Karen Trask Analysis

When I first heard Ontario textile artist, Karen Trask, speak in our class on September 20, 2017, I was left hanging by a thread. In fact, it was Trask’s artist talk, combined with my research of Sheila Hicks and Joanna Close, that stirred something buried deep inside me, a yearning to rekindle my knowledge of textiles and fiber creations. Not as the stereotype of ‘women’s work’, but as art in fiber, my identity, and mindfulness. Traditionally, labour intensive skills of knitting, spinning, weaving and other techniques were viewed as ‘craft’ and ‘women’s work.’
In any event, my first view of Karen Trask’s work was, Ou vont les mots, a large spun skein of thousands of pages stripped from dictionaries rolled into a huge ball. It was sitting on the floor at the entrance of the Purdy Crawford Centre. I was both excited and intrigued. I felt a kinship but at the same time shy and self-conscious towards the art piece and the
Textiles act as a bridge between language of craft and art. Textures, tones of colours, and the rhythm of the work can provide a soothing dynamic essence that is both intriguing and exciting to many viewers. That said, these works can also interrupt our traditional knowledge of these practices and communicate deeper meaning. For example, Karen Trask artworks connects the heritage of textiles with the power of words. “My final works are often hybrid forms of installation, sculpture, video, performance and artist books,” (Trask, 2014, Web). Her large ball of spun twisted pieces of dictionaries metaphorically embraces the words and a language.
In Trask’s exhibition of Where the words go, at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Art Gallery, at Memorial University, in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, the viewer is led into her world created by words and images by the large mural, Wordfield (cat. 1), seen below (Charlotte Jones, 2010, p.