COLLABORATE : CHRISTIN RIPLEY
Christin Ripley is a Catskill, NY based artist who specializes in hand-marbled textiles. Ripley’s process is an amazing experience and it inspired us to start doing a little Q&A with people we love collaborating with in our community. So far there have been three Ripley & Poor Devil hat drops and you better believe there will be more.
What do you do?
I'm a designer and a reluctant entrepreneur. I create hand-marbled, silkscreened & relief-printed textiles that I sew into pillows, bags and decorative objects. I also collaborate with small businesses like Poor Devil, creating small runs of customized merch that celebrate an alternative to the corporate American work model.
I practice the 16th century technique of Turkish Ebru marbling by floating pigment atop a viscous seaweed liquid, as the ink hovers and spreads across the liquid surface it creates swirling stone like patterns that can be manipulated with fans and feathers, the floating pattern is then carefully transferred to fabric or paper, creating a one-of-a-kind marbleized print.
How long have you been doing it?
Since 2014
How did you get into doing what you do?
I am inspired by the sets and furniture from the show "The Golden Girls", and I think that influenced my interest in textiles, functional objects and interiors, along with always making things, and wanting to be an artist from an early age.
What gets you in the creative headspace?
Sometimes getting into a creative headspace doesn't happen easily, that's where discipline comes in. You just have to keep showing up each day, doing the work, proving your devotion, and every once and awhile the Goddess of Creativity will visit you with a new idea, but in the meantime there's a lot of work to be done to manifest an idea into the flesh / material world. But it helps to start off the day with coffee and Lion's Mane.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve marbled?
I wish I had something cool to say here.... but I guess I haven't marbled anything that crazy.... YET!
When you’re not working, what are you up to?
I work a lot, but I also love sailing in the Catskill Creek / Hudson River, and would love to learn more about plants and gardening.
With all of the things happening in the world- what keeps you focused and looking towards the future?
I worry a lot about the irrelevance of my work given everything that is happening in the world. But a driving force that keeps me going is knowing that each person's work in any given field is part of generational incrementalism, ie: my studio practice is built off of 16 centuries of ancestors who practiced the technique before me and it's my work / it's our work to carry those traditions forward and enhance them for the next generation, the same goes for knowledge passed down regarding edible vs poisonous foods, cooking & farming - each generation discovers and adds slowly / incrementally to a rich field of knowledge.
What’s your favorite thing to eat with hot sauce?
My favorite thing to eat with Poor Devil Hot sauce is eggs, potatoes, kale, actually everything! My favorite is Green Widow, I could eat a whole jar in one sitting as if it was salsa.
Find Ripley’s work: https://christinripley.com/ and here —>