My work stems from a love of texture, color and simplicity.
Image Katherine Maxwell by Ziggie Bergman
Years of working with fiber sculpting has taken my work to combine layers of depth using natural pigments, found objects, lace some photography and pressed plants.
I am deeply inspired by nature and my work evokes the many layers it takes to create say a tree or a mountain.
Starting at the age of 14 apprenticing with top artists in the textile field of knit design fashion and mathematics, I have been in the arts all my life and it is a part of me not just what I do.
Living for over a decade in Milan Italy and Berlin Germany doing freelance photo styling for fashion and rock magazines put me into an environment of incredible creative force collaborating with top designers in the field such as Giorgio Armani, Versace and working directly in the showrooms curating layouts with amazing high couture.
Returning to the U.S. to work with inner city youth teaching fiber arts I dropped styling to follow a healing arts thread that continues to this day studying energy healing and bodywork. Having also worked with the human form in fashion as well as a licensed muscular therapist working with tissue and interconnectedness is a major theme. The work expresses a moment in time that is captured just below the surface.
Santa Fe New Mexico has opened my work and expanded what I think of as medium to include many forms of creative expression. Collected and found threads, lace and even leaves find their way into these pieces. Putting the viewer literally in touch with nature and surrounding elements.
Landscapes and textures interweave the colors evoking the echo of the land here.
Flower Max - The Process
Filmed by Innastate Studios
JEFFREY FELNER ~writer for Examiner ~
The Harbingers of Design This series will spotlight global innovators who are original, known, lesser known and some perchance even already highly regarded and respected within their areas of expertise. The common thread is style and fashion; whether it takes its form in interiors, apparel, accessories, retail, photography or any of the related professions that surround fashion and style. Please note that some of my “cast members” have chosen to follow a path than includes utilizing the “tools” of the past thereby rendering a new and modern vision for today’s climate of fashion and style. These “createurs” are at the vanguard of design and style … in my opinion … and so I will introduce them to you on an international stage. In the 21st century fashion environment, it has become abundantly clear that there are new rules and game changers. The latest “talking points” for fashion businesses are emphasis on heritage, craftsmanship, fine art, the artisanal aspect of fashion and sustainability. For some designers it is a leap of faith to be able to inject any of these qualities into their brands but such is not the case for Katherine Maxwell whose entire business maintains ALL of these “particularities.” Ms. Maxwell includes old world methods of manufacture combined with 21 st century technology as well as the merging of fashion and art. Whether it is the creating and dying of her yarns, the weaving process or to her ultimate finished products, Ms. Maxwell is ever wary of how to maintain and solidify what she has set forth as her brand. Her life’s experience in fashion, from all angles, brought her to Santa Fe and here is where the magic happens. Please have a read, have a look and enjoy the “scenery!”