Explore the Intangible Art Installations

 

As you have seen in the past three installations, the Sweet Tooth Hotel team loves to push the boundaries by partnering with innovative emerging artists. We hit the ground running to curate incredible an incredible group of fiber artists not just from DFW but from around the entire country. Some of which have been commissioned for work as far as Rome. Excited yet? Read on to learn more about the exhibits and the talented artists we have teamed up with this time around.

NIKI DIONNE (Dallas, TX) 

RIGGED

Yarn courtesy of Lion Brand Yarn and LoveCrafts

Niki Dionne is a fiber artist and illustrator based out of Dallas, Texas. She’s an expert when it comes to pompoms and one of her biggest passions: drawing black women, living for care-free moments. Through her work, Niki explores how self-perceived identity shapes how women of color view themselves. Through

various mediums including fiber, oil pastels, digital illustration and animation, Niki develops characters that all women can find themselves in. Every single thing she creates has a smart and carefree energy to it - whether it’s fiber art, an illustration or animation.

Rigged is not only a reflection of a claw machine within a claw machine, but is also a reflection of the contradicting emotions of hope and apprehension that come with attempting to beat a claw machine. Can you win against a game that may or may not be rigged against you, or are the prizes within completely intangible?

Although it may not be obvious to the viewers’ eyes, this room is an immersive experience that draws from the reality of inequity in a system that is rigged against women of color.

@actualfootageofme | actualfootageofme.com

TWINKIE CHAN (San Francisco, CA)

 SUCRE FLEUF!

Crocheted Amigurumi Yarn, courtesy of Red Heart & Lion Brand Yarn

Twinkie Chan is a crochet designer, author, and Creativebug instructor known for her colorful, food-themed accessories like cupcake scarves, hamburger mitts, and slushee cup purses. She lives in San Francisco with a rainbow wall of yarn and a billion pom poms.

Twinkie’s unique work has been featured online, in print, and on television, from BuzzFeed to Mollie Makes, to HGTV to “Fuller House.” To make her signature designs more accessible, she launched a licensed brand called Yummy You! which was carried at retailers like Hot Topic, ThinkGeek, NYLON Shop, and ModCloth.

The demand for her crochet patterns inspired her two crochet books. She has also written patterns for Michaels.com, a column for Simply Crochet Magazine, and created promotional projects for companies like the Craft Yarn Council, Lion Brand Yarn, Lily Sugar ‘n Cream, Sanrio, Pocky, McDonald’s, Facebook Stories, and TikTok.

“Sucre Fleuf! is an imaginary bakery in the middle of a secret garden. I was inspired by old-world boulangeries and patisseries as well as modern Asian dessert art. Here, you’ll find a combination of my love for yarn, sweets, Wes Anderson movies, and 80s cartoons. I’m a huge fan of all the beautiful and over-the-top desserts that people post online, and since food is meant to be eaten and not meant to stay, I like the idea of preserving and honoring fun food in crochet.

The name of this bakery is also imaginary. Sucre Fleuf! is a riff on “Sacré Bleu!” which is an old-fashioned exclamation of surprise or delight. “Sucre” means “sugar.” “Fleuf” is made-up and a reference to the fluff of a delicious cake and the fluff I use to fill my crochet work.

Crochet is comforting and cozy, much like a fresh baguette or a warm donut. You often go to a bakery for a special occasion, so I hope that you feel like today - and every day - is a moment to celebrate, smile, and share joy with others.”

@twinkiechan | twinkiechan.com

ALLI K (Dallas, TX)

Alli K hails from Dallas, Texas. She is known for her beautiful monochrome murals, which feature her signature florals and inspiring words. 

Alli is a visionary when it comes to her designs and positive messaging. Whether they are big or small, her creations radiate an energy that is both simplistic and highly sophisticated. She is the author of books "Bloom," "Florals by Hand" and "How to Draw Modern Florals," and the co-host of podcast Breakfast with Sis, which she records with her dad every Saturday morning.

If you ask Alli what keeps her going, she will tell you Chick Fil A's sweet tea and cuddling with her cats while she draws from her bed - which we totally understand and fully support. (Who wouldn't?) Beyond murals, Alli has designed beautiful stationery, home decor, a wedding veil collection, and a journaling app for Apple/Android called High/Low.  

