Esther Traugot
Pale Green
Found butterfly, pins, dyed cotton thread, plexi glass box, wood mount
4.5 L x 4.5 W x 3.5 D inches
2020
Esther Traugot
Flight with baby yellow
Found butterflies, dyed cotton thread, plexi glass box, wood mount
7.5 L x 7.25 W x 4 D inches
2020
Esther Traugot
My Drones
male honeybees, dyed cotton thread, avocado pit wrapper, wood shelves
2.5" x 3.5" x 3.5"
2016
Esther Traugot
Life in a Bowl
Cherry pits, hand-dyed cotton thread, small glass bowl, wood shelf
2" x 3.5" x 3.5"
2013
Esther Traugot
stump 3
tree stump, dyed cotton thread
5.5" x 4.25" x 3.25"
2014
Esther Traugot
Huddle mini
Found honey bees (25), dyed cotton thread, plexi base, glass dome
6.5” x 6.5" x 4.75"
2017
Esther Traugot
Huddle (Detail)
Found honey bees, dyed cotton thread, plexi base, glass dome
6.5" x 6.5" x 4.75"
2017
Esther Traugot
Backyard
Cotton thread, sticks, wood
13” x 5” x 6.75”
2010
Esther Traugot
Abalone shell
Found shell, dyed bamboo yarn
6.75" x 5.5" x 2.75"
2019
Esther Traugot
Patched egg (goose egg 2)
goose egg shell, dyed cotton thread, wood riser and shelf
6.5" x 6.5" x 3 5/8"
2017
Esther Traugot
Patched egg (goose egg 1)
goose egg shell, dyed cotton thread, wood riser and shelf
6.5" x 6.5" x 3 5/8"
2017
Esther Traugot
Seed Dome (CA Bay Laurel)
Three bay laurel pod, dyed cotton thread, glass dome, plexi riser, wood shelf
6.5” x 6.5” x 5” H
2017
Esther Traugot
Seed Dome (Pink Oak Acorn)
Three acorns, dyed cotton thread, glass dome, plexi riser, wood shelf
6.5” x 6.5” x 5” H
2017
Through the media of painting, sculpture and installation, my work investigates a personal connection with the natural world. This interdisciplinary approach allows me to create works that play between seeing oneself as an intrinsic part of the natural landscape, as well as an observer of it.
These gathered and reclaimed objects of nature become re-contextualized with crocheted thread coverings in an attempt to “prop up” or “put back” what has been abandoned, broken. The attentive caring and support structures that surround the objects investigate the relationship between nurturing and controlling nature. The meticulous act of crocheting mimics the instinct to nurture and protect what is viable, what is becoming precious. As in gilding, these false “skins” imbue the objects with an assumed desirability or value; the wrapping becomes an act of veneration. Although futile in its attempt at archiving and preservation, there is the desire to suggest optimism. My interest in the objects extends from the notion of landscape and how we not just experience, but also negotiate with the natural world. Do we feel warm and fuzzy, or do we distance ourselves? How do we “care” for that which we depend upon?
