We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Janet Kawada a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Janet, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

I’ve worked on two long term projects. One has been documenting time by creating a physical representation of a time period. For over 15 years, I wound balls of string to document different periods of time in my life. Starting 1997, when my partner suffered a medical crisis, to pass the time with him, I wound the leftover parts of my weavings into a ball of string. Ultimately over a year, I wound a 97 pound ball of just string. Looking at time this way and thinking about how we think about time in general led me to create balls of string over the next 15 years.

At the same time, in 2001 I became interested in what we call home. As a blended multicultural family, I was intrigued by how the concept of home was considered. If you didn’t grow up in a house but your family now resides somewhere which you come to when you visit, was does that mean. I began creating small “homes” out of a variety of materials thinking about how we carry our home. The physical forms were 6″ in diameter and 8″ in height. The roundness of the building was influenced by yurts that nomads live in while they tend their flocks. Everything they need is inside. And yet, they cannot erect them alone, they need a group to take them down, move them and erect them again. Over the last 25 years I have continued to create these spaces as the world has turned. Circumstances have influenced the materials and imagery on the inside and outside of the buildings. But all the wall, the structure is the same. In a way it is analogous to the human body–we all have a skeleton to keep us erect; we are all the same on the inside. But on the outside we show different sides to ourselves. And the world is constantly in a state of flux through migration and emigration.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

All my life I have worked with Fiber. As a child, I was taught by my grandmother how to knit, crochet, tat, and sew. Fiber was important to me from the first blanket you have as a child as it wraps around you to keep you safe and warm to the cloth that we wear on our body. Touch is important and I make objects that long to be touched with fibers that both repel and attract. In my 20’s and early 30’s I was a quiltmaker and sold my work in the Northeast. In my late 30’s I went back to art school and received my BFA from Massachusetts College of Art in Fibers. From that time on, I worked in all of the different processes that I learned: weaving, dyeing, surface design, papermaking, 3D sculpture using fiber techniques among others. In 1998 I received an MFA in Visual Arts from Vermont College. I taught at MassArt for 25 years.

During those years, my work goes back and forth between sculptural, collaborative, & 2-D work. My bodies of work look at the world around us and I try to take that and create something that makes you think about a subject. Sometimes there is humor in the piece but mostly they are quiet. I also work in the environment and am a part of a group called Studios Without Walls. We place our work in areas that have foot traffic to encourage people to take a minute and look around and see. You can find us mostly in the Brookline MA Riverway but often the pieces will travel to other places.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect is the way the art touches people. I have shown in art galleries and in public spaces and the artist does not always get to see the response to their piece. Unlike a musician who hears the applause at the end of a concert, the artist puts their work up and leave the space. It is a wonderful time when you can sit in the gallery/park and watch people engage with your work. Those conversations often lead to new ideas and new perspectives. When you create, you have your vision of what the piece will be. But the viewer brings their viewpoint to the work and it may not reflect your intent. But that’s the magic.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

When I was young, I wasn’t going to “be an artist”. My mother was a painter and I saw her struggles. So I worked as a medical secretary while I was a quilter–I thought I would have a back-up plan. But in my 30’s my life changed. I became a single parent with 2 children and at the same time decided that I would go to art school to get my degree. I became determined to “be an artist”. This took 4 years of school while I was working and raising 2 boys. At the end of that time, I began to work at MassArt as I started my career trying to find my niche and focus. About 6 years later I realized that I needed/wanted to get my masters degree and went to graduate school–a non-traditional school where I could continue working while getting my degree. It was the most intense experience I have ever had. But it taught me to work toward my goals and when I finished I went on not only to teach college but became a member of a cooperative gallery where my peers were supportive of the balance of life, work and art.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://janetkawada.com
• Instagram: cameinlikeawrappingball
• Facebook: janet kawada
• Linkedin: janet kawada

Image Credits

All images are Janet Kawada