@allikdesign | allikdesign.com

SALLY ACKERMAN AND DALLAS YARN BOMBERS (DALLAS, TX)

ENCHANTED PASSAGE

Knit, Crochet, and Nuno Felting Yarn courtesy of Bernat, Caron, Patons, Phentex, Red Heart and Sugar Bush

In the early days (2011) of the International Yarn Bomb Movement, Sally Ackerman began placing her first ‘street bombs’ in and around Dallas. What could be more outrageous than skirts on street signs and sweaters on fire hydrants? The Mayor promptly ordered Code Compliance to cut them down. Controversy and notoriety followed.

Undaunted by these attempts at censorship from ‘the establishment’, Sally went forward to organize Dallas Yarn Bombers, a group that comes together to work on large yarn installations. As a team, these dedicated and talented knitters went forth to beautify and colorize the urban landscape. The Winspear Opera House for the Broadway production of HAIR, the Grand Opening of Klyde Warren Park, and the Bishop Arts District for the TV show DALLAS are just some of the local wonders that this activist and artist has been responsible for. Somehow in the process, Sally managed to win ‘the establishment’ over.

Enchanted Passage marks a transition from Sally’s usual whimsical style into a new world of mystical enchantment. The passage is filled with life-sized knit and crochet flowers ranging from hydrangeas to poppies, daffodils to wisteria. There are also a few extra large friends to meet along your metamorphosis journey between caterpillar and butterfly.

Contributing Dallas Yarn Bombers are Ann Gaspari, Cindee Kueny, Gina Owen, Amy Gavigan, Barb van de Voorde, Denise Hannigan, Lee Witt, and Bob Ackerman.

@sallyackermanart | @dallasyarnbombers

LONDON KAYE (Los Angeles, CA)

NEW YORK CITY

Crocheted Yarn, courtesy of Lion Brand Yarn

London Kaye is a street artist based in Los Angeles, California. Her unique use of crochet to create art pieces made entirely of yarn has brought smiles to communities around the world and has allowed London to create a business out of something handmade.

Born in Los Angeles, California, London received her BFA in dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. After graduating she realized her love for crochet and began using yarn to interact with the environment and surrounding community. She began installing street art daily in her neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, quickly leading to her work being easily recognized by her community’s people and businesses. As London’s career has expanded to collaborating with brands like Starbucks, Miller Lite, Disney, and The Gap, she continues to crochet street art for her neighborhood and beyond.

Through her time leading workshops and teaching crochet, London came to realize the best qualities of her favorite crochet hooks and combined them together using 3D printing technology to create a unique new style hook, a “Crochet Hook with a Twist.” She has now recieved a patent for the design. London launched her own line of yarn for Lion Brand Yarn, specifically made for indoor and outdoor use, and published her first book in 2019 titled, Crochet with London Kaye.

This eclectic room is energized by the spirit of New York City. However, in this primarily pink parallel universe, soft graffiti is the norm, love guides decision making, and everyones’ glass is half full. The mailbox is real, send a letter to someone you love. A little bit of love goes a long way.

 

 

LONDON KAYE (Los Angeles, CA)

MERMAID LAGOON

Crocheted Yarn, courtesy of Lion Brand Yarn

On March 6, 2020 I flew to Dallas, TX to install art at the Sweet Tooth Hotel. I was here for two weeks and the world changed very quickly during that time. It went from a lively artist in residence, to just me and hand sanitizer in the space. As I continued to crochet, I found peacefulness in these turquoise walls and could feel the effortless joy the mermaids radiate, it kept me grounded. No one knew if the exhibit would have to be postponed or what the future would hold. All I knew was that this room made me happy and motivated me to continue to create. One of my favorite tiny details in here are the bubbles crocheted out of recycled plastic bags. In the fiber world we call it Plarn.

I leave you with a short story I wrote in this Mermaid Lagoon while I was crocheting the whale. His name is Blue btw.

