Ornamental Elements

For the rest of us, the zipper is an object to function in a certain manner. For Kate Cusack, the zipper is flaunted in spirals of patterns to become the focal piece. “When I transform an everyday material into something elaborate, it reminds the viewer of the power of imagination, the joy of discovering a new view 
of something that would have otherwise been overlooked,” she says. Besides, she adds, there’s something deeply liberating about working with expendable stuff. “There’s not a lot of baggage. If something is essentially trash, you don’t worry. The real creativity can come out.”