Welcome to our newest member, Kris Gregson Moss
Kris Gregson Moss is not a quilter. She is an artist who sews pieces of fabric together in interesting shapes, this is true. But she often takes the process a step further by making them into cloth sculptures using wood and frames. It all started in her childhood. While her brothers were allowed to use hammers and nails, Kris had to wash the dishes, and, of course, sew. To make matters worse, she wasn’t allowed to take art classes in high school since she was on a college entrance track. “It was the 1960s,” she laughs.
But when she got to a point in her life when she could explore the kind of art she wanted to pursue, she fought back. “I wanted to make fabric stand up,” she says. Since then, she has been making what she describes as “contrary” work, always trying new things, pushing her work beyond traditional art forms, uncomfortable following the rules.
“I pick up fabric all over. I love to use Dupioni silk. I won’t use just cotton, as is used in traditional quilts,” she says. “I am bored with rectangles so I use triangles. They have more movement. Maybe I refuse to be in a box.” When making her work, she asks “What if?” and “Can I do this?” She feels her process of creating is like playing. And her husband gets to play, too. She takes advantage of his woodworking skills for help with frames and other structural elements for her work. Kris likes abstract work because when she began making her fabric sculptures, she didn’t feel she was good enough to make representative work. Even though she has made work such as flowers and even a sea otter that hangs in her house, she still prefers the abstract.
Meanwhile, in her new home in Granville, she is creating smaller cloth objects and has been quite happy making sculptural necklaces, which have been selling well. Some of these mini sculptures look like a little lily, hanging in a trumpet shape. She calls them “Backwards at the Dinner Table” because she was wearing one and looked down to find it dangling in her coffee. (They are not washable.) She recommends flipping them around and wearing them down your back when you are eating dinner!
Many of Kris’ works have appeared in juried shows and private collections, and she just won first placein in the 3-dimensional category of the Central Adirondack Art Show at the View Gallery in Old Forge, NY, for a piece pictured here called “Synchronicity”
It will be exciting to see what comes next for Kris, especially from the inspiration she draws from the view from her new house. “I can see the length of the Green Mountains and the hills and farms of Washington County,” she says. True inspiration for an artist who doesn’t fit into a box.