Karen

The inspiration and point of contact for this panel is KALDesign's home Page Karen is a bridal wear designer whose site reflects her religious and family commitment. In speaking about her reactions to having a home page she states:

"Being a small independent Bridal Designer limits my contact with people on a daily basis. Many times, though restricted to the confines of my studio, my existence is not a solitary one. The internet and my web page gives me not only the ability to reach out and have contact with the community I live in - but to be part of the global community and to have contact with the entire world. Sitting at my computer and maintaining my web pages allows me to share my God given talents with people whom I may never meet - but whose lives I can touch in some small way through the miracle of the internet."

This is part of a body of work which is an exploration into how women are representing themselves on the World Wide Web, and the connection between 'homemaking' and 'home page'. Embroidery is a culturally-loaded textile art often associated with gender, the domestic, memory or nostalgia. I use stitchery to seduce and draw the viewer in. The desire to touch a textile and the need to connect with the work in a physical sense is a metaphor for the internet's promise of community.
To produce this image, screen shots from the Karen's home pages were taken, then combined and manipulated in Photoshop. The image was then printed on cotton fabric using a Colour Style Writer 2400. To this print I added stitchery using various hand dyed threads of cotton, silk, and wool.

The exhibition "Playing False" was held in the Craft ACT Gallery, Canberra, Australia, between the 3rd of September 1997 and the 21st September 1997.



			The inspiration and point of contact for this panel is KALDesign's home Page Karen is a bridal wear designer whose site reflects her religious and family commitment. In speaking about her reactions to having a home page she states: "Being a small independent Bridal Designer limits my contact with people on a daily basis. Many times, though restricted to the confines of my studio, my existence is not a solitary one. The internet and my web page gives me not only the ability to reach out and have contact with the community I live in - but to be part of the global community and to have contact with the entire world. Sitting at my computer and maintaining my web pages allows me to share my God given talents with people whom I may never meet - but whose lives I can touch in some small way through the miracle of the internet."
		This is part of a body of work which is an exploration into how women are representing themselves on the World Wide Web, and the connection between 'homemaking' and 'home page'. Embroidery is a culturally-loaded textile art often associated with gender, the domestic, memory or nostalgia. I use stitchery to seduce and draw the viewer in. The desire to touch a textile and the need to connect with the work in a physical sense is a metaphor for the internet's promise of community. To produce this image, screen shots from the Karen's home pages were taken, then combined and manipulated in Photoshop. The image was then printed on cotton fabric using a Colour Style Writer 2400. To this print I added stitchery using various hand dyed threads of cotton, silk, and wool. The exhibition "Playing False" was held in the Craft ACT Gallery, Canberra, Australia, between the 3rd of September 1997 and the 21st September 1997.