West Texas Lawyer Turned Artist Makes a Statement at Houston’s Innovation Hub — Kristin Marie Bachmann Plays With Motion

Although West Texas-based artist Kristin Marie Bachmann titled her inaugural exhibit “At The Still Point,” her works are filled with movement. From winding checkerboard patterns to floating textiles, Bachmann’s works create an intriguing sense of motion. Dancing among shadows, they invite viewers into a sea of illusions at her third installation of “At The Still Point,” which is currently on view at Houston’s innovation hub The Ion District in Midtown.

The intricately threaded, neutral canvases create stunning movement through alternating designs Bachmann carefully curated on her loom. These works are meant to be experienced, not just observed. As the sun sets, cars race down Fannin Street, light seeps into the floor-to-ceiling windows of the industrial space — and the pieces change before viewers’ eyes. The Parsons School of Design-trained Bachmann says nighttime is the ideal time to take in these mind-bending pieces.

“The idea was to keep the graphics simple, like a checkerboard, then start playing around,” Bachmann says. “It allows the viewer to focus on the structure and think about how space interacts with the weavings.”

The three-part exhibition series took Bachmann four years to complete, with her working in New York, Houston and other Texas cities. Bachmann focused on simplistic, monochromatic designs — predominantly black, gray and white threads — to bring out the artistry in her woven patterns. 

Legal Motions to Artful Notions

Before becoming an artist, Bachmann was a private equity lawyer in the oil and gas industry. Despite this rather significant and unlikely career transition, Bachmann’s creative thinking and unique approach to design showed up in how she built arguments at Stanford Law and her work in corporate consulting. 

“I wrote arguments, printed them and arranged them like boards to gauge how much space each part needed,” she tells PaperCity. “Now I approach weaving the same way. I’m still figuring out space. How to work with it, where pieces belong and how they fit together.”

Eagle-eyed viewers will appreciate Bachmann’s arrangement of woven canvases. The sides of each work blend into the pattern of the next, creating a natural flow. This technique was born out of experimenting with different patterns while weaving each design.

“Weaving is a process of doing one thing and seeing where it leads me,” Bachmann notes.

“At The Still Point [Part 3]” is on view at the Ion District Garage, located at 4111 Fannin Street, through Monday, January 31. Visits are available by appointment and on Thursdays from noon to 6 pm. For more information, go here.