File:Karin Birch Brunswick-based fiber artist from The Frederick News-Post, June 17, 2021 (1).jpg

Summary

Q&A: Karin Birch — Brunswick-based fiber artist By Lauren LaRocca from The Frederick News-Post, June 17, 2021 Brunswick-based fiber artist Karin Birch blends hand embroidery, beadwork, fabric and acrylic paint to create intricate, abstract compositions. She has shown her embroidered pieces throughout the country, and her work is in permanent collections at the Boston Museum of Fine Art, Renwick Gallery and the Tashkent Embassy. Her work is on exhibit in the solo show “Speaking to the Sky” at NOMA Gallery through June 27. We caught up with her this week to talk about her show in downtown Frederick. The title of your current exhibit is so beautiful and poetic, “Speaking to the Sky.” Can you tell us the story behind it? The title came after most of the work was done, so it was a summation thought, rather than a guiding idea from the start. I began this body of work in late 2019, thinking a lot about climate change and environmental issues. An early stitched piece, “Porosity,” the smallest in the show, was influenced by thinking about the minutia of soil structure. But then, news started happening about the pandemic, and then the social justice movement, then the Mars landing, and then the 11-day war. I was constantly listening to the news while I worked, and it all found its way into my thinking. It’s like I kept stepping back to get a wider view and encompassing more information. Literally, the pieces got bigger, and I had to think much more about the spaces in between the stitched areas as a practical matter of filling space in a reasonable amount of time. This created a new kind of spaciousness in the work that made me think of the title. “Speaking to the Sky” also seemed like a poignant way of describing the isolation and the disconnectedness from speaking to actual humans during that time. Your work is so intricately detailed and appears to be quite tedious to create. Do you have a counter activity or practice to help loosen up your eyes or hands or body? Do you need to take frequent breaks? What do you do to open up that space again after what I imagine is highly concentrated, focused artmaking? By nature, I am a person who likes to be in constant motion. I rarely sit down to, say, watch TV or, sadly, read a book. But making art, whether it’s drawing, painting or stitching, is different. I definitely go into a flow zone, and I am very happy there. I do take steps to counter-balance the physical demands of repetitive work by taking long walks, particularly along the C&O Canal, which I am fortunate to live near. Also, I own a garden maintenance business, and I take care of some 15 gardens in the growing season, and that is great exercise. But currently, my favorite, expansive, get-out-of-my-head-and-do-new-movement activity is playing with my almost 1-year-old and almost-4-year-old granddaughters, who are ridiculously joyous and energetic. Do you sense a connection between creating fiber art and your gardening work, or are they two totally different aspects of yourself? I find a very strong connection. There is a huge aesthetic aspect to gardening beyond technique and skill that I bring my whole artist self to. And my artwork, which has always been influenced by my love of nature, is becoming more specifically influenced by ideas of gardens and garden design. The difference between art and gardening, in my mind, is primarily a matter of scale. They’re both concerned visually with color, texture, pattern, form and movement. Recently, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to design a new landscape that covered just under an acre of mostly open land. Going from working creatively in the studio on, say, a 14- by 14-inch piece to creating a garden on the scale of nearly an acre has really opened up new ideas for me. How long have you been a member artist at NOMA Gallery, and what do you enjoy about that community of artists? I’ve been with NOMA since its founding. August will be six years. While sometimes it seems we talk more about the business of running a gallery than we do about art, it is an invaluable experience being part of a community of artists in so many ways. NOMA artists are a talented, supportive, committed group. My favorite part is we all understand how important it is to make art and love that about each other. What was the pandemic like for you? Were you able to be productive creatively? This exhibition was mostly created during the pandemic, and it may be some of my best work yet. It was, in some ways, easier to work because there were few distractions, other than the news. But uncertainty and anxiety are really hard to deal with, and I think it was a real saving grace for me to have this big project to dive deep into. In normal times, though, sympathetic and interested friends would have visited my studio over the course of creating the work, giving feedback and reassurance. I had none of that. And even though I felt very confident that it was good work and have the experience of dozens of solo shows in my career, the drive to deliver the work to the gallery was harrowing. Once I got the work on the walls, I knew everything would be OK. Do you have other exhibits or plans for 2021 that we should know about? I’ll be participating in “Bloom,” curated by Rula Jones at Gallery 115 in downtown Frederick, which runs June 18 to Sept. 5th with an in-person opening reception from 7 to 9 p.m. July 10. I have work at Graver’s Lane Gallery in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, and I’ll have another solo show at NOMA Gallery two years from now. There’s a couple other things possibly in the works, but not firmed up yet, so stay tuned. What are you most looking forward to as Frederick County reopens? Seeing friends and family again is the biggest thing.