Spotlight: Kay Khan, Textile Sculpture

When was the first time that you remember realizing that you are a creative person? 

As a child, I liked examining everything around me. I imagined paths through the woods as imaginary streets. Groups of trees were like rooms. I organized my mother’s buttons into “families”. I thought of the world around me as filled with imaginary spaces, which I would now call compositions. 

What do you do differently? What is your signature that makes your work stand out as yours? 

First, I developed a simple technique that allows me to build structures using many layers of textiles. Second, I always work in conceptual series. I have 7 series ongoing that will continue to have potential – meaning they’ll continue to grow and evolve. 

These are my 7 series: 

1) armor and façade – Our garments are our armor. They protect us as well as present us both individually and as a society. They speak of “us”. I started making unwearable sculptural garments that are, to me, figurative sculptures without the figure. 

2) ceremonial masks – I made these during the pandemic lockdowns. I loosely based them on Shakespearian characters. Fiction provided inspiration during that time. These artworks hang on the wall. 

3) vessels – That’s, to date, my largest (as in most numerous artworks in it) series. The vessels were inspired by the narrative nature of the ancient Greek amphorae. 

4) resilience of roses – …wearable corsets (strength + beauty) about resilience in the face of life’s challenges 

5) art jewelry – …tiny sculptures to interact with the body. 

6) wall work – To me, these are pure narratives. 

7) heads and torsos – For this series, I built solid forms that grow from the inside out. I build them with layers of felt and fabric the way one would a rubber band ball by wrapping round and round, and then finally building the outer layers with sections of my quilted panels. 

How often do you start a new project? Do you work actively on more than one project at a time? 

I’m always working on a project. If for any reason I can’t physically work on it, I’ll be on it in my mind. 

I have occasionally started more than one piece at a time, but I always end up focusing on one. I like to work with details and I tend to focus.

How has your creativity evolved over the years? What triggered the evolution to new media/kinds of work/ways of working? What different creative media do you use in your work? 

At University, I studied ceramic sculpture and painting. After graduating, while looking for a job making furniture (I wanted to learn how to be a woodworker, but being untrained didn’t help my job search), I took employment as an upholsterer (thinking it was related).

The desire to sew was always there – both my mother and grandmother made quilts – but I’d never had an opportunity to learn until working at the upholstery shop. In other words, I learned to sew in an unconventional way.

In that shop, one of my most influential tasks was to take apart and rebuild a motorcycle seat. The pattern was complicated and sculptural. Beginning from that time, my attention turned to fabric as a potential artistic medium. For at least a decade, while continuing to paint and collage abstractly, I experimented with possible ways to use fabric artistically and expressively until developing the technique I use today. 

All the techniques previously practiced coalesced: I started to ‘hand-build’ (as in ceramic sculpture) with ‘slabs’ of quilted material, ‘painted’ with thread, and, ultimately, constructed sculpture with textiles 

How do you manage your creative time? Do you schedule start and stop times? Or work only when inspired? Where do you find your inspiration for your designs? 

The painter Chuck Close famously said “Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work. All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.” 

I agree completely with what he said. Working feeds inspiration. I work to work. The only time ideas are hindered is when I’m not involved in the work itself.

Artists think, by nature and training, visually.

We build and maintain within our minds a virtual library of images and influences accumulated throughout a lifetime. Something as simple as the shape of a rock, the crack in a sidewalk, or the shadow on a wall is remembered and mentally stored in conjunction with its placement, an emotional response, or some other concurrent memory.

The inspiration for an artwork can be found when one of those references combines with a new spark. At that point, the mind and heart engage and the idea starts to grow as if with a life of its own.

Suddenly, ideas begin to connect. Our personal associations become part of the work. The work becomes unique: an expression of a particular combination based on our individual experiences.

Creativity breeds itself. The more we live within it, the more it thrives. 

Are you a “finisher”? How many UFOs do you think you have? 

I’m definitely a “finisher”. If any idea isn’t strong enough to finish, rather than the piece just hanging around being unfinished, it’s “harvested” for parts and worked into something else. 

Do you use a sketchbook or journal? How does that help your work develop? How do you make the leap from an idea in your head to the art you produce? 

I definitely have a sketchbook, which also serves as a journal. I love to draw and I love to write, so the two intersect in my work.

For my artwork, I usually start with a concept and then, afterward, decide on the materials to bring my concept to fruition. Each concept begins with an idea that is more often than not inspired by a word or words. Sometimes I put those words into the artwork, although the narrative is not always clear-cut for the viewer. The words become a stream-of-consciousness guide that I hope will evoke images in the viewers.

Can you tell us about the inspiration and process of one of your works? How does a new work come about? 

I’ve just begun a new artwork. When I was building my new website at the end of last year, I started thinking about which works I enjoyed most. I determined that I liked the pieces that included stitched figures moving around on the work. I liked the storyline of those. My new piece will probably fit into the “armor and façade” series. The words “the exodus” and “migration” were the original impetus for this next piece. 

I’ve noticed that vessels often look like figures to viewers. Sleeves look like handles and vice versa. So my new piece will be, (so far) at least in my mind, a garment-inspired wall work that’ll have a shape indicative of a vessel. 

I also decided that I’d want a black silk dupioni background so that the figures “pop” on the surface. The black background will create a more ambiguous night sky mood. 

How do you know when a piece is finished? 

People often ask that question, and, I’ll confess, I don’t really have a good answer. I just know.

Maybe there’s something innate in that, but if the artwork doesn’t feel right or finished, it probably isn’t. If it doesn’t feel right, I’ll keep holding things up to it and I’ll think about each element. Does it need an addition there, or not? Would it help or be overkill? If the new element won’t help, I’ll move on to look at another section. It’s part of the natural editing process.

In my opinion, creativity is a cycle between playing (actively creating) and editing (reining it in) with both being equally important.

What kinds of creative projects are your favorites? Which part of the design process is your favorite? Which part is a challenge for you? 

Most of all, I enjoy working on the concept. Building with textiles unfortunately includes tedious construction details, which I like the least.

One time an assistant started pacing back and forth, rubbing his head as if in pain. When I asked what was wrong, he said “do you know the meaning of the word tedium?”. Hahaha, I muscle through the tedious bits better than an assistant. 

How does your environment influence your creativity? Describe your creative space. 

I have a beautiful studio upstairs with lots of windows/natural light. I keep it homey, more like a live/work space. I do have a big table there as well as a large pin-up wall that allows me to back up and look at what I’m working on as if it were on a painting easel.

I actually had an easel, too, but although it was a big easel that took up lot of (too much) floor space, it wasn’t big enough to really see my work well. I’ve since given it away to an artist friend. 

Recently I’ve been working on a big table downstairs as well. I’m working by hand downstairs and on the machine upstairs. I want to utilize my entire home as work space.

Where can people see your work? 

I have artwork in many collections. Some are private. The pieces in permanent museum collections only come out for specific curated shows.

My website will be the best place to see my work in my own context: www.kaykhanart.com. I see my website as an ever-evolving digital sort of coffee-table book. I completely reworked it in December 2023, and I plan to continue updating and changing it. (So far the background color has been hot pink, red, and now black.) As I get new galleries, I will add them there. 

Patina Gallery exhibits and sells my art jewelry necklaces:
https://www.patina-gallery.com/blogs/artists/kay-khan

Interview posted March 2024