About the artist
Eve Jacobs-Carnahan creates narrative sculptures responding to the tenuous state of American democracy. In storybook scenes, she illuminates factors undermining the electoral system and considers the creeping threat of authoritarianism. Her allegorical sculptures feature anthropomorphized birds cloaked in the comfort of knitting. She combines the unassuming softness of yarn, felt, and fabric with wire to construct stories that invite conversation. She uses the comforting associations of knitting to draw the viewer in to look at issues more closely. Yarn’s unassuming and approachable quality makes it ideal for broaching hard subjects with compassion.
Her work has won awards at regional and national exhibitions, including the 2015 National Fiber Directions exhibition at the Wichita Center for the Arts and Nor’Easter: 53rd Annual Juried Members Exhibition (2023) at the New Britain Museum of American Art. Her work has been featured in Surface Design Journal (Summer 2023) and in Lela Nargi’s survey of knitted art, Astounding Knits! 101 Spectacular Knitted Creations and Daring Feats (Voyageur Press 2011). National Arts Strategies named Eve a Creative Community Fellow: New England in 2022 for using the arts for social change. The fellowship supported the development of her public art project Knit Democracy Together.
A knitter since childhood, Eve discovered art knitting in the early aughts and pursued a self-directed study of sculpture. She has been awarded residencies at the Vermont Studio Center (2017) and the Anderson Center at Tower View (2025). She holds a B.A. in History with Honors from Swarthmore College and a J.D. from the University of Chicago. She lives in Montpelier, Vermont.
See full cv here.
Why knitting
My mother taught me to knit as a young girl. I loved making something with my own hands. And I really loved visiting yarn stores where I could choose balls of wool from shelves upon shelves of rainbow colors. Then, as now, I was fascinated by the intricate patterns, textures, and lace designs that can emerge from structured grids of knitting stitches.
To use knitting in sculpture is to highlight the artistic quality of a mundane domestic practice. It is surprising. It piques curiosity, It pulls you in to look more closely. Its unassuming quality enables me to raise serious questions in a quiet voice. Knitting evokes comfort and caring – sentiments that we should apply to the world around us.