Once upon a time anything was possible. Woman ruled supreme and everything was made of yarn. With every loop you make and every stitch you take, set yourself free and create.

xoxo,

London Kaye

@madebylondon | londonkaye.com

 

JACKIE LAWRENCE (Denton, TX)

AN IMPOSSIBLE REALITY

Latch Hook + Acrylic Yarn, courtesy of Red Heart Yarn and Yarnspirations

One of Denton, Texas’ finest, Jackie Lawrence is a fiber artist and recent graduate of the University of North Texas’ Fibers program. Under the name “Forest Fibers,” Lawrence works with multiple fiber processes including weaving, latch hook, embroidery, crochet, and knitting. Her work focuses on themes of space and personal environments, shifting from representative to abstract.

“While in undergrad, I began exploring the possibilities of world-making within installation art. The environments I built served as a manifestation of my inner world, letting me air our conflicts through processing space. These large scale installations are meant to feel overpowering yet intimate.

The space I built here is an investigation of the world ‘Intangible’ in relation to fiber. With fiber being one of the most tangible mediums, I knew I could push beyond the surface of this definition to create An Impossible Reality. I dreamt of a space filled to the brim with color, texture, and manic energy. This is a dimension where yarn is intangible, not having a physical presence to our own natural world. My goal with this installation is to inspire impossible realities and dreams to those who become immersed in the space. This area serves as a transitional space from one part of the exhibit to another, and metaphorically working as a passageway from one dream to the next.” - Jackie Lawrence

@forestfibers | ForestFibersStudio.Etsy.com 

 

HANNAH BUSEKRUS (Austin, TX)

SO COZY

Hand Tufted Acrylic Yarn, courtesy of Red Heart Yarn and Yarnspirations

Hannah Busekrus is an interdisciplinary artist and designer. Adapting her background in graphic design and illustration, she creates three-dimensional characters and objects ranging from less than 1” tall to over 10’ tall using fiber as her main medium.

She introduced fiber art into her practice in 2012, creating a large scale, site-specific, outdoor installation at the Honolulu Contemporary Art Museum (now part of the Honolulu Museum of Art, Spalding House) as part of The Fuzz, a 3 person yarn bomb collective. In 2014 she created her second large-scale, solo installation at Linekona, the Honolulu Museum of Art School featuring two towering 10’ 3” mermaids on the building’s front exterior columns. She is also an author and most recently added textile design to her CV creating her first line of unique punch needle jewelry made from recycled cashmere and other fine yarn fibers for her brand, / h // s / r / textiles.

So Cozy, her first textile installation, combines illustration, sculpture and hand tufting to create the hidden world of a cat—one humans often wonder about—by imagining and projecting what a cat might be dreaming of as it sleeps, So Cozy. Visions of catnip ecstasy and past tasty suppers, cats may not perceive life in the same rich, saturated colors as we do, but in dreams things are often undomesticated.

This particular cat, Scratch, shares his space with Marty, his non-binary beastie. Together they dream of giant, soft, cuddly hugs, their favorite yummy snacks and the warm fuzzy feels they have for each other. All they need to be So Cozy.

@hanasaurusrex | hanasaurusrex.squarespace.com

 

MOLLY SYDNOR (Dallas, TX)

TEMPORAL JUNGLE

Yarn courtesy of Lion Brand Yarn, Red Heart Yarn and Yarnspirations

Molly Margaret Sydnor (b. 1993) is a Dallas-based multidisciplinary fine artist with an eye for fiber. She received a BFA in Fiber from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2015, and was brought to Dallas for a career in product development specializing in rug design. Sydnor creates interactive work through storytelling and the layering of media, ideas and imagery of identity and the body. Experimentation, play, and innovation ground Sydnor’s work in her exploration of the complexities of gender, race, and sexuality. Sydnor was recently exhibited at The Fort Worth Community Art Center, 1900 Pacific Residencies, and WAAS Gallery. In 2019, Sydnor completed a residency at Dallas’s Sunset Studios, and will be an upcoming artist-in-residence at Burke Mercantile in LA.

Temporal Jungle is an immersive habitat for the dualities that exist within the in/tangible forces of memory. A weaving together of childhood memory and grown-up narratives, this optical illusory installation plays with our growth into adulthood and its impact on our perspectives of past experience. Is what we remember truly our own experience, or that of someone else?

