Traywick Contemporary is pleased to announce Infinite Thread, a solo exhibition by Bay Area artist Dharma Strasser MacColl, whose multi-disciplinary practice transcends the boundaries of drawing, painting, ceramics, and textiles. The exhibition features a large scale installation: Freefall (108” x 113”), MacColl’s most ambitious porcelain sculpture to date.
Infinite Thread highlights MacColl’s interest in the intricate relationships between natural and built environments through explorations of texture and material. Through innovative techniques and mediums, MacColl investigates the intersections between nature, industry, and the handmade. In this exhibition, hand-dyed porcelain mimics the painter’s palette, paper is pieced and sewn like textile, and tiny ceramic patterns on paper invite viewers to examine details often overlooked.
Drawing inspiration from the ways nature and industry echo one another, MacColl uncovers striking visual connections between elements of both worlds: metal manhole covers feature spiral forms reminiscent of succulents, spider webs evolve into geometric grids, and honeycomb structures mimic the design of industrial metal fencing. These visual clues, mined from everyday surroundings, highlight the profound, often unnoticed dialogues between natural and constructed environments.
The tactile nature of MacColl’s work is rooted in a family tradition of handcraft. Raised in an environment where making by hand was revered, she was influenced by her grandmother, who created intricate flower arrangements composed of thousands of tiny beads. This patient, meticulous practice of assembling small parts into a cohesive whole is evident throughout the exhibition. MacColl mirrors her grandmother’s method in her own work, reflecting a deep connection to the handmade and the beauty of accumulated layers.
In a world that increasingly favors speed and mechanization, MacColl’s work stands as a testament to the importance of the hand-made and the deliberate. Each piece is carefully pieced together, sewn, or strung, resulting in artworks that serve as metaphors for the complexity of the human experience, with all its layers, textures, and interconnectedness.
Dharma Strasser MacColl received an MFA degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work is held in noted private and public collections including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive; as well as Google, Fidelity Investments, the Chevron Corporation, the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and UCSF Hospitals.
