Kristen L'Esperance

Lives and works in Vermont, USA

Artist statement

My current work investigates how bodies—biological and constructed—signal, defend, and define themselves through pattern and form. Rooted in sculptural basketry, textile logic, and architectural thinking, the work centers on biomorphic woven forms whose rhythmic, vibrating surfaces operate as protective patternry: a visual fabric that both delineates volume and asserts a boundary. The sculptures draw from anatomical geometries and natural defensive structures—the curve of a ribcage, the shell of a chrysalis, the bristling armature of botanical specimens. Built through a slow, repetitive weaving process, each piece develops a silhouette that is at once playful and defensive. Their posture and scale often feel faintly anthropomorphic, like small creatures negotiating their own presence—forms you might instinctively want to touch or cradle, yet approach with caution, as if they could respond, recoil, or bite. In many ways, these ambiguous bodies become a portrait of how I see myself: inviting and guarded, tender and bristled, softening and hardening in alternating rhythms depending on which version of women are expected of me. Mixed-media skins—woven reed, industrial coatings, plaster, and concrete—layer over these bodies, creating surfaces that shift between softness and rigidity. As the viewer moves, the patterned skins generate moiré interference, destabilizing the object’s edge and challenging the perception of where the body begins and ends. Material transformation is...

Artwork