WORLD-TRAVELING ENVIRONMENTAL FIBER ARTIST touches down in Madeira
Clara Benadon touched down in Funchal at the beginning of February. Originally from the countryside of Maryland, USA, she has been traveling the world since August 2023 with just two pieces of luggage: a carry-on with her few clothes, and a backpack stuffed to the brim with yarn.
Although these strange packing priorities may confuse airport security, they help explain why Clara’s been traveling. She is funded by the Thomas J. Watson fellowship to spend the year exploring global interconnections between climate change, fiber (wool) agriculture, and fiber arts.
Clara graduated from Bowdoin College with a degree in Marine Biology last spring. She began her scientific career with research on how marine litter affects species distribution patterns (link).
Clara’s ecological work is driven by the same curiosity and attention to detail that drives her art. She taught herself how to knit as a kid, and grew up tacking on more fiber art forms to her repertoire — crochet, punch needle embroidery, and spinning yarn. These hobbies were rivaled only by her love of exploring the outdoors by hiking, kayaking, and swimming in the creeks and forests of her rural home. Her family also has a small flock of sheep. It’s unsurprising, then, that the connection between science, farming, and art is central to Clara’s identity.
Watson fellowship research
Her self-directed research has taken many forms, from exploring llama farms in high-altitude Argentina to assessing plant communities alongside Faroese botanists. Since fibers such as wool, cotton, and silk have natural origins, their agricultural production depends on the health of the environment.
For instance, on that Andean farm, changing precipitation patterns affected the composition of grazing plants.
Modern-day wildlife conservation regulations also heightened the flock’s vulnerability to predators like pumas. As fiber-based agriculture changes, so do ancestral forms of fiber arts.
On the Faroe Islands, people have practically been born with a set of knitting needles for as long as memory serves. However, globalization has recently changed what they’re knitting with. Imported yarns from foreign sheep are now preferred over the rougher fiber from Faroese sheep; local wool has been devalued to the point that it’s burned in brush piles after sheep are slaughtered for their meat.
Clara’s research started with manual labor
She volunteered on an organic sheep farm in a small town in fjordside Western Norway and learned how centuries-old farming techniques were holding up under climate change.
She then moved to Tórshavn, the capital of the remote Faroe Islands.
There, she assisted a team of ecologists from the National Museum with determining how intense sheep grazing affected the health of Faroese wetlands. She also learned about traditional knitwear design and sustainable material sourcing from local fashion brands.
Clara then finished her tour of the global North in Edinburgh, Scotland,
where she connected with tapestry weavers to learn how they were incorporating environmental themes in their fine art.
Finally, she moved to Argentina. She first investigated ties between water availability, poaching, environmental management, and social change in Jujuy, northern Argentina; then, she flew south to Puerto Madryn, Patagonia to learn how marine biologists were connecting with the community through citizen science initiatives.
Time in Madeira
Now, Clara couldn’t be happier to be settled in Funchal until early April 2024.
She will spend her time working with Dr. João Canning-Clode of the Marine and Environmental Sciences Center to contribute to ongoing research on harmful non-Indigenous, or “invasive,” marine species.
She plans to communicate the profound impact of this research on Madeira’s environment through creating mixed fiber art pieces. She hopes to use the warmth and fun of fiber to spark conversations about current research among the public. She will collaborate with our association ARTE.M and Caravel Art Center to display these pieces and lend a hand with sustainable art projects.
Reaching out
For all the knitters and crocheters on the island, you can find the patterns that Clara’s designed and made available for free on her Ravelry page (link). Each knitting pattern is place-based and accompanied with a short story about the themes she explored in the corresponding country.
If you are a local artist, farmer, or scientist who’d like to have a conversation with Clara to contribute to her research, feel free to reach out through the email below.
Contact information:
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