For her very first package with STN2, reporter Linda Petersen spoke with Dr. Katherine Owens about her sustainable art series, Entangled and Ingested. This season, Petersen catches up with Dr. Owens to talk about how her project has evolved since last October, and how working with local community members helps her to go with the flow.

Moving on to Better (and Bigger) Things

  While sitting down with Dr. Owens, it becomes clear that she is dedicated to her craft. Despite recently completing the first installment of Entangled and Ingested, she is currently working on the second part of this project. But this time, she has double the amount of pieces to create.

  “The first series had forty-six portraits,” she says, sewing a cat litter bag to her canvas as she speaks. “Now, I’m on the second series, of which there will be seventy-three portraits.”

  But it’s not just the number of pieces that makes this installment more involved. Owens is also challenging herself to create larger pieces, which will add variety to her project. 

  “The largest [piece] on the list is the fin whale, which is seventy-five feet long,” she says. 

Finding Flow and Flexibility

  Leading Entangled and Ingested has taught Dr. Owens a thing or two about working with others. The collaborative nature of this project allows local community members – including University of Hartford students – to pitch in. This, Dr. Owens tells STN2, is what keeps her open-minded and flexible.

  “[Working with the community] has a big impact, because when you are working on something alone, you get to make all the decisions- you can control it,” she says. “But what I love about this is that I’m not able to control it – it’s just impossible to control it.”

  So ultimately, when it comes to letting go of control over her project, Dr. Owens is ready to ride the wave.

  “I think that’s good for us as artists, right?,” she says, moving onto another sewing project. This time, it involves a bag from a smoothie mix. “I mean, the vision has to meet some constraints […] so, a little bit of control is good. But once you sort of set the boundaries, then within that, whatever happens, happens. And I think that’s cool in a different way.”

Getting Involved

  In terms of completing the project, Dr. Owens still has a ways to go. But she is hopeful that students at the University of Hartford will lend a hand. 

  “I would really love for anyone in the campus community to come and spend a morning sewing with us. We are in GSU Room 339 this whole semester on Wednesday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm,” she says. “But it’s very relaxing. I think it’s meditative, a great study break, and it helps me finish the whale”. 

Watch the full report above (or click this link).

To learn more about Dr. Katherine Owens and “Entangled and Ingested”, please visit katowens.com.