Pat Kroth: Lost, Found, and Stitched

May 5–July 24, 2022

Pat Kroth: Lost, Found, and Stitched served as a lively meditation on the connections between recycling, repurposing, and art making.

The process of gathering found materials has been central to Kroth’s lifelong creative process of making abstract fiber-based work that incorporates textile fragments, repurposed fabrics, clothing, discarded objects, candy wrappers, and sheer overlays. For this exhibit, she brought her penchant for collecting discarded remnants to create new works, including a mixture of over 10 fiber art pieces and one large-scale installation.

The installation, postponed due to the pandemic, allowed her to delve even more deeply into the notions of recycling. Over the past two years, she continued to save the plastic packaging materials that crossed the threshold of her home. “I am intrigued by the notion of how we assign value to things,” she said. “Sometimes, humble materials play a more important role than we would imagine.” These humble materials became the basis for her new works, and thus, the works created may also serve as a visual diary of one family’s consumption over the past several years.

Support for Pat Kroth: Lost, Found, and Stitched was generously provided by the Wisconsin Arts Board.