My textile history
My passion for fibers was inspired through early experiences in my mother’s sewing room. She was a tailor and costume designer and allowed me to play with fabrics while she was working. I would sew tiny clothes for my Kiddle dolls, the tiniest dolls I’ve ever seen. I also loved tying things together, making knots and getting all the threads and yarns I could find in tangles. I remember having to untangle them for hours, a lesson well learned which comes in handy pretty often now.
In my professional training as an occupational therapist I learned diverse crafts techniques with diverse materials. After completing training in grafics and design, it was only in 2009 that I began to finally return to textiles, experimenting with a wide variety of new textile techniques and new materials.
My first big piece, “Glimpses” was awarded an honorable mention at LondonCreative Competition in 2011.
Since then, my passion for fiber art has grown and I have not only finished two dimensional pieces but also a variety of three dimensional objects and a design concept and sketch for an installation.
After exhibiting at the VeronaTessile 2013, my work has also been shown in Montevideo, Uruguay at the 7th World Textile Arts Biennial 2017 at the 12th International Biennial of Contemporary Textile Art - Scythia, in Ukraine, 2018.
This year's focus will remain on the theme of WATER.
This element is becoming more and more fascinating to me: The scientific research with ever new discoveries. The unique properties of water. The meaning water has for the emergence and sustenance of living organisms. Its beauty in all its shapes and forms. And last but not least the symbolism human beings of all cultures have attached to it.
January 2024
Why fiber art?
For me, fibers and textiles are the ultimate metaphor for connection, unity and love.
Behind many complex problems of our modern societies lies a deep disconnection between us individuals but also from our own bodys and emotions and from Nature.
My Fiber art is a passionate attempt to draw attention to the vital importance of interwovenness and connectivity.
Biography
Education
Occupational Therapist, MTA Akademie Innsbuck (July 1984) (including skills in multiple textile techniques)
Grafics and Design, Humboldt Schule– (1985)
CranioSacralTherapist, Upledger Institute (October 2004) (working with the tissues of the body)
Creativity Training, MGT Institut Wien (2010)
Honors and Awards
2011 - Honorable Mention at the London International Creative Competition LICC
Solo Exhibition
2013 - Solo exhibition: Constance Egger-Klee: Textile art and mixed media - Telfs, Austria
Selected Group Exhibitions
2015 - VeronaTessile "ColoriDiVini"
2017 - VII Internacional Biennial of World Textile Arts Montevideo, Uruguay
2018 - 12th International Biennial of Textile Art “Scythia” Ivano-Frankivs'k, Ukraine
2023- TelfsART, Group exhibition, Villa Schindler, Telfs, Austria
My artistic passion
My artwork is inspired by awe. The beauty, diversity and complexity of nature and the human existence are endlessly fascinating to me.
I especially love to work with textures and transparency.
Textures are the traces in matter of past motion. And transparency is the glimpse beyond the surface of appearences, a hint that there is more "here" than immediately meets the eye.
AN INVITATION TO TAKE A DEEPER LOOK....
Work process
My hands are my favorite tools. – I enjoy having nothing between me and my creation. I love to connect with my work by way of touch and get direct sensual feedback from it. Through connecting with the diverse qualities of fibers, I connect with myself and my body senses.
Usually, I have a specific topic I’m working on. Either it is something that caught my eye or my interest in everyday life, or it is a pre-given theme for a special exhibition or competition.
I start with research on the topic. Finding out facts, associations, stories and images that connect to it. The actual idea for a design usually comes to me when I’m resting or relaxing – when my mind is “off” the subject. When I “envision” my pieces, the textures and “feel” of them are of utmost importance to me.
I then sit down with the basic “image” in my mind and do sketches, designs, different compositions… changing the perspective, the focal point, the proportions until it feels “right”.
Then the work with the fiber sketches begins. How to devise the precise texture and atmosphere, usually also the exact right degree of transparency and the right colors. What materials to use? With what techniques? Will this fabric or these specific fibers convey the effect I’m striving for? Or what material do I need and where can I get it? This is a sometimes very long, but extremely exciting phase for me. It’s extremely experimental and experiential. And I can be very persistent and uncompromising in finding the “just right” combination of material and technique.
The last phase is the actual “Making of” and the appropriate finishing of the piece. Then decisions have to be made as to how to frame it. Usually, that’s been part of my initial vision – and very often I find myself experimenting again with different materials and techniques to get it “right”.
After each piece is finished, I love to have extra time to view it in different lighting and different perspectives in my own home. And make improvements when I feel they’re necessary.