Collaged Fiber, Ephemera, Spun Cotton
Cara Washburn is a Somerville artist and a lifelong maker whose work blends the old with the new. She says, “I’ve always seen my work as a kind of visual poetry that has as its underlying themes a tender appreciation for the small things in life and a deep sense of caring and hope.”
Her newest creations are Maine Pixies. These little beings are inspired by her childhood in Maine where she spent summers finding magic in the Maine woods and where she now regularly finds enchantment at a small perch on a mid-coast peninsula. The pixies are made of spun cotton using simple materials (wire, cotton, vintage crepe paper) and are accessorized with things one might find on the forest floor (feathers, moss, windfall branches) or at the back of a long-forgotten drawer in an old Maine cottage (vintage flowers, ribbons, mercury glass). “I love making things that transmit a moment of magic,” she says. “These little guys touch my heart, and it gives me such a happy, warm feeling to see the pixies bringing smiles to other people’s faces.”
Cara also makes greeting cards, hand-dyed totes and aprons, hearts made from recycled wool blankets and sweaters, and vintage photo magnets.
