Fiber Artist Constructs Expansive Installations Featuring Light-Reflective, Color-Altering Effects

In the late 1990s, Janet Echelman, who was a painter at the time, journeyed to India only to find her paints ultimately go missing. Upon arriving in a fishing village, she swiftly changed direction, crafting sculptures using knotted fishing twine. These initial endeavors continue to influence Echelman’s artistic practice decades later, which mainly centers around monumental fiber installations. Nowadays, she has integrated her dynamic, mesh-like sculptures into urban landscapes across the globe, including cities like Singapore, London, Vancouver, Porto, Santiago, and New York.

“I’m attracted to art that becomes a part of everyday life, which meets you where you are,” Echelman shares with My Modern Met. “I find the greatest joy in a public art initiative when it unites individuals from diverse backgrounds, ages, education levels, and cultures.”

It’s nearly impossible to encounter one of Echelman’s sculptures and not find yourself in awe. Whether they extend across buildings or hang suspended in the air, these installations almost seem to pulsate with texture, depth, and color. The artist possesses remarkable skill in manipulating setting and ambience, grasping with intricate detail how her works will naturally transform based on wind or the time of day.

“I started utilizing knotted fiber netting on tall steel masts that engaged with nature, dancing with the dance of the wind,” she reflects on her artistic journey. “I then began to explore colored light that gradually shifts over time, akin to the pace of a sunset.”

Yet, Echelman does not limit herself to creating vast public art. In the 2010s, she commenced displaying her initial interior works, including an installation crafted for the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery. There, guests would “enter” the artwork, recline on a specially made carpet, and gaze up at the knotted sculpture suspended above them. “[They’d] observe the colored shadows projected on the walls as they move and change over the duration it takes for the sun to set,” Echelman remarks. Another installation at the Smithsonian produced by the artist featured “colored shadow drawings” that twirled across the gallery. “[Visitors] lose themselves within the work, and complete strangers begin conversing about their experiences.”

Although she has been a leader in fiber art for years, Echelman has also observed the increasing popularity of the medium within mainstream art institutions.

“I’m not surprised that art emphasizing physical craftsmanship and careful attention to materials and craft traditions is receiving a lot of acclaim in the art world right now,” she says. “I view this as a reaction to screen time and virtual encounters. It’s one experience to watch a video of someone standing beneath a flowing waterfall, and quite another to feel the force of that cool water crashing onto your head.”

Thus, it should be no shock that Echelman continues to be a trailblazer in her domain, curating tactile experiences rather than static, two-dimensional scenes. After all, in the artist’s own words, her creations utilize “physical materials and craft techniques that have been handed down through generations.” And, thanks to her new publication with Princeton Architectural Press, Radical Softness, audiences can gain an even deeper understanding of Echelman’s crafting techniques.

“For me as an artist, when you immerse yourself in the art and create your own interpretation,” she notes, “that is what completes the work.”

For decades, artist Janet Echelman has crafted monumental fiber installations in cities worldwide. Her sculptures are tactile and designed for public engagement, encouraging visitors to observe how their colors change as the day unfolds. Her new book, Radical Softness, delves into her illustrious career and her lasting influence in fiber art and craftsmanship.

Janet Echelman: [Website](https://www.echelman.com/) | [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/janetechelman/)

*My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Janet Echelman Studio.*

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