glistening spider web,
that held a lovely ephemere,
I freed its delicate legs and wings,
of all sticky untidy things,
it stayed with me a whole summers day,
then it simply flew away-"
This led me to want to create a collection inspired by the warm, fleeting, ephemeral moments. With a light, warm feeling in regards to materials and colors. With a focus of warm colors inspired by scans of cellophane, including pinks, yellows and greens.
I knew I wanted to work with mohair and alpaca due to their natural halo. These fibers lend themselves to this ethereal, natural quality, which is vital to my overall vision. By using a basic drop needle technique I wanted to see how I could manipulate these stitches into something new and more three dimensional. I have mixed basic drop needle techniques, along with a more dimensional stitch, striping, as well as gradients to embody a playful, feminine, ethereal quality to each piece.
Credits
Assistant: E.B
Model: Vinca Minor
Bio
Rachel Garcia was born in Guatemala and raised in upstate New York. Her main focus and love is knitwear. She uses her domestic flatbed knitting machine to create the majority of her work. She aims to learn and understand all aspects of these machines, from what they can do creatively to understanding the technical aspect of the machine as well. She has been working diligently on the dubied machine over the past year. Rachel enjoys knitting as it allows her to create the textile as she goes. Her design process is inspired by joy, lightness and femininity. She enjoys working in bright colors, such as pinks, yellows and greens. Knitting is the tool she uses to express her inner self, one which is unafraid to be seen and unabashed in a girlish joy.