ARTIST STATEMENT

In this digital age of slick screens and quick images, Erin crafts physical images that promote slow viewing experiences and intimate, tactile engagements. She is interested in this idea of slow seeing. Particularly, she is interested in how efforts to slow down and carefully examine the physical world can connect humans to each other and their surroundings with empathy and compassion.

Erin considers how the measurable time she puts into each piece influences not only the length, but also the quality of a viewer’s perceptual involvement. For example, she believes viewers become entangled in visually picking apart the minute details of the embroidered stitches, but their captivation may also be driven by a desire for the intimacy and human interaction that is embodied in each stitch.

Her colorful images combine hand-embroidery, knitting, weaving, beading, and various found and painted fabrics. Tactile curiosities, optical illusions, and relationships that connect across forms are slowly revealed to viewers who take their time in looking. These rhythms, tensions, and material transitions are slow pleasures - to be savored again and again without a rush for meaning.

Erin received a BFA in Textile Design from the Rhode Island School of Design, and an MFA in Painting from Indiana University's Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts. Her work has been exhibited in numerous exhibitions including Tracey Morgan Gallery (Asheville, NC), Kyoto Int’l Community House (Kyoto, Japan), The Mint Museum (Charlotte, NC), and Ess Ef Eff (Brooklyn, NY). She currently lives in Western North Carolina.

Visit our Artsy Store to see all of the available inventory by Erin E. Castellan and to purchase her work. Or email us at chloe@shewolfgallery.art to create a custom commission or arrange a studio visit.