This installation shape-shifts an integral part of memory storage, the temporal lobe, into the childhood memory of a jungle gym. Temporal Jungle is a push and pull between the real and the illusory, the tactile and the visual. Recognizable and nostalgic objects juxtapose with sexual innuendos and adult-like content. Geometry, color trickery, and texture form an intangible op-art backdrop for a tangible jungle gym. Temporal Jungle is a community experience of memory, dreams and fantasy. A playground that encourages us to play with what we see, what we remember, and what is really there.

A big thanks to my collaborator Marquis Muldrow for his structural design.

@mollymargaretdesigner | mollysydnor.com

AUSTIN FINLEY AND YASMINA JOHNSTON (DALLAS, TX)

SHOGUN QUEEN

Austin Finley is a Dallas native who has developed his approach to the creative process by constantly challenging everything, namely colliding the worlds of basic organic theory with that of other worldly synthetic concepts. Austin began his career in hairdressing at the TONI&GUY ACADEMY in Carrollton Tx, and continued on working for the company as a Stylist/Art Director inside of the Salon, Educational Director of the Salon, Regional Advanced Educational Director, and is now the Creative Director for TONI&GUY USA. Throughout the entirety of his career, Austin has been blessed to be able to work with some of the most talented creatives on the planet, and any of his personal work is only as good as the team that he works with. Special thanks and proper respect to the entire team who worked on this project; Yasmina Johnston, Om Graves, Andy Lai, Jordan Smith, and Anjanette Henson.

Yasmina Johnston is a Dallas born artist that has developed her work through fine arts and garment construction. In her early studies, Yasmina was trained with the philosophy that each artist has “personal shapes” in their work. A foundation of shapes that come from the subconscious, and are unique to each individual. These reoccurring shapes have specific meaning to the artist and evolve over time within works. In 2016, Yasmina graduated from London College of Fashion with a Graduate study in Fashion Design Technology where she was able to develop her 2−Dimensional cocoon like shapes into ready to wear pieces. Modular in construction, Yasmina has been able to take mixed materials, and by use of layering, create structures that are full bodied and encompassing. Yasmina’s works have been displayed in the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH), Kirk Hooper Gallery, Neiman Marcus, TrafficLA, DIFFA (Dallas), & Flocc Studios.

SHOGUN QUEEN is a concept that literally derived from the conversation that was had with regards to creating the marketing collateral for the fourth installation, Intangible, at the Sweet Tooth Hotel. The theory of the concept is based on the imagery that came to mind when the setting of the shoot was being described. Per the conversation, the mental picture was one of an organic, yet synthetically colorful, world that the model would exist in with a dimensional element that would allow for the use of negative space. The entire theory for the concept is best described by the collision of worlds, with one of the worlds being Japanese Anime, and the other being that of fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. The entire feeling for the work is based on a combination of Japanese Geisha elements mixed with the warrior feeling of the Samurai, and all of that existing within the theoretical world of Anime based on the artistic feel of Vivienne Westwood. Ultimately, the work is meant to take you to a place that is both familiar and foreign, and it’s within that space that one is able to enjoy the sensation of splendor that exists when experiencing both emotions at the same time.

@austinfinley | @notsodistantmemories

 

JOANNA LIN - SOFT SURPRISE (Dallas, TX)

You (are) Tube

Yarn courtesy of Red Heart Yarn and Yarnspirations, includes destashed yarn

Joanna Lin is a multidisciplinary maker from Colorado currently based in Dallas, TX. She received a BFA in Film/Animation/Video in 2015 from the Rhode Island School of Design. Since then she has collected professional experience as a graphic designer, tampon designer, motion graphics animator, artist assistant, and now a freelance designer.

Soft Surprise is an evolving art practice that plays with irony and humor to create a wide range of functional and non-functional objects. In experimenting with traditional and digital mediums, their creative process often mixes high- and low- tech processes. Much of the work attempts to subvert expectations by elevating low brow humor with high regard for craftsmanship.

@soft.surprise | softsurprise.com

 

Special thanks to the Craft Yarn Council and its members, including Aksa Acrylic Fibers, Boye Needles and Crafts, Clover Needlecraft, F+W/Interweave, Knitter's Pride, Leisure Arts, Lion Brand Yarn, LoveCrafts, Prime Publishing, Prym, Red Heart, and Yarnspirations.