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Artist Bio
Pate Conaway
Interdisciplinary Artist, Chicago, IL
Pate Conaway is a graduate of Chicago's Second City Training Center and received his MFA from Columbia College, Chicago. His work explores the connection between visual art and performance. After learning to knit, Pate spent five weeks at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago knitting a pair of mittens large enough for him to sleep in. His work explores the fusion of sculpture, installation, and interactive performance.
Interdisciplinary Artist, Chicago, IL
Pate Conaway is a graduate of Chicago's Second City Training Center and received his MFA from Columbia College, Chicago. His work explores the connection between visual art and performance. After learning to knit, Pate spent five weeks at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago knitting a pair of mittens large enough for him to sleep in. His work explores the fusion of sculpture, installation, and interactive performance.
Artist Statement
A number of years ago I worked in a nursing home and something happened that dramatically influenced my art – the women there taught me how to knit! Once having learned the basics, I began to explore the medium; knitting with cord, string, rope, and even wire. I created a huge pair of knitting needles (four feet long) and began translating the knitting patterns that I had been taught into large sculptures. I spent a month knitting a pair of cable-stitch mittens large enough to sleep in, which I did. My question has been: Where do craft and art overlap?
Weave takes what I learned in the nursing home and combines it with my background in improvisational theater. With Weave I have abandoned the knitting needles, and instead I use my fingers to do something between knitting and crocheting. What results is the ability for people to watch and interact with an artist as he explores different materials and shapes.
Weave takes what I learned in the nursing home and combines it with my background in improvisational theater. With Weave I have abandoned the knitting needles, and instead I use my fingers to do something between knitting and crocheting. What results is the ability for people to watch and interact with an artist as he explores different materials and shapes.
