Christy DeWitt Artist Statement

The need to create is as instinctual for me as breathing. I have always felt compelled to capture the images, colors, textures, and patterns I encounter and translate them through art. My work is not a literal reproduction of nature, but a personal interpretation—a visual translation of the world around me.

With a bachelor’s degree in textile design from RISD and more than a decade of experience in the textile industry, my practice is deeply rooted in fiber, pattern, color, and material. I work across fiber, fabric, thread, rope, painting, and printmaking, often combining traditional techniques with contemporary approaches and incorporating found, reclaimed, and upcycled materials.

Nature is the common thread connecting my work. I am inspired by its patterns, rhythms, textures, and cycles of transformation—the changing seasons, tides, weather, botanical forms, flight patterns, and landscapes. These observations influence not only what I create, but how I create it.

My recent fiber work explores traditional practices including knotting, macramé, tatting, and lace making. By combining these techniques with reclaimed materials, I create sculptural works that consider the relationship between what is and what will be in a world shaped by environmental change.

Eco printing has also become an important part of my practice. Through heat, natural pigments and tannins from leaves and other botanicals are transferred onto paper and silk. Each print is shaped by the plant species, season, weather, and chemistry of the materials. I embrace this unpredictability, allowing nature to become an active collaborator and producing impressions that can never be exactly replicated.

Travel, teaching, photography, and sketching continually expand my visual vocabulary. As a teacher and co-director of an artist residency in Germany, I have gathered colors, shapes, patterns, and textures from many places, building a personal archive of inspiration that informs my studio practice.

At the heart of my work is a desire to remain curious and open to new ways of interpreting the world. Through fiber, print, paint, and transformed materials, I explore the beauty of nature, the possibilities of experimentation, and the meaningful transformation of materials and ideas.

“I don’t like to limit myself to one material or technique. Nature is forever evolving around us, and I feel as an artist I need to do the same.” – Christy DeWitt