The art of folding can be practiced with different mediums and materials. Kate Barber is a textile artist from Exeter, Rhode Island who weaves and colors her own cloth. She then uses this fabric to compose delicate pleated art pieces much like the tessellations that are familiar to origami artists.

Folds in pleated cloth have inherent tension, potential energy. In these handwoven pieces, Kate Barber make use of this tension -- selectively maintaining or releasing it -- in order to distort and shape the cloth. By varying the direction of the "gathering" threads, but cutting and reassembling the cloth, and by stitching across pleats, Kate Barber create curved lines, texture, and movement.

As Kate Barber have worked on these pieces, begun to think of them as metaphors for the human body. Like the human body, Kate Barber pieces hold the memory of actions performed on them. When the body folds forward and compresses, energy collects; when that tension is released, the body opens and finds equilibrium.

In the playful making process, Kate Barber delighted by detours along the way as they can lead to interesting and surprising results. Sometimes a piece starts to take on a mind of its own, pulling Kate Barber away from its original intent and luring Kate Barber down a different path. Through experimentation and intuition, Kate Barber engages in a dialogue with her material and understands what works and what doesn't. This dialogue is like magic for Kate Barber and is what keeps her coming back to the studio day after day.