Drawing in Thread: Contemporary Embroidery
March 30 – May 2
Opening Reception on April 8 at 5p.m. with a gallery talk at 6:30p.m.
The Gallery is located in Carlson Hall on the Mount Ida College campus

Traditionally, embroidery is a decorative embellishment made with a needle and thread on textiles. This exciting exhibition includes the work of 19 contemporary artists who push the boundaries of the traditional meaning of embroidery. Traditional and non traditional techniques of embroidery are used to explore historical, political, personal and humorous iconographies. Works include a bounty of color and line as found in drawn landscapes, Miro like paintings and wall and floor installations held together in space by thread. These artists offer an exciting new vision of embroidery. Curated by John Tricomi and Kathleen Driscoll.

Artists include; Annie Aube, Bren Ahearn, Deborah Slabeck Baker, Emily Barletta, Corrine Bayraktaroglu, Andrea Dezso, Katy Helman, Takashi Iwasaki, Anna Keck, Joetta Maue, Michael Aaron McAllister, Elaine McBride, Chris Niver, Marilyn Pappas, Marjorie Durko Puryear, Shannon Rankin, Richard Saja, Jodi Stevens, John Tricomi

The beauty and grace of the hand of embroidery artist Walter Bruno Brix is inspiring. He creates lovely subtle simple lines in thread to explore issues of sexuality, the aging body, and of life and death.

I am especially drawn to his series 42, a series of what I assume might be self portraits of a male nude figure. The images in some way reminds me of the photographs of John Coplans in their investigation and honesty towards the natural imperfections that come with age. The failure of our bodies to stay young and perfect.

The honesty of the work is what I love most.

He has also created a series of loincloths, which uses simple line and color to document the cloth of men in a fascinating way. I have seen very little if any other art that has treated the male body with such loving attentiveness as these works.

Walter says little about his work though what he does say is eloquent if not as revealing as we might want:

Basically no literally formulated, intellectual demand or grounds lies in my art. This would seem to me not sensible because everything what can be also expressed with words the art does not need. To me the inexpressible, non-clear, the unspoken, between-the-lines is more near to my heart.

With my art I do not want to teach, persuade nobody to something or take away on a putatively better one. My works are rather recordings of my perception.

Besides, my ranges of topics are seeming for me; the body of person and animal, sexuality, with homosexuality playing a bigger role, age and death, the fears and dreams of human. My work circles round me, round the images I think of, round my predilections, dreams and fears.

You can see more of Walter’s beautiful stitching here and here.

I love the goreous topography, map like work of artist Amy Honchell. Though she may not fall under the auspices of craft she is definitely inspired by fiber and the idea of touch. Her most recent body of work Personal Geographies uses the layering, folding, and stitching of fiber to create some beautiful installation work that explores both the world and our emotions as map.

Amy states:

Creating art, like creating a map, is an act of translation — conveying the conceptual through the material, and articulating ideas/information both visually and verbally. I believe that looking at and being aware of the world around us is a key part of being an artist.

I draw inspiration from the histories and structures of textiles, geography, biology, and architecture. Invisible patterns—topography, weather patterns, bodily systems— are the basis for my site-specific installations and drawings. My work focuses on conflating the spaces we inhabit (landscape, architecture, bodies, and minds).

…Topology, sewing, and elements of mapping underscore the parallels between the structures and functions of the human body, architecture, and the landscape. I invite viewers to cross unseen boundaries and discover new territories while exploring the sense of touch in a visual way.

Amy also creates work that explores the topology of the body and skin.

and the natural way of nature.

It is always nice to be reminded how endless the possibilities of fiber as medium is. To see more of Amy’s work go here.

When I saw the beautiful installation work of artist Jodi Stevens I was inspired by its simplicity in both palette and form.  Her installation impediment reminds me a lot of Ann Hamilton’s performances with her use of the large table, facing chairs, and pile of materials. But with the hand wrapped stones and gray color palette it has its very own unique voice.

It seems obvious that Jodi is inspired by nature and its forms. As seen in her other lovely work Collective where the round forms both seem to reference planetary shapes, eggs, rocks, and sea life.

