Kayli Cottonwood

Plasticity I

Install #2 (Spring 2024) Emmanual Gallery, Denver, CO

Date: Spring 2024
Materials: Synthetic fiber, natural fiber, ceramic, brass
Dimensions: 28 in x 6 in x .5 in

This artwork is the first in my "Plasticity Series," an ongoing project that combines natural and synthetic materials. In this series, I reflect on the waste that litters riparian ecosystems in the Denver Metro Area and beyond. For the first time in my practice, I am incorporating plastics in the form of synthetic fibers—a choice I initially resisted. However, I wanted to depict the plastics polluting the landscape without resorting to a material so immediately recognizable as trash. By concealing the plastics within the artwork, I explore Western overculture's consumeristic tendencies and the detached approach to plastic disposal, particularly concerning riparian ecosystems.

*See Plasticity II for the continuation of this project and my evolving ideas related to these themes.

Install #1 (Spring 2024) MSU Denver 199 Gallery Denver, CO

Published February 2025

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