Mirka Knaster

Creating 2-D and 3-D fiber art in a studio overlooking the Pacific Ocean is a dream come true. While I’m deeply inspired by my cross-cultural experiences around the world, especially in Asia, and integrate the treasures I bring back, my daily influence is the Mendonoma coast. I witness, with awe, how the ever-changing light transforms the colors and textures of land, sea, and sky from dawn until nightfall. The movements, sounds, and hues of water are particularly integral to my sensibility.

I find working with diverse kinds of fiber an exhilarating engagement with color, texture, line, shape and space, pattern and design. I approach the creative process as an open-ended improvisation and meditation. Pieces emerge intuitively, even serendipitously, as I gradually feel my way into each one: choosing this color or that textile, dyeing cloth with indigo or rust, incorporating handmade paper, metal or wood, adding another layer for transparency, building texture, stitching another mark or brushing on paint or ink, and including bamboo from my garden. Along the way, I embrace and celebrate the surprises.

My award-winning artwork has been exhibited across North America and in Asia. It graces the walls and pedestals of many art lovers, both regionally and nationally. Creative Sonoma awarded me a public art grant (2022-23) to create a new installation, Wheels for Peace, for the Geyserville Sculpture Garden. In addition, I have shared my love of fiber art in workshops in Korea and the U.S. As a board member of the Textile Arts Council of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, I have organized tours and workshops focused on fiber art. Similarly, I co-organized and facilitated textile tours to Korea. I belong to various professional art organizations and artist collectives. In a curatorial capacity, I have focused on an East-West conversation about fiber art and issues of migration/immigration and anticipate curating an exhibit about turning plastic trash into artistic treasures. I have written widely and continue to post for Exploring the HeART of It, an art blog I began in January 2014. My work appears in exhibit catalogues and I have been interviewed for live radio programs and online publications.

I believe that, whether we're viewing or creating art, it has the power to provide more than an experience of aesthetic pleasure. It also offers a refuge where it's possible to be fully present and sense, even briefly, the feeling of serenity. A moment of inner quiet in the middle of things can shift our consciousness and body chemistry and alter the tone of our day.