Don’t Be Koi–Artist’s Statement

Over the next few days I’ll be posting some information from the featured artists in this month’s gallery show.

Today, Marla Rudnick, who made the wonderful knitted metal fish titled, “Don’t Be Koi,” has this to say about how this piece came about:

“In the beginning I wanted to make a fish that would sit on a surface or swim through the air. I have two photos of Koi at my house and I love to look at their shapes swarming around.

“I thought that they would be my inspiration for the fish. I wanted to make a large fish and I wanted it to have attitude. I knitted the fish from the tail to the mouth using lace stitches for the tail and dorsal fin. I fashioned the eyes by sawing them out of sheet copper and then forming the bulge of the pupil with a hammer and stake. I curled the eyelashes and used liver of sulphur to patina the eye.

“For the mouth I searched for the right color ‘Lips’ to make the fish cute. The title came to me as I was thinking about the lips.”