Erik Speer: Building Oceans from Fiber

For the past eight years, artist Erik Speer has been creating experimental fiber works that blur the boundaries between textile, sculpture, and installation. Employing an array of techniques—including macramé, crochet, knitting, felting, weaving, and knotting—his densely layered compositions feel less like tapestries and more like living ecosystems. Thoughtfully detailed and deeply expressive, the work draws directly from his personal history, transforming memory and experience into intricate landscapes of fiber.

Born in Roswell, New Mexico, and later raised in South Carolina, Speer developed an early fascination with the ocean after being introduced to scuba diving as a teenager. What began as curiosity evolved into a way of life. After studying marine biology at the College of Charleston, he spent two years traveling the world as a diving instructor, teaching in destinations including Honduras, Croatia, and Malaysia. The underwater world would ultimately become one of the defining influences on his artistic practice.

Following a move to New York to study fashion design at Parsons, Speer found himself increasingly drawn to the act of making rather than the traditional fashion industry. Experimentation with fiber arts soon became a full-time pursuit, allowing him to work directly with material while exploring new forms of expression. Today, based in Seattle, he continues to push the possibilities of textile-based art through an intuitive and highly tactile process.

The influence of the ocean remains unmistakable throughout his work. Monumental wall pieces recall coral reefs, sea urchins, barnacles, and underwater topographies, built from wool, silk, linen, cotton, recycled fibers, and reclaimed materials. Through layering, repetition, and texture, Speer constructs works that feel organic and self-generating—as if each piece has evolved naturally rather than been assembled by hand.

At once meditative and immersive, Speer’s fiber environments invite viewers into the same sense of wonder that first drew him beneath the surface. The result is a body of work that transforms traditional craft techniques into something entirely contemporary: living, breathing forms shaped by memory, material, and the enduring pull of the sea.

@esspeer

https://www.esspeer.com

Photos by Simon Leung