In collaboration with Tiersa Nureyev

Recursion was the second in an experiment with our slot and tab system. We continued working with ideas of textile weaving and lace making while also experimenting with creating a completely closed system. Not unlike a celtic knot where the intricate woven designs are metaphors for endless cycles of birth, life, death. The interconnectedness is inevitable, you cannot pull on one part without affecting another. We were also inspired by cellular division and mutations. Each motif is made up of a set of units whose circular shapes grow by one. These units reflect radially and are increasingly altered as they move away from the center.

The making of our interlocking wall sculptures are like creating a puzzle while simultaneously trying to solve it. We first establish a pattern made from elements of rune-like characters: I, S, C, each cut as individual pieces of brass with corresponding tabs and slots. After establishing a motif we then consider repetition, how it can be employed and also disrupted. From this experimentation a single composition emerges. 

Tiersa and Yvonne first met almost two decades ago during a textile theory class while students at California College of the Arts. When they reconnected years later, it was with the intention of a creative exchange. The relationship has since evolved into an ongoing partnership informed by a shared interest in conceptual, material and systems experimentation.