Center for Craft

Center

| Craft is for everyone

Building a future for craft.

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Center for Craft

Center

| Building a future for craft

Building a future for craft.

Lowell Zelenka

Windgate-Lamar Fellowship

2022

I remember when I was 6, my father came home one day excited to show us a new video sharing site - YouTube. From that point forward, the internet was a fundamental part of my childhood. My weavings are explorations of the complicated relationships we all have with the worldwide web, told firsthand from my own experiences in the 2000s internet. I am fascinated by the multifaceted nature of the internet - it is both a tool, and an environment with its own culture. While the internet at first glance is just a mechanical system of code, it is first and foremost a testament to human effort and input. Our own desire to connect with other people is what keeps these online spaces alive.

My weavings serve as an archive of the internet I used to know. By imitating the web through malleable cloth, I can call back to centuries-old, preserved textiles, creating the feeling of both importance and transience around these seemingly trivial bits of online human interaction. The methodical and slow process of weaving forces me to sit with these images of the internet, giving me time to question how online spaces have impacted me, past and present. My woven work creates a space of reflection to recognize the ways that the internet has shaped our interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships.