InterArts Media Alumnus Pate Conaway WEAVE! Installation & Performance November 6

Pate Conaway, an Interdisciplinary Arts & Media MFA alumnus, will be exhibiting his WEAVE! installation along with a performance and an artist lecture at Northern Illinois University on Wednesday November 6.  The installation and performance will be in the Visual Arts Building room 215 from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The lecture will be in the Visual Arts Building from 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. in room  102.

Weave pate conaway

Conaway states, “a number of years ago I worked in a nursing home and something happened that dramatically influenced my art – the women there taught me how to knit! Once having learned the basics, I began to explore the medium; knitting with cord, string, rope, and even wire. I created a huge pair of knitting needles (four feet long) and began translating the knitting patterns that I had been taught into large sculptures. I spent a month knitting a pair of cable-stitch mittens large enough to sleep in.”

weave 2 pate conaway

WEAVE! takes what Conaway learned in the nursing home and combines it with his background in improvisational theater. He has abandoned the knitting needles and instead uses his fingers to do something between knitting and crocheting. What results is the ability for people to watch and interact with an artist as he explores different materials and shapes.

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