Skins and Skeletons Workshops
3D textile constructions
In this experimental workshop, participants will learn methods for building skeletal structures with rigid and semi-rigid materials like rattan, bamboo, wood and wire. Techniques will include lashing techniques, chaotic plaiting, and wire construction. To build skins onto these structures we will work with gut, rice papers, knotted and knotless netting. Coatings like paintable graphite, shellac and kakishibu tannin will further modify surfaces.
Participants will produce a series of experimental samples that will become prototypes for future studio work. Slide presentations will provide inspiration and background on artists, designers and architects who build with a skin and skeleton approach. Please follow the links, below, for specific descriptions of each workshop.
All levels welcome.
Textile Center
Minneapolis, Minnesota
May 29 - June 2, 2025
National Basketry Organization Conference
Tacoma, Washington
July 22 - 26, 2025
Snow Farm
Williamsburg, Massachusetts
August 3 - 8, 2025
Exhibitions
Art Complex Museum: Water Works: Lashed and Tethered
SOLO show
Duxbury, Massachusetts
February 15 - May 10, 2026
Reception: Sunday, February 22, 2026, 1 - 4 pm
WaterFire Arts Center: Building the NetWorks
group show
Providence, Rhode Island
July 10 - August 31, 2025
Reception: Thursday, July 10, 6 - 8 pm
Flinn Gallery: Elemental
group show of 12 member artists of Boston Sculptors Gallery
Greenwich, Connecticut
May 8 - June 18, 2025
Reception: Thurs. May 8, 6 - 8 pm
Fuller Craft Museum: Town and Country
juried group show
Brockton, Massachusetts
May 17 - November 30, 2025
Reception: Sat. May 17, 12-2 pm
Nave Gallery: The Carrier Bag Theory
group show
Somerville, Massachusetts
April 11 -May 11, 2025
Reception: Fri. April 11, 6 - 9 pm
News
Artscope review of my show, Water Ways, at Chazan Gallery, Providence, RI, by Madeleine Lord:
“Tethered to the Grid: Chazan Hosts Mo Kelman’s Microscopic “Water Ways”, Nov./Dec, 2024
GoLocal Prov review of my show, Water Ways, Chazan Gallery, Providence, RI, by Michael Rose:
“Inside Art - Sculpture Show Highlights Mo Kelman”, Dec. 2024
Tour of my show, Water Spirits, at Boston Sculptors Gallery, May 2024. 3 minutes
Patch review of Elemental exhibition at Flinn Gallery, Greenwich, CT, by Karen Sheer:
“Elemental: Work by Boston Sculptors Artists”, May 2025
NJ Arts review of Uncontained exhibition at the Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ, by Truss McCall:
“Baskets Contain Multitudes in ‘Uncontained’ Exhibition at Hunterdon Art Museum”, July 2024
30 second Timelapse of River in the Sky installation at Karen Philippi’s photography studio:
Mo talks about her artwork in video, produced in conjunction with Fiber 2020 exhibition at Silvermine Gallery.
My Planet