Porcelain Crochet Artist Kristen Wicklund: Crafting Beauty

This week’s crochet artist profile is of Kristen Wicklund, an artist and designer who works with fiber and pottery as well as beading and quilting. This combination of materials has led to an interesting body of work rooted in natural, simple designs.

About Crochet Artist Kristen Wicklund

Kristen Wicklund is a New York-based artist known best for her porcelain lace work. This crochet work has been featured on Design Sponge and in Brides Magazine.

Kristen received her BFA in graphic design, studied ceramic arts with Kathy Erteman, and was the resident artist at Greenwich House Pottery in Greenwich Village for two years.

She is now a faculty member of that Greenwich Village creative space. She had her first solo exhibition in 2010 in California.

Wicklund makes beautiful ceramic pottery but we’re going to focus on her crochet work for this profile, although I should note that most of this work dates back to 2010 or before; her most recent work is primarily pottery.

Crochet in Kristen Wicklund’s Body of Work

There are currently two different bodies of crochet art in Wicklund’s portfolio. Her porcelain lace gets the most attention.

Design Sponge explained that Kristen uses a unique process that she created; she crochets cotton lace shapes then dips it in liquid porcelain, fires the piece in a mold to burn away the fiber, effectively leaving behind crocheted porcelain.

Each individual piece differs from the next but the art has some similarities. The porcelain lace is done in white and then set against a single, bold-colored background (often, but not always, a wall). I like the natural feel of the work as well as the interesting use of background color.

Favorite Crochet Art Examples

Porcelain Lace Crochet:

Untitled 2010 Living Room Installation.

Queen Anne’s Lace New York Installation, 2009.

From Kristen’s 2010 solo exhibition.