Stampede
Stampede is a site-specific suspended installation composed of oversized cowboy hats and tumbleweeds, rendered in industrial materials traditionally associated with the Western landscape. The hats—varying in scale and orientation—are constructed entirely from fishing line, first knitted into thick rope and then shaped through a combination of oversized knitting, crochet, and hand-stitching. The work occupies vertical space, with elements hung from a second-story ceiling so that forms appear airborne, as if lifted and scattered by the force of a passing stampede.
Conceptually, the installation stages a tension between opposing materials and cultural signifiers. Knitted forms—soft, slow, and associated with care—are placed in direct interaction with barbed wire tumbleweeds, a material defined by abrasion, containment, and damage. Rather than keeping these materials separate, Stampede brings them into deliberate contact. As the hats move through the space, they become snagged, unraveled, and partially undone by the barbed wire, creating moments of suspension between making and destruction. On select hats, barbed wire replaces the traditional hat band, extending the tension into the forms themselves. Through these material interactions, the work stages polarity within Western iconography: protection and harm, softness and violence, labor and erasure.
The barbed-wire tumbleweeds were fabricated based on an initial prototype, with subsequent construction carried out by Ken Chapin. Although installed indoors, Stampede was conceived as a material experiment toward future outdoor work. Fishing line and barbed wire were selected for their durability and resistance to environmental exposure, positioning the project as a test case for large-scale fiber installations capable of existing beyond the museum context.
Stampede marks a transition point in an ongoing practice—one that extends fiber-based methodologies into more rugged, site-responsive forms while maintaining a focus on scale, tension, and material intelligence.