This Bag is Not a Jellyfish (Julie Kornblum)

Julie Kornblum

This Bag is Not a Jellyfish, 2008

 

38 × 38 in. (96,5 × 96,5 cm)
Fiber.
Courtesy of the Artist, Woodland Hills, California.

 

Fiber artist Julie Kornblum practices some of the oldest handcrafting processes while addressing the immediacy of the plastic pollution crisis. She weaves, knits, crochets, and makes baskets from the things we throw away: “I use cast off, surplus, and waste: recycled copper wire, one-time-use plastic bags and bits,” she says. “The palette is deceptively bright and cheery, the color story of plastic packaging. These disposable items are products, and sitting on store shelves they must attract customers, like so many brightly plumaged birds, looking for mates. These materials belong solely to the modern age. Physically, they are by-products of industrialization. Conceptually, onetime use, surplus, disposability, and waste are modern inventions. What we throw away stays around and will haunt us for who knows how long.”

Kornblum received a Bachelor of Arts degree in art from California State University, Northridge, and has exhibited widely, been published in books and magazines, curated art exhibitions, and coordinated large public yarnbombing projects. She teaches workshops and often speaks to guilds and groups about the plastic pollution emergency that informs her artwork.