D. Jacob Wildstrom

Statement

My designs are generally motivated by trying to determine the constraints placed on a craft by the intrinsic limitations of the method, or by sensible aesthetic "rules". If a design emerges organically from the way a technique is usually practiced, there is usually a mathematical framework describing that design and its reasonable variations, even in crafts that provide significant freedom. Whether working within the formula dictated by granny squares, mosaic crochet, hitomezashi, or cross-stitch, my goal is, after quantifying the underlying framework of what these crafts require, to determine a design which expresses a coherent mathematical concept within a novel expression of a traditional craft.

Artworks

The back of cross-stitched work is generally not viewable, and as such doesn't need to have any particular appearance. But what if a cross-stitched piece had no "front" or "back" at all? If, instead of being stitched onto a rectangle, a design was put onto a Möbius band, it would be necessary that the reverse of each stitch not only be tidy, but in fact appear to be cross-stitch in its own right. This work makes use of a single continuous length of floss (with necessary splices in a few places) to stitch every cross-stitch in a reflected design on both the front and back of a continuous Möbius loop, and derives its title from the more nonsensical of the two written texts which result.