The repetition and collection of layers in the work is important to Jodi’s process-  she states:

My work and process of making manifests a kind of ritualistic behavior and involves the use of numerous elements and ordinary materials such as yarn, thread, and/or pieces of fabric in an unconventional way. I use the deliberate placement of material to create texture, repetition, and movement usually in an installation format. These installations frequently utilize the gradual build up of material that, to me, can represent emotion. This layering creates a mass or a moment of anticipation.

Jodi’s work can be seen along with mine at Mt. Ida College Gallery in the exhibit Designing Thread. The exhibit has a wonderful collection of diverse artists working in embroidery and if you are anywhere near Boston I highly recomend a visit to the exhibit which opens March 30.

To see more of Jodi’s work visit her site here.

For being a somewhat young artist, 38, she has an extremely impressive portfolio of mature and exciting work and has shown extensively- makes me feel like I need to step up my game. Though she does have quite a few years on me.

Joana is most well know for here crochet works in which she crochets coverings over taxidermy animal heads, crabs, and traditional figurative sculptures.

But I personally am really excited by her large scale yarn and fiber installations. In which she often is responding to the architecture of the gallery or space that she exhibits in.

Joanna has an excellent eye for color and uses in liberally. She utilizes color and texture in small simple works ….

to large scale complicated installations.

As I said, Joanna’s work is extremely diverse but yet as you look through it and its evolution over the last 10-14 years you can see the same mind working behind each piece. I appreciate the risk she takes as an artist and the willingness to experiment that is evident in her work.

Her portfolio is VERY extensive as she seems like a very prolific artist- so go and see much more compelling work at her website here.

The second to last connective thread feature is on the Midwestern artist Summer Zickfoose, a fabulous name I must say. Summer had two lovely works in the exhibit, both hair embroideries on old childrens christening dresses. The work spoke about memory, loss, nostalgia, and innocence.

They were very beautiful and worked incredibly well with the surrounding work.

Summer grew up in the cornfields of Iowa and now calls the heart of America, my home state of Ohio, home. Her Midwestern background and childhood greatly influences her work. One often sees the tools of the farm being re-created as objects of artistic design, nostalgic memories, and yearning.

Her work and projects, though often visually simple, are quite profound in their thoughtful conceptual development and careful arrangement.

Her installation Cockleburs and Pleasantries is a gorgeous installation that includes porcelain cups re-fired with the words of Midwestern womens diaries on them and inside of them, each one hung carefully, collecting objects from the Midwestern farm woman’s life. The piece is gorgeous.

In, Remaining Cloth, simple white towels are treated with wet plaster, and hung on a nail. The simplicity of the form and action add to the quality and metaphor of the work. Plus I just love me some gorgeous white plaster any day.

The towels become physical memories of what would usually be a fleeting moment. Their repetition suggests a series of repeated actions or days, a monotonous chore completed, but yet their changing forms defy that monotony.

Feeding Sites

In addition to gorgeous objects and installations, Summer has done a number of quietly beautiful performance pieces. You can read detailed descriptions of these on her website as well as see performance images.

Object Lessons, top image performance, bottom image detail of plate.

By researching her work more, one quickly sees the reverence and respect Summer has for the Midwestern women that have come before her and a deep connection to the personal history of her family.

Her statement reads more like a poem. Here is an excerpt:

It is called the middle of nowhere; observed from an interstate. The sticks, the hicks, the mind-numbing boredom. The absence of culture, of progress, of significance.

The rural, American landscape…

As with any archaeology, there is the place, its culture, and the objects and materials used by that culture. I believe these objects and materials hold within them a multitude of secrets.

She watched the lights from across the road to see when they went to bed.

She maintained the regiments of a controlled lifestyle. This somehow balanced the uncertainty of weather, of markets, of survival. …

a reinvented vernacular, layers of history are revealed and evolving rural customs are unearthed.

He always said,
in regards to the persistence of jello salads,
that they weren’t good enough to be a dessert
and weren’t healthy enough to be a salad.

A fragment from a Midwestern woman’s diary embellishes the surface of a ceramic cup, which is then filled with cockleburs. The surface of a family christening gown is embroidered with hair, two generations later. An old, circular saw blade is cut into the pattern of a doily. The familiar is tilled and rearranged. I exploit the decorative and accessible qualities of commonplace objects, then pair them with the more grotesque, visceral experiences of the body. An overlooked and ordinary chocolate chip cookie can, in the course of a performance, be revealed as both cultural icon and social tool. The corporeal and the subversive combine, conjuring honest dualities of the comfortable and awkward, the conventional and progressive, the distressing and humorous that are components of nearly every family, culture, and place.

