Episode 36: Shear delight: A conversation with Christina Kading
Shear delight is the only way to describe our conversation with the wonderfully talented Christina Kading, who began her career as a second-generation sheep-shearer at the age of 8 ("I was born on top of a sheep!"). What's so hard about sheep shearing, you ask? First there are the kicking animals who don't necessarily want a woolcut, even though they have it growing out of their ears and eyeballs. Then there's the sheer physicality it demands, second only to jackhammering. And finally there's all the sexism, the men like Gary in Pennsylvania who didn't think Christina--a woman!--could shear his alpacas. Step aside, Gary, and let Christina Kading show you just how capable she is. She can do so much more than shear Gary's alpacas, though that alone would be enough--she's an accomplished artist, working in wood and wool, and a mixologist to boot. Try out Christina's recipes for a Jade Gimlet and an Espresso Martini--they are divine concoctions to warm up and refresh on a cold winter night (or day).
"Just because we are women, and we are gay, doesn't mean we are not capable of shearing an alpaca."
Christina Kading
We met Christina at Rhinebeck where she was selling her rugs, hand-made from the unwanted wool from her shearing. Her designs are wonderfully geometric and coincide with the wood tabletops she makes using pyrography, a technique of inscribing designs with fire. Her fascination with lines and shapes began in her high school math classes (as a way to avoid learning math), but that has blossomed into beautiful art informed by sacred geometry, the sense that we are all connected through universally shared lines, shapes and patterns.
We hope you enjoy our conversation with Christina as much as we did--we learned a lot, and it is true that "sheep-shearers are just irresistible. . . we just hypnotize people with our loving, gentle, sheep-shearing skills. I don't know what it is, but it gets them every time." So grab a Jade Gimlet or Espresso Martini and take a break from the holiday chaos to tune in for a great conversation with a fascinating artist and sheep-shearer!
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Here is Christina in action at Rhinebeck:
✧DILIGENCE✧
4'x4'
Pyrography with water and oil stains on Poplar wood
✧BLOOM✧
3’x3’
Tufted, 100% wool rug
A few things we discussed: You can see Christina in action shearing a sheep on her Instagram page (she has one for the rugs and one for her wood art). You can find out more about Christina on her website. Christina's method of shearing sheep, is a technique developed by Godfrey Bowen, a New Zealand sheep shearer. You can find out more about Godfrey Bowen here. Christina trades her fleeces for wool with Bartlett yarn in Maine. Christina mentioned the book, How the World is Made: The Story of Creation According to Sacred Geometry by John Michell and Allan Brown. Bossy mentioned the artists George Nakashima and Andy Goldsworthy.
In case you need more proof that sheep shearers are irresistible, here's the scene from the Thornbirds. We're guessing that Christina never has to do her own laundry:
And whatever you do, don’t knit like my sister!
