Think These are Chunky Knit Blankets? Think Again

At first glance, it looks like artist Cecil Kem­perink has cre­at­ed those chunky-knit blan­kets that became so pop­u­lar years ago. But upon clos­er inspec­tion, you’ll see that her looped cre­ations are ceram­ics. Cecil loops rings of ceram­ics in a knit-like pat­tern to make flex­i­ble sculp­tures that look like fabric.

The behav­ior and aes­thet­ic of Cecil’s work is in keep­ing with her long-held pas­sions of tex­tile, clay, dance, and fash­ion. “The sculp­ture grows in her hands,” her artist state­ment reads. “The man­u­al process of con­nect­ing the cir­cles gives rise to an atten­tive, and labor-inten­sive process. Her sculp­tures have many appear­ances. They are more than 3 dimen­sion­al; you can also change the form, hear the sound and expe­ri­ence the feel­ing when you touch the work.”

Artist Cecil Kemperink creates flexible clay sculptures that look like chunky knits.