He knows this land very well…

The familiarity comforts and smothers him simultaneously.

Being a proud Midwestern girl myself, Summer’s work makes me a bit nostalgic for my own childhood, with the use of cockleburs reminding me of playing at my grandpa’s camp by the Ohio river. The cornfields of her performances take me back to childhood car rides and fairs, and the simplicity of life and family remind me that sometimes simplicity is much better than the hectic life of the urban landscape.

I also find it fascinating that as an artist who is quite in love with words and language that a number of the connective thread artists work and write like poets, though their initial selection of work was based entirely on the visual. Perhaps a visual poet is more easily recognized then I would have thought.

To view more of Summer’s work please visit her website.

Here are some images of the opening and install of the fabulous connective thread exhibtion, I was so honored to curate this exhibition and blown away by the quality of work that was submitted. The curating process was so difficult – but in the end I felt like it was a very exciting and cohesive show. We had a very diverse group of work and artists but they were all connected by that connective thread…

Look at the awesome turn out we had at the opening. The gallery was packed from 7- well past 10. We went through 3 cases of wine and I think all had a good time.

Curating a group show is a lot of work, corresponding with many artists all with individual needs, promoting the show and opening, designing the cards, and orchestrating the opening. But is has been so rewarding. It is almost as rewarding as having a show of my own. Afterall, it was my visual eye that put the artist together and installed them in the orientation that they are in. Very satisfying, I cannot wait to do more.

I was so happy that so many people came out to see all these amazing artists work!

… such a fascinating concept to explore in art.

April is quoted to say she is:

In the article April’s work is described as:

It does not seem that April has too much of a web presence so the images I can share with you are limited. But her work is just so cool- so hopefully we will keep seeing more of here.
I really love her spoon work which is not online at all. And my camera just died. So I will try to post some images on my blog of those next week.

I would love to fall upon this cheerful celebration of color on a cold winter walk. Right?

I also am so in love with her combination work including this lovely sock blanket….

this one is sweetly named nest. They remind me of the fabulous glove work of Paul Vilinski

wardrobe.

I have been thinking about how I can change and evolve my own studio practice and work and have been thinking of sewing and joining things together- I am just not sure how or why? But Anu’s work makes me realize that it is definitely a beautiful technique and her work is heavy with room for meaning and interpretation.

In installation you can definitely see the conceptually heavy side to her studio practice.

green tea

oh clever mind.

light green.

And don’t think she limits her talents for charm, humor, color, and poignancy to fibers. She has lovely works in many “found” mediums.

striped scarf.

Her portfolio is expansive and takes awhile to go through but it is so worth it as nearly every piece charms with both its beauty and cleverness. See it here.

NANCY PETTWAY- BRICKLAYER VARIATION

Work Clothes Quilt

During an adventure to the dismal craft section of the Brooklyn Public Library I fell upon a book which celebrates, documents, and gives voice to the Quilters and Quilts of Gee’s Bend.

LORETTA BENNETT- CRAZY QUILT

Gee’s Bend is piece of land surrounded by three sides with water of the Alabama River. It’s unique location and shape have kept it as a small, remote, rural, intimate, entirely African American community. Gee’s Bend had historically been and still is a very poor community with little education.

LOLA PETTWAY-FOUR HOUSETOP BLOCKS

But in the midst of this community great artists were creating. And there lies the stories of the Quilts of Gee’s Bend.  The quilters inspired by their humble surroundings and the scraps and available fibers they could find -created modern quilts that parallel the work of such minimalist artists at Joseph Albers, and abstract expressionist as Mark Rothko and other great artists of the 50’s and 60’s. However,  these women were making these quilts without ever knowing of these artists and even before these artists were doing similar images themselves..

REVIL MOSELY-CORDUROY LAZY GAL

They often worked with untraditional and difficult materials such as corduroy and denim.

Lutisha Pettiway

The works of these women are inspiring and astounding in their unique choices and beautiful technique. Each quilt is truly a work of  art.  And thankfully, finally they are starting to get credit and payment  for their inspiring talent.  You can find much information on these amazing quilts and quilters here , here, and here