How Self-Isolation Fuels Creativity for Fiber Artist Windy Chien

We currently exist in a time of separation, where we are asked to be apart for the wellbeing of ourselves and others. As social creatures, it’s an unusual and uncomfortable circumstance; and thus, difficult to navigate. Retreats are one thing, being asked to take a sabbatical from human interaction for an extended period of time is another. For guidance, we turned to San Francisco-based knot artist, Windy Chien, who believes self-isolation is key for the creative process.

Chien’s determination and business savvy turned her one year, one knot-a-day practice into a full time gig that’s landed her in exhibits and commissions across the country for clients including National Geographic Society, Nestle Headquarters, and Fogo de Chao. She is expert in working a crowd, but has also mastered the art of solitude. Often, she can be found speaking at events; and installing or showing in any range of places from Hawaii to Japan, but when she’s creating, she spends her time alone.

“I don’t think of myself as being isolated,” says Chien. “I work alone most of the time, yes, but am never lonely.”

She explains that friends, colleagues, clients, advisors, and assistants are just a text, Instagram post, email, or phone call away. So, she’s able to nurture connections while also maintaining a sacred, solitary space for herself. By having her own studio, she has the freedom to be herself without any discomfort from being observed or distraction.

“As an artist, I’m often literally staring into space and muttering to myself (haha), or experimenting with materials and ideas that do not result in bodies of work the world gets to see.”

Chien explains that her work is not limited to the completed sculptures and objects she creates, but “also [her] daily process” which requires “thought, solitude, time, and space for experimentation.”

“I am glad to have control over how much of that is ‘seen.’”

An inquiring mind, it’s in her solitary state that she’s able to conceive some of her most creative thoughts. Her bodies of work are sprung from a place of learning and curiosity, each one based on a single knot that she’s taken as far as she wants it to go. In the physical state this translates to the organic, eruptive  study of a knot.

“I will learn a new knot from an old sailor’s manual and just stumble through the making of it, trying to understand its logic and design. And sometimes, something wonderful happens: the finished knot will exhibit such a palpable life to it that it calls out for more. It wants to embody its fullest expressive potential. And my job is simply to get it there.”

The aftermath of the investigative phase is then channeled into productivity. Much of Chien’s process involves asking the materials, “What if…?” (“What if I repeat the knot in a series? What if I play with scale? What if a 2-inch long knot could become a 20-foot long installation?”)

“When I’ve matched a knot to its best creative expression, its aesthetically-realized form, it becomes a body of work,” Chien describes. “I make the first version of it, release it into the world, and eventually, that first piece results in sales and commissions.”

For her, it’s the repetition that has brought her to a state of euphoric creation. She’s found her rhythm, and in music-speak, she’s in the pocket. “My guess is that practicing artists who’ve found their groove feel as I do about being alone in the studio: utterly blissed out.”

It’s a perpetual cycle—a well-oiled locomotive that she’s developed through the simple act of learning. Chien is continually seeking out new knots, and then challenges herself to take it a step further. Her process is art in itself where she is feeding every aspect of her being. “Making my work feels productive, feels like I’m touching the heavens, feels like I’m using my intellect and my heart in equal measure.”

It’s meditation, prose, enlightenment. The knots speak to her and she listens, translating insight into meticulous craft. It’s the difference between a fling and a relationship—there’s wholehearted devotion; commitment and understanding.

“My work is between me and the rope, the knots, the notion of the line. That’s where my fascination lies. Knots are an under-recognized universal language, and my mission is to bring this clarity and understanding to the world.”