Crystal Cawley

Cawley writes of her work, "I start with something tangible, whether it’s a discarded library book, a decrepit piece of furniture, a worn tablecloth, a box of old greeting cards or puzzle pieces, or leftovers from other projects. I enjoy responding to what’s already there, something with its own visual history that becomes part of what I make — I love the challenge of merging disparate materials and ideas into something more. My work combines my interests in the form and history of clothing and the possibilities of paper and fabric sculpture, with traditional handiwork like embroidery, spinning, and letterpress printing. "

Crystal Cawley is an artist who works with paper, textiles, collected objects, and re-purposed materials. Her work explores ideas of identity, time, and loss, and draws on various traditional skills like embroidery and letterpress printing. She prints and teaches in Portland, Maine at Wolfe Editions, and is also an artist member of Pickwick Independent Press. She has shown her work around the US and in England, Greece, and Japan. Her work is in the collections of the Boston Public Library, Columbia University Library, The Library of Congress, Maine Women Writers Collection, MOMA/Franklin Furnace Artists' Book Collection, and the Smithsonian Institution Graphic Arts Collection at the National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., among others.