Mirka Knaster

Natural environments, East Asian aesthetics, the places I’ve lived and traveled, 20th-century abstract art, and my meditation practice are the most important influences and inspirations for my art.

Growing up cross-culturally, I am drawn to learn and appreciate how people around the world create with a wide range of materials–plants, clay, wood, stone, metal, glass, hides–and equipment, especially their own hands.

After many years as a writer and editor using words to convey ideas and emotions to others, I began to also communicate with fibers because it’s exhilarating to engage with color, texture, line, shape and space, pattern and design. I approach the creative process as an open-ended improvisation. Works emerge intuitively, even serendipitously, as I feel my way into each piece, choosing this color or that textile, dyeing cloth with indigo or rust, incorporating paper, metal or wood, adding another layer for transparency, working up texture, stitching another mark or brushing on paint or ink. Along the way, I embrace and celebrate